Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program is sponsored by U.S. Department of Commerce. Supports broadband infrastructure development in underserved areas of Alabama.

Broadband Equity Access and Deployment - Kansas Department of Commerce Governor Kelly Announces Indra Group to Invest Nearly $7.

5M to Manufacture Air Traffic Radars in Kansas Gov. Kelly and Kansas City Chiefs Announce Agreement On Plans for State-of-the-Art Domed Stadium in Kansas Governor Kelly Celebrates Grand Opening of Panasonic EV Battery Manufacturing Facility in De Soto Governor Kelly Announces Grand Opening of Heartland Coca-Cola Olathe Production Campus Taxes, Credits, & Exemptions To The Stars: Kansas Business Awards Corporate & Professional Services Food Processing and Manufacturing Energy & Natural Resources Kanopolis Drive-In Receives $65,000 Grant to Preserve Historic Outdoor Theatre The Kansas Department of Commerce has awarded a $65,000 grant to the historic Kanopolis Drive-In Theatre to support the purchase of a new state-of-the-art digital projection system.

Kickstart the Summer and Explore New Career Opportunities at KANSASWORKS Virtual Job Fair Jobseekers and employers searching for available talent are encouraged to take part in this month’s Virtual Statewide Job Fair, hosted by KANSASWORKS, from 8:00 a. m. to 5:00 p.

m. , Thursday, May 28. Apprenticeship Office Awarded Funding to Expand Youth Opportunities The Kansas Office of Registered Apprenticeship today announced it has been selected as one of 10 states to receive the prestigious Talent Ready funding through CareerWise and the Future Ready Apprenticeship Center.

New Round of HEAL Funding to Assist 15 Rural Communities Over $1. 3 million in Historic Economic Asset Lifeline (HEAL) grant funding will support 15 building renovation projects across the state.

Incentives & Financing, Taxes, Credits & Exemptions, Site Selection, Doing Business in Kansas Infrastructure assessment, community planning, development support, and downtown activation Find a Job, Job Seeker Services, Employer Services Plan your trip to Kansas. Places to visit, things to do. Order a free Travel Guide.

Exporting Programs & Services, Investment, Reshoring Resources for your move to Kansas. Taxes, Credits, & Exemptions To The Stars: Kansas Business Awards Corporate & Professional Services Food Processing and Manufacturing Energy & Natural Resources Office of Broadband Development / Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) The BEAD program includes $42 billion for high-speed Internet access.

This federal grant program, funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act goal is to provide universal internet by funding partnerships between states or territories, communities, and stakeholders to build infrastructure where needed to and increase adoption of high-speed internet.

BEAD prioritizes unserved locations that have no internet access or that only have access under 25/3 Mbps and underserved locations only have access under 100/20 Mbps. The National Telecommunication Information and Administration allocated $451. 7 million dollars in Kansas to address the digital divide.

The Broadband Equity Access and Deployment 5–Year Action Plan along with Volume 1 and Volume 2 have identified served, unserved, and underserved locations across the state. The 5-Year Action Plan addresses the “what” KOBD will be doing, and Volume 1 and Volume 2 address the “how” it will happen and how KOBD will address the digital divide.

On June 6, the Trump Administration released an updated NTIA Policy Notice modifying elements of the BEAD program. On September 4, 2025, KOBD submitted our Final Proposal adhering to the Policy Notice. December 5, the KOBD Final Proposal was approved.

A link to the approved Final Proposal and the archived BEAD information is below. BEAD Approved Final Proposal BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Round The Technical Project Application Portal opened at 2 p. m.

on July 16 and closed at 6 p. m. CT on July 30.

Registration reopened on July 1, 2025, and ran concurrent with the application period. Kansas Office of Broadband Development’s Draft Final Proposal was open for public comment until Noon CST on September 1, 2025. All comments expressing concern collected during the public comment period are subject to public disclosure.

Please be aware that preliminary selections are not considered final until the State’s Final Proposal is approved by NTIA. BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Applicant Information KDC Grant Portal & BEAD Pre-Registration User Guide Registrants are encouraged to use this guide to pre-register via the portal.

KDC Pre-Registration Portal Revised BEAD Pre-Registration User Guide These forms must be used by registrants for required files that will be uploaded as part of the registration. Please refer to the Guide for instructions on filling out and renaming these files. Registration curing requests will come from a Salesforce automated email address of “KDC SF NoReply < [email protected] >”.

Emails will go to the Lead Project and Lead Technical Project contacts. If you have a question regarding your curing request, do not reply to that email. Email questions to the [email protected] v inbox and a team member will respond to you.

Non-Conflicts of Interest Statement – Updated 8. 20. 24 Non-Collusion Statement – Updated 8.

20. 24 Updated Attestation from Lead Organization Updated Attestations from Consortium Members CAI Participation List – Template To maximize time for eligible applicants to participate in the BEAD subgrant selection process, KOBD will accept submitted registrations as sufficient to allow applicants to access the BEAD technical application portal.

Please note, this does NOT suggest your registration has been accepted as being satisfactory. All applicants must have a successful registration to allow for their submitted technical application to be reviewed by KOBD. Unsuccessful registrations will result in it being returned for curing and technical applications submitted by the applicant cannot be reviewed until all registration curing has been satisfied.

Salesforce Portal Multiple Users Our Salesforce portal is limited to one unique user working within the Salesforce application. However, our Salesforce team has suggested the following workaround to allow multiple people to collaborate. To collaborate on your BEAD registration and/or technical application simultaneously, you must be willing to share your login credentials for Salesforce with other people.

Once you’ve shared your login information with one or more people, all of you may begin working on separate sections of the same application. PLEASE NOTE: This workaround will not work if two or more people are attempting to work in the same section of the application. The solution only works if each contributor is working in different sections .

Each person working on their specific section must save their progress to ensure that Salesforce registers the entries into the portal. To confirm that the progress of others is within the system, please refresh the page after you save your work (if that does not work, logging out and logging back in should reflect all the latest saved progress).

BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Application Technical Application User Guide Technical Application Portal BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Round Technical Application User Guide (updated 7/29/2025) BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Round File Upload Crosswalk (added 7/24/2025) BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Round Tips for Entering Locations (added 7/25/2025) BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Round Location List Template BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Round Data Dictionary BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Round Scoring Rubric Updated Bead: Benefit of the Bargain Project Application Attestation from Lead Organization Updated Bead: Benefit of the Bargain Project Application Attestation from Member Salesforce Portal Multiple Users Our Salesforce portal is limited to one unique user working within the Salesforce application.

However, our Salesforce team has suggested the following workaround to allow multiple people to collaborate. To collaborate on your BEAD registration and/or technical application simultaneously, you must be willing to share your login credentials for Salesforce with other people. Once you’ve shared your login information with one or more people, all of you may begin working on separate sections of the same application.

PLEASE NOTE: This workaround will not work if two or more people are attempting to work in the same section of the application. The solution only works if each contributor is working in different sections . Each person working on their specific section must save their progress to ensure that Salesforce registers the entries into the portal.

To confirm that the progress of others is within the system, please refresh the page after you save your work (if that does not work, logging out and logging back in should reflect all the latest saved progress). Approved BSL List & Project Funding Areas KOBD has updated the approved NTIA bead eligible location list with the addition of a new eligibility field.

This field will support applications as they are still required to account for the full location list approved by NTIA. This will address the changes in status over time and allow applicants to apply for locations in need of eligible service. BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Round Tips for Entering Locations (added 7/25/2025) Location status: 0=unserved/eligible, 1=underserved/eligible, 2=served/funded/ineligible.

*Please note files with an *asterisk* will not open in Excel completely. Will require other software. Applicants must account for ALL NTIA approved eligible locations (the 0s and 1s in the list) even if it is shown as “ineligible” in the KOBD eligibility field.

There will be required fields within the technical application and within the location . csv file where locations flagged as newly ineligible will be recorded. BEAD dollars should not be requested for these newly ineligible locations.

* All_Kansas_BSLs_Final_July_25. csv : This file is similar to the previous BSL file, (ie All BSLs regardless of classification), but with additional fields to be used by applicants such as PFA and “KOBD_FINAL_ELIGIBILITY”, which includes a new eligibility status based on the NTIA reason codes and current data to be used in the final proposal.

While all 0s and 1s on the list must be accounted for in the application, we are asking applicants to only ask for BEAD dollars for the locations on this list with the “Eligible” status. Eligible_Kansas_BSLs_Final_July_25. xlsx : This file is the same as the file above except that it omits the (2) classification.

This is the BEAD-Eligible location list. Eligible_Kansas_BSLs_Final_July_25_PIVOT. xlsx : This file is the same as the above file, but it has a few additional tools.

It includes a separate tab with a Pivot Table that lists all 403 PFAs as well as a count of [BEAD-Eligible] BSLs. You can expand the PFA there, to show a breakdown of those BSLs, showing the BSLs that are “still” eligible, and those that are “Now Ineligible”. Final_approved_Kansas_cai_July_25.

csv : This is a newly updated CAI file that has been modified slightly to remove records that do not fit the current IIJA CAI definition. Freestate Middle Mile Network : “Provider Planning” current available .

kmz maps available for download Kansas_PFAs_Final_09_26_24 : (KMZ) Map files – based off of census blocks (opens in Google Earth) Kansas_PFAs_Final_09_26_24 (GIS) Map files – based off of census blocks (GIS) Final_NTIA_approved_Kansas_locations_July_25. csv : This is a list of ALL Kansas BSLs (served(2), underserved(1), unserved(0)). Please note the Project Funding Areas did not change.

The current broadband fabric was used to notate locations that no longer exist. KOBD continues to use all available and allowable information to support applicants. BEAD Pre-Registered Applicants The first round of BEAD pre-registration opened on May 13, 2024 and closed on December 20, 2024.

The list reflected below indicates all applicants that have been reviewed and approved. Following a thorough review by the KOBD team, all applicants received notifications on their pre-qualification status, indicating whether their submission was approved, returned for curing, or disqualified. The following organizations successfully registered to participate in the BEAD program.

If you are on the list of BEAD Pre-Registered Applicants, you do not need to complete the BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Pre-Registration process. Those who submitted, but did not complete registration before the June 6, 2025, Policy Notice may require curing.

*Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC AMG Technology Investment Group, LLC Butler Rural Electric Cooperative Assn Inc. Connect Holding II LLC d/b/a Brightspeed Cox Communications Kansas, LLC Fiber Communications of Columbus, LLC Giant Communications, Inc. ITC Broadband Operating, LLC *LaHarpe Communications, Inc. *Midcontinent Communication Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Pioneer Telephone Association, Inc. Southern Kansas Telephone *Space Exploration Technologies Corporation Twin Valley Communications, Inc. Twin Valley Telephone, Inc. * Indicates approved registration post June 6, 2025.

BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain FAQ Document (updated 8/13/2025) Revised BEAD Pre-Registration User Guide Technical Application User Guide (updated 7/29/2025) Tips for Entering Locations (added 7/25/2025) File Upload Crosswalk (added 7/24/25) Revised Registration Playbook – Tips for Success In Kind Match Guidance (Updated 11/27/2024) BEAD In-Kind Match Primer (12/16/2024) PFA Primer Guide to 80/20 Rule Locations List Data Dictionary (Updated 7/24/2025) “No – BEAD” Location Policy Guide (Updated 3/3/2025) In accordance with NTIA’s BEAD NOFO requirements, KOBD has updated internal communication policies to establish a ‘ Quiet Period ’ until the end of KOBD’s subgrantee selection process to comply with the BEAD NOFO.

Entities eligible to apply for BEAD such as internet service providers, municipalities, etc. with questions about BEAD programmatically including but not limited to verbal or electronic communications such as text, voice calls, emails, etc. will not be responded to unless they are emailed directly to [email protected] or brought up during a public BEAD office hour hosted by KOBD.

When emailing [email protected] , eligible entities can expect a response to appear on KOBD’s website, www. kansascommerce. gov/bead as a new FAQ response under Resources if one does not already exist.

Questions posed during a public BEAD office hour hosted by KOBD can be directly responded to by KOBD staff during the office hour and responses will be posted on KOBD’s website as a new FAQ response if one does not already exist. No communications will be sent out with a direct response to a question either from KOBD staff or the [email protected] email address. Please refer to the BEAD NOFO (page 35): 7.

Subgrantee Selection Process a. General Principles Governing Subgrantee Selection i.

Protecting the Integrity of the Selection Process In establishing a fair, open, equitable, and competitive selection process, each Eligible Entity must ensure that adequate safeguards are in place to protect the integrity of the competition, including safeguards against collusion, bias, conflicts of interest, arbitrary decisions, and other factors that could undermine confidence in the process.

Office Hours and Industry Roundtable KOBD will continue to engage with industry and broadband partners via the Industry Roundtables. However, they will be paused until further notice as KOBD works through the BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Round. Archived information is below.

Industry Roundtable Records are linked below: June 12, 2025: Industry Roundtable Recording June 26, 2025: Industry Roundtable Recording July 10, 2025: Industry Roundtable Recording July 24, 2025: Industry Roundtable Recording July 28, 2025: Industry Roundtable Recording KOBD will hold BEAD Office Hours to support applicants.

July 17, 2025: Office Hours Recording BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Webinar BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Technical Application Webinar BEAD: Benefit of the Bargain Updates In accordance with the Policy Notice issued by National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on June 6, 2025, locations served by Unlicensed Fixed Wireless Providers (ULFW) are now permitted to compete for Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) subgrants.

Thus, to ensure locations already served by an ULFW service that meets the technical specifications of the BEAD Program are not included in awards for BEAD deployment projects, these locations are eligible for removal from BEAD consideration.

Thus, the Kansas Office of Broadband Development (KOBD) have taken, and shall take, the following steps: KOBD reviewed the FCC’s National Broadband Map to identify locations that are served by an ULFW service provider (technology code 70) and that currently offer service to any BEAD-eligible Broadband Serviceable Locations (BSLs) within the State of Kansas. The list of identified locations is available for review and download here .

ULFW service providers seeking removal of BEAD-eligible locations referenced in the KOBD file must declare their intent to submit evidence that BEAD funding is not required for the location(s) it serves via email to [email protected] within seven (7) calendar days of this notice (deadline: 5:00 p. m. CT, June 19, 2025).

Upon submission of the provider’s intent to submit documentation to remove location(s) served by ULFW, providers will then have seven (7) calendar days to provide the supporting documentation and evidence to KOBD.

The documentation and evidence must demonstrate the existing ULFW services meet the technical and service standards required for an ULFW application for a BEAD subgrant (see Appendix A of the Policy Notice) and the provider is reasonably capable of delivering the service for at least four (4) years after the date of Final Proposal submission.

KOBD reserves the right to request additional evidence from the ULFW service provider and request information from other sources. If an ULFW service provider successfully demonstrates compliance with the requirements outlined in the Policy Notice, those served BSLs will be ineligible for BEAD Program funding.

Failure to respond to this notice, or to meet the specified requirements, will result in the locations remaining eligible for BEAD funding.

Bulk Fabric Challenge FAQ Permitting Resources Page Suspected Fraud, Waste or Abuse Review the Detecting and Defeating Fraud presentation by the Department of Commerce OIG Hotline: (800) 424-5197 Whistleblower Retaliation Info Poster How to Report Suspected or Known Fraud/Abuse Under KOBD Programs Challenge Process Information Challenge Process Information Policy Notice issued on June 6, did not require us to rerun the Challenge Process.

Based on Initial Proposal Volume 1 Transparency Plan (page 15), KOBD will post publicly all submitted challenges and rebuttals publicly before final challenge determinations are made, with the following information: The provider, nonprofit, or unit of local government that submitted the challenge, The census block group containing the challenged BSL, The provider being challenged, The type of challenge (e.g., availability or speed), and A summary of the challenge, including whether a provider submitted a rebuttal.

KOBD received approval from the NTIA on our Initial Proposal Volume 1 and continues to move through the challenge process. The official Challenge Process ran from NOON CT on Friday, December 15, 2023, until Sunday, January 14,2024 at 5:00 p. m.

CT. The Four Phases of the Challenge Process : Publish List of Eligible locations Eligible Challenging Entities include: Tribal or Local Governments Internet Service Providers This list is based on Version 2 of the National Broadband Availability map with iterative updates as of November 7th. Version 3 will be used in the final deduplication.

KOBD performed: Technology/DSL Modifications, Speed Test Modifications, and Deduplication using the NTIA Toolkit as specified in BEAD Initial Proposal Volume 1. Post Deduplication Process: KOBD will use the NTIA Toolkit and deduplicate our current state grant programs, LINC, BAG 3. 0, and the federal Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (EACAM), that may be awarded and/or contracted during the Challenge Process.

Enforceable Commitment Challenges for these program locations are not necessary. License Reminder: Licenses are required when using the pre-populated templates of locational information from the challenge portal and will support submitting a challenge on many locations at once. Eligible challenging entities (tribal/local government, nonprofits and internet service providers) can apply for licenses from CostQuest, at no cost.

Learn more from this NTIA webpage here . The official challenge process was outlined in Volume 1 of the Initial Proposal and required the process be transparent, evidence based and expedient.

Challenge Process Overview Volume 1 -Full Document Acceptable Evidence NTIA Document Data Licenses NTIA Webpage on CostQuest Licensing Challenge Portal Guidelines KOBD Challenge Portal Guideline Document Challenge Portal – Website Challenge Portal – Website Below you will find links to webinars KOBD hosted along with information on upcoming webinars.

Intro to Challenge Webinar Challenge Registration Webinar What does this BSL data provided include? These . csv files containing the BSL locations linked for public comment were provided specifically from the NTIA.

This data does not reflect all areas with enforceable commitments. This work will be done via a process called deduplication. KOBD is awaiting the tool from NTIA to complete this.

What is the update to the RDOF awards for challenge purposes? Any area that received federal or state monies and will meet the 100/20 speeds for qualified broadband service under BEAD are not eligible for BEAD money. Thus, already awarded areas will be removed in the BEAD deduplication process.

The deduplication process is where broadband serviceable locations are identified and removed, thereby making them ineligible for funding under BEAD. Will there be a chance for the Kansas Office of Broadband Development to advocate federally? Yes.

There will continue to be periodic opportunities for eligible entities such as state governments to provide public comment to the FCC and NTIA. There are also informal opportunities for feedback to be provided to relevant federal agencies.

Can we assume, then, that all BSLs with “2” in the “Final_Eligibility” field are considered already served, and barring any future changes to this status, these BSLs will be categorically excluded from all applications in the upcoming BEAD program? Up to 20% of the BSLs in a Project Area can be served.

However, the cost of the Project Area would be limited only to those BSLs that are unserved (0) or underserved (1) in the Final_Eligibility field. KOBD would not explicitly fund served (2) locations. Deduplication: Identify broadband serviceable locations that are subject to enforceable commitments and remove those locations from having the status of “eligible.

” “My administration is committed to ensuring every Kansan, regardless of their zip code, has access to fast and reliable internet connectivity, bringing additional economic growth, educational opportunities, and telehealth services. This funding advances our progress toward being a top 10 state for broadband access by 2030.

” Incentives & Financing, Taxes, Credits & Exemptions, Site Selection, Doing Business in Kansas Infrastructure assessment, community planning, development support, and downtown activation Find a Job, Job Seeker Services, Employer Services Plan your trip to Kansas. Places to visit, things to do. Order a free Travel Guide.

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