90-1-607. (Temporary) Review of proposal challenges -- approval. (1) Fourteen business days following the closing of the submission window, the department shall make the proposals received available for review in a publicly available electronic file, subject to the confidentiality provisions of 90-1-606(3).

(2) The department shall develop criteria for a challenge process and publish the criteria for public comment at least 14 days prior to the opening of the challenge window. Final responses to challenges must be provided within 30 days of receipt of a challenge for the purpose of expediting awarded projects for modifications accepted through the challenge process.

(3) In reviewing proposals and any accompanying challenge, the department shall conduct its own review of the proposed project areas to ensure that all awarded funds are used to deploy broadband service to unserved or underserved areas. The department may require a provider or challenging provider to submit additional information consistent with this part to enable it to properly assess the proposal or challenge. The department may not award a contract to fund deployment of broadband service for a project area that fails to meet any of the criteria provided in this part for being an unserved or underserved area. The department may require a provider to modify a proposal based on broadband access in the proposed area or other relevant factors.

(4) The department shall award funding support for projects set forth in responsive proposals based on a scoring system, approved by the commission, that must be released to the public at least 30 days prior to the window for submission of proposals. The weighting scheme employed by the department must give the highest weight or priority to the criteria provided by the national telecommunications and information administration and the following:

(a) whether the proposed project area serves unserved or underserved areas, with unserved areas receiving greater weight;

(b) the number of households, businesses, farms, ranches, and community anchor institutions served;

(c) whether the proposed project qualifies as an extremely high cost per location threshold as defined by the department and approved by the national telecommunications and information administration or is a high-cost area as defined by the national telecommunications and information administration;

(d) the length of time the provider has been providing broadband service in the state;

(e) the extent to which government funding support is necessary to deploy broadband service infrastructure in the proposed project area;

(f) the service speed thresholds proposed in the proposal and the scalability of the broadband service proposed to be deployed with higher speed thresholds receiving greater weight;

(g) the provider's ability to leverage its own nearby or adjacent broadband service infrastructure to facilitate the cost-effective deployment of broadband service infrastructure in the proposed project area;

(h) the estimated time in which the provider proposes to complete the proposed project;

(i) any other factors the department, as recommended by the commission, determines to be reasonable and appropriate, consistent with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Public Law 117-58, and the national telecommunications and information administration; and

(j) broadband service providers who have broadband service infrastructure already deployed in the project area.

(5) High-cost areas must be considered for services to the extent terrestrial service is economically viable.

(6) The department shall set a reasonable timeframe to complete projects selected for funding approval. The department may, in consultation with the provider, set reasonable milestones regarding this completion. The department shall create procedures including penalties associated with any failure to comply with the provisions of the awarded contract without reasonable cause. (Terminates on occurrence of contingency--sec. 9, Ch. 696, L. 2023.)