Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program

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The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program is Virginia’s opportunity to finish the job on extending broadband access and also make long-term, transformational investments into broadband affordability and adoption. With the $1.48 billion in BEAD funds for Virginia, DHCD is finalizing plans to extend broadband infrastructure to the remaining unserved locations without a funded solution for connectivity and designing programs to meaningfully address broadband affordability and adoption.

BEAD Application Process Launched December 1, 2024

The BEAD Letter of Intent window in the Commonwealth of Virginia closed on November 30, 2024. The CAMS application portal opened on December 1, 2024 for applicants to start the narrative application. The ZCTA Portal is now open and BEAD applicants will be receiving a unique application link no later than December 23, 2024. Beginning on December 1, 2024, all BEAD inquiries must be submitted in writing to broadband@dhcd.virginia.gov. To complete an application in CAMS, all applicants must register for a CAMS profile, which can be done at this link

The list of approved BEAD-eligible locations is now publicly available on the Virginia Open Data Portal. This list is provided in Location IDs in terms of FCC Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric Version 3.2. The Location ID number is provided, along with the Latitude and Longitude, as well as the service code. “0” is Unserved, “1” is Underserved, “2” is Served. The list of unserved, eligible Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs) is also posted separately in this link. BEAD applicants should utilize both links when developing applications under BEAD because all unserved, underserved locations, as well as unserved CAIs will be considered in evaluating if an applicant proposed to serve the minimum of 95% of eligible locations in a Zip Code Tabulation Area (ZCTAs) in their application. The final BEAD application area shapefile, which is formed by ZCTAs divided by City and County boundaries is available at this link. This shapefile is newly updated to correct previous errors in dividing ZCTA boundaries by Cities and Counties. For convenience, a list of eligible locations IDs within each ZCTA application area is also provided in the same link.
 

Virginia's Approved BEAD Plans

The Commonwealth of Virginia has received approval from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on all of the required BEAD planning documents. Check out these approved documents below!

BEAD Application Process and Resources

Once the BEAD Challenge Process results are certified by NTIA, DHCD will announce this certification and the start date of the BEAD application process. To help broadband providers prepare applications under the BEAD program, as well as to keep local governments and other stakeholders informed of the BEAD process, DHCD has made the resources available below. 

The templates provided below are a resource for broadband providers submitting proposals under Virginia’s BEAD Program. These templates are designed to help streamline certain components of the application process for applicants.

 

The documents provided below serve as technical resources for broadband providers submitting proposals under Virginia’s BEAD Program. These technical assistance materials are designed to help applicants navigate the specific federal requirements of the BEAD program. Additional technical assistance is available by emailing broadband@dhcd.virginia.gov.

To assist prospective applicants with staying up to date on evolving NTIA guidance, as well as to further explain some of the more complex points of the BEAD program to promote an open, fair, and transparent subgrantee selection process, the Va OoB has published BEAD Policy Notices on its BEAD website. The BEAD Policy Notices posted as of November 1, 2024 are listed below. Additional BEAD Policy Notices may be posted prior to and during the 90-day application window of the BEAD subgrantee selection process and prospective applicants are encouraged to frequently check for additional Policy Notices on this website.  

BEAD Policy Notices:

  1. Declining High-Scoring Awards, in Whole or In-Part based on Technical Capability
  2. Handling of Missing, Incomplete, or Non-Compliant Application Information
  3. Identification and De-Obligation of Non-BSLs Updated on December 2, 2024 to reflect new federal guidance
    • Download the Submission Template for Identifying and De-Obligating Non-BSLs
    • View the Webinar Presentation from January 15th on De-Obligation
    • The Virginia Office of Broadband (Va OoB) has posted a file on the Virginia Open Data Portal that identifies locations that BEAD applicants may consider including in their applications for de-obligation. This list was updated on January 31st to include locations received and reviewed by the Va OoB. The list below now includes both those locations identified by the Va OoB as served in Version 5 of the National Broadband Map and not likely to require special construction costs, as well as those locations received and preliminarily reviewed/approved by the Va OoB based on submissions from stakeholders. The Va OoB encourages all BEAD applicants to review this list and, upon consideration, verification, and any additions, upload the list as a de-obligation file in the CAMS portal for their BEAD application. It is encouraged that BEAD applicants filter this list and only submit locations that are within their BEAD appli-cation areas; however, this is not a requirement if technical capability doesn’t exist. If BEAD applicants are proposing to submit additional locations for de-obligation, applicants must submit the required evidence for these locations. If the provisionally awarded subgrantee has utilized this de-obligation file in their submission, the Va OoB will utilize the evidence submitted by stakeholders under the previously conducted process to document these de-obligations when submitted to NTIA in Virginia’s BEAD Final Proposal. BEAD applicants do not need to upload evidence for de-obligations for locations already in this file when they submit their applications in CAMS.
  4. Notification of Provisionally Selected Awardees
  5. Technical Assistance, Stakeholder Engagement, and Communications
  6. Subgrantee Transferring Awarded Locations to Another ISP
  7. Alternative Technology
    • ​​​​​​​This policy notice is broken down into two main sections. First, provides de-tails on requirements for submitting a challenge on the basis of either an enforceable commitment or provision of service by an Alternative Technology and BEAD funding is not needed for a location. Second, the Virginia Office of Broadband’s policies on the participation of low Earth orbit satellite providers in the Virginia BEAD program. 
    • In order to maintain progress on developing and submitting Virginia’s BEAD Final Proposal by the deadline of July 2025, this challenge process to identify Alternative Technology enforceable commitments, and locations already served by alternative technologies will begin on February 14 upon a public announcement to BEAD stakeholders in Virginia on the VA OoB’s email database. By February 21, 2025, the Alternative Technology provider must email broadband@dhcd.virginia.gov that it intends to submit evidence showing that it meets the standard established in this guidance.

DHCD also has additional resources available under the “Resources” tab on this website, including Recordings and Presentations from prior BEAD Application Workshops

Weekly Office Hours

Beginning on the week of December 9th, the Virginia Office of Broadband will hold weekly Office Hours for applicants under the BEAD Program. These weekly office hours will be held on Wednesdays at 1PM. Office Hours will not be held on Christmas or New Year’s Day, which are Wednesdays. To be added to the calendar invite to join these weekly office hours, please send an email with those email addresses requested to be added to broadband@dhcd.virginia.gov.

BEAD Timeline

The following timeline includes the most up-to-date information available to the Office of Broadband. Additional details to this timeline will be added, as approvals are received from NTIA and application processes begin. 

July 25, 2024 – NTIA Approves Initial Proposal Volume 2

September 24, 2024 – Virginia Office of Broadband Announces Start of BEAD Application Process

October 1, 2024 – Letter of Intent Submission Window Opens

November 30, 2024 – Letter of Intent Submission Window Closes

December 1, 2024 – 90-day Application Window Opens

December 23, 2024 – NTIA Approves Challenge Process Results

March 1, 2025 – Application Window Closes

TBA – Office of Broadband Notifies Provisionally Selected Applicants

TBD – Office of Broadband staff Opens Applications for No-Bid Areas and Locations

30 Days Later – No-Bid Areas and Locations Application Window Closes

TBA – Office of Broadband Recommends Proposed Awards to Governor Youngkin

TBD – Governor Youngkin Announces Provisionally Selected Applicants

Approx June 2025 – Public Comment Period on Virginia’s BEAD Final Proposal

Approx. June/July 2025 – Submission of Virginia’s BEAD Final Proposal to NTIA

Submitted BEAD Letters of Intent

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The below organizations submitted Letters of Intent to participate in Virginia’s BEAD Application Process. The name of each organization is hyperlinked to their submitted letter of intent.

Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services
All Points Broadband
Appalachian Broadband Innovators
East Kentucky Network, LLC, d/b/a Appalachian Wireless
Aristotle Unified Communications Inc
BARC Connects
Connect Holding II LLC d/b/a Brightspeed
Craig-Botetourt Electric Co-operative/Bee Online
Charter Spectrum
Citizens Telephone
Cogeco US (Delmar), LLC d/b/a Breezeline
Comcast
Cox Communications
EarthLink
EMPOWER
Eastern Shore of Virginia Broadband Authority
FastLink Communications
FiberLync
Firefly (CVEC)
GigaBeam Networks
Global Technical Networks/SPARQ
IBT Group USA
Intermountain Cable
iWISP
Kinex
Lumos
MGW Communications
Nelson Cable
Pembroke Telephone Coop (PemTel)
Point Broadband
Port 80
RiverStreet Networks
RURALBAND (Prince George Electric Coop)
Scott County Telephone Cooperative
SecureNet
Shenandoah Cable (Shentel)
Southside Network Authority
SpaceX
Talkie Communications
Two Hops Wireless
US Cellular
Verizon
Virginia Broadband
Virginia Union University
Wave2Net
ZiTel

 

BEAD ELIGIBLE LOCATIONS

DHCD has posted .csvs identifying BEAD eligible locations to the Open Data Portal, which can be accessed at this link. A list of BEAD eligible location IDs per BEAD application area is also available at this link.  These location identification numbers will be in version 3.2 of the Broadband Data Collection Fabric (“Fabric”). To download Fabric Location IDs for current fabric versions and previous, with full associated physical addresses, broadband providers must secure a Tier D License from CostQuest to view the statewide fabric. Broadband providers should visit https://apps.costquest.com/ntiarequest/ to request this full Fabric and address list. Local governments and Non-Profits must secure a Tier E License from CostQuest to view the statewide fabric. These groups should visit https://apps.costquest.com/ntiatiererequest/ to request this full Fabric and address list. More information about his Tier D and E licensure requests can be found here.