PROVIDENCE – Gov. Donald L. Carcieri has named eight state officials and two private sector executives to a new Broadband Review Team tasked with deciding how the state should use stimulus money for high-speed Internet expansion, the governor’s office said last week.
Federal officials announced late last month that they would begin accepting applications for more than half of the $7.2 billion that Congress set aside as part of the economic stimulus law to expand broadband Internet access in the United States. The two agencies in charge of distributing the money have been directed to share it between all 50 states.
Rhode Island’s Broadband Review Team is co-chaired by the state’s chief information officer, John Landers, and Michael Pickett, chief information officer for computer and information services at Brown University. Its eight other members are:
- Thomas Ahern, administrator, Division of Public Utilities and Carriers.
- Carole Cotter, chief information officer, information services, Lifespan.
- Stuart Freiman, business development manager, digital media, R.I. Economic Development Corporation.
- Chris Long, policy adviser, policy and legislative affairs, Governor’s Office.
- Tony Lupinacci, enterprise network service manager, Division of Information Technology, state of Rhode Island.
- David Porter, director, media and technology services, University of Rhode Island.
- Richard Prull, assistant vice president for information services, Rhode Island College.
- Stephen Vieira, chief information officer/executive director of information technology, Community College of Rhode Island.
The group met twice in May and June, according to RI.gov, and was scheduled to hold its first public meeting last Thursday.
The governor’s office said the state will focus on securing money from the $4.7 billion set to be distributed through the newly created Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA).
The program will make one-time, two-year competitive grants to states, qualifying nonprofit organizations and broadband service providers to increase broadband access. Grant recipients must match 20 percent of the federal government’s grant using non-federal dollars.
Applications for funding from the program must be submitted to the NTIA by Aug. 14. After review, the NTIA will forward a list of finalists to Carcieri’s office. The Broadband Review Team will recommend to the governor which projects his administration should support.
The governor’s office said the panel will use the following criteria to evaluate applications for broadband funding:
- Experience in building and managing a network.
- Ability to get a network built quickly (funded projects need to be completed two years from date of grant).
- Ability to pay the 20 percent match.
- Sustainability, an assurance that the network has a business model after the initial two years.
- Partnerships and the ability to have the network serve as many people as possible, especially public safety, health care, higher education and libraries.
- Spur job creation.
- Submission of a system design and project timeline, certified by a professional engineer, for projects requesting funds greater than $1 million.
The stimulus package also included another $2.5 billion that will be distributed through a program run by the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service. The governor’s office did not mention that program in its news release.
Additional information is available at Recovery.RI.gov and BroadbandUSA.gov.
