NTIA still undecided about fate of public-safety LTE projects funded with BTOP money

Public-safety LTE projects funded with federal grants from the Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program (BTOP) remain in limbo more than six weeks after Congress passed legislation calling for a five-year extension for awardees to utilize unspent BTOP funds through fiscal year 2020.

In its Continuing Resolution that was approved at the end of September to ensure that the federal government would continue operating without an approved budget at the time, Congress included language that state that “funds made available, including funds that have expired by have not been cancelled” are available through the 2020 deadline. Prior to the legislation, BTOP fund were due to expire on Sept. 30.

Industry and Beltway sources said that a primary reason that the language was included in the continuing resolution was to provide the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) requested additional time to spend the $30-50 million remaining in its BTOP award to expand its public-safety LTE network. Earlier this year, LA-RICS cut the number of LTE sites in the new broadband system from 231 sites to 78 sites, but the extension would allow LA-RICS to bolster the system with additional sites.

However, a spokeswoman for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) confirmed that no legal decisions had been to determine whether LA-RICS or any of the other BTOP-funded public-safety LTE projects would be eligible for the five-year extension.

 “In light of the legislative language, we have been engaging with active grantees to evaluate whether those projects might benefit from the additional time provided by Congress,” according to an NTIA statement. “Whether specific projects or grantees meet the legislative and programmatic requirements for additional time or funding will be determined on an individual-case basis.”

Most Beltway sources believe that the LA-RICS public-safety LTE project will qualify for the extension, because that project was the primary reason for the language being inserted into the continuing resolution. Indeed, some local-area documents shared with Los Angeles officials indicated that LA-RICS would receive the extension.

But LA-RICS Executive Director Patrick Mallon was much more conservative in his assessment of the situation, noting recently that the direction he had received from NTIA was to complete the current LA-RICS public-safety LTE deployment by the end of the year before tackling any questions about the possible extension.

While most sources said they are confident that LA-RICS would receive the five-year extension, they indicated that the ability for other BTOP public-safety LTE project to access any additional BTOP funds are very much in doubt.

First, to access additional BTOP grants, a BTOP project must have funds remaining from its initial award. BTOP projects in the state of New Mexico, the state of New Jersey and Adam County, Colo., have been completed as planned, meaning little or no grant money is still available for those initiatives.

In addition, the legislation calls for the extension to apply only to “active” BTOP projects. In the public-safety arena, BTOP funds for the city of Charlotte, N.C., were not used for LTE deployment and the was closed, according to numerous sources.