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Receive an update on the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Broadband Infrastructure project and consider providing further direction on project options
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Department of Information Technology (DoIT) recommends that the Board of Supervisors receive an update on the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Broadband Infrastructure project and consider providing further direction on project options.
SUMMARY:
Under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF), the Board previously allocated $2,200,000 for broadband infrastructure projects aimed at partnering with existing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to expand services to unserved and underserved locations in unincorporated Solano County.
Since the initial allocation of funding, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) provided an opportunity for local ISPs to apply for $17,000,000 in Federal Funding Account (FFA) Last Mile grants for Solano County, with funding decisions expected by June 2024. As to not duplicate efforts and maximize resources, staff was planning on aligning Solano County ARPA funding with the CPUC allocation of funding. However, the CPUC has not announced allocations of funding for Solano and cannot give a solid timeline for allocation.
Given this uncertainty, and the need to allocate County ARPA funding by December 2024, staff have identified three projects with providers who qualified through a Request for Information which would build fiber and fixed wireless infrastructure to provide high-speed broadband services to 1,515 local residential and business locations in unincorporated Solano County. Staff is seeking direction on moving forward with these projects to ensure ARPA funds are obligated within the ARPA deadlines.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The Board previously allocated $2,200,000 of the approximately $86 million of APRA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) to increase access to high-speed broadband in unincorporated Solano County. There is no additional fiscal impact with providing direction on use of these funds.
DISCUSSION:
In May 2022, the Board approved a contract with Boston Consulting Group to prepare informed project recommendations to improve broadband infrastructure and access in Solano County. The Broadband Infrastructure and Digital Equity Subject Matter Workgroup, led by DoIT, engaged various local agencies-including county departments, cities, ISPs, anchor institutions, and other non-profit organizations-to develop project options for consideration. This report was completed in August 2022.
As part of the recommendations from the report, on August 23, 2022, the Board allocated $2,200,000 to support the development of expanded broadband fiber and/or wireless infrastructure in unincorporated Solano County by partnering with local ISPs and leveraging ARPA funding as a match to either their ISP contributions alone or alongside state and federal grant funding.
In July 2023, DoIT issued a Request for Information (RFI) for Deployment of Fiber Broadband in Unincorporated Solano County to qualify ISPs to work with the County to expand broadband infrastructure using ARPA funding. ATT, Cal.net, Comcast, and Valley Internet responded to the RFI and were each qualified as potential partners for future projects.
Also in July 2023, the CPUC opened applications for the Federal Funding Account (FFA) Last Mile grant program, a $2 billion grant program for last-mile broadband infrastructure projects to connect unserved Californians. Over $59 million in FFA grant requests were submitted for Solano County for the available $17 million in designated funding. Solano County wrote letters of support for ATT, Cal.net, and Comcast for proposed projects in unincorporated Solano County. Valley Internet did not apply for FFA funding. As part of the RFI, ATT was the only applicant that requested the County to provide match funding for the FFA grant program. The County did agree to provide up to $1 million dollars in ARPA funding as a match to a possible CPUC FFA award to ATT.
The CPUC initially indicated that funding decisions would be made no later than June 2024. The CPUC is announcing awards of funding by County and as of early August 2024, the CPUC has announced the fourth round of recommended awardees, but these rounds have not yet included Solano County. The CPUC indicates that the final recommendations may not be released until fall 2024, with some FFA funding possibly delayed until 2025 due to state budget shortfalls in 2024.
Staff have been waiting for the CPUC to announce awards for FFA funding in Solano County so that the County designated ARPA funds could be allocated appropriately. The delays in the CPUC funding recommendations are now impacting the County’s ability to encumber ARPA funding by the Treasury deadline of December 31, 2024.
Due to these CPUC delays, staff propose the following project options:
• Withdraw the $1 million match funding letter of support commitment for a possible FFA award to ATT.
• Move forward with contracting for the following projects:
1. $400,000 to Comcast to deploy fiber to the home for up to 108 locations in Elmira, with a clause that if the CPUC awards FFA funding for Elmira, these funds would be allocated to another unincorporated area of Solano County to provide improved broadband services.
2. $856,540 to Valley Internet for fixed wireless broadband for up to 570 locations in Pleasants Valley, Suisun Valley, and Green Valley. Funds will be spent to improve transmitters at several tower locations to expand the service areas. Connection costs would not be covered.
3. $943,460 to Cal.net for fixed wireless broadband in various unincorporated Solano County locations serving up to 837 locations. Cal.net was a recipient of Connect America Fund Phase II (CAFII) funding for significant areas of unincorporated Solano County. County ARPA funding would be used to provide additional transmitters focused on non-CAFII funded areas as well as to offset connection charges for individual locations. There are over 4,000 possible locations; however, funding would only cover connection costs for 837 locations. Other locations would have to fund the connection costs themselves after ARPA funds are expended.
Fixed wireless broadband provided by the Valley Internet and Cal.net projects provide a cost-effective solution to provide broadband services to rural Solano County locations and meets the ARPA download and upload requirements for challenging geographic areas.
Staff is seeking direction on moving forward with the projects outlined above to ensure that the County can meet ARPA obligation deadlines.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose not to receive the presentation on broadband infrastructure project options or provide further direction. This is not recommended as the obligation deadline for ARPA funding is December 31, 2024. The Board of Supervisors may also direct staff to remove any or all project options presented from future consideration in determining ARPA infrastructure funding or direct staff to return with alternate project options or additional information on any of the project options presented.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
DoIT coordinated with the County Administrator’s Office, Health and Social Services, County Library and over 30 other agencies to develop the recommendations.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION