Colorado Opens BEAD Public Comment Window

July 15, 2024 – Colorado’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program’s public comment window opened on Friday, allowing the public to review and provide feedback on the process before it launches later this year. 

The public comment window for Colorado's BEAD Grant Program will accept comments through August 12, allowing feedback on the BEAD draft project area map, draft grant program guidelines, and draft grant agreement.

The draft project area map identifies all Colorado locations eligible for BEAD funding to connect unserved and underserved areas in Colorado. 

The Colorado Broadband Office outlined its process for finding eligible locations for BEAD projects in Volume 2 of its initial proposal, which was approved by the NTIA on June 3.

The BEAD draft grant program guidelines details Colorado’s goals for BEAD funding, the application process, scoring criteria, and requirements for fund recipients. 

The NTIA approved the state's BEAD initial proposal volume one, which outlined the broadband coverage map challenge processes, and volume two, which details how it will conduct the subgrant process, in June. Colorado was awarded $826 million from the $42.5-billion BEAD program and will have one year to award subgrants.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly said that Colorado's map received approval from the NTIA on June 3. In fact, the NTIA approved the state's Volume 2 initial proposal on June 3. The initial proposal does not include a draft project area map. The story has been corrected.