Evan Feinman Out at Commerce Department’s NTIA
The former BEAD director urged stakeholders to speak up against changes to the program that might be disruptive.
Jake Neenan
WASHINGTON, March 16, 2025 – Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program Director Evan Feinman is no longer with the Commerce Department, he said on Sunday morning. Friday was his last day leading the $42.5 billion program.
“I am disappointed not to be able to see this project through, but I remain deeply proud of the work we got done together and the team at NTIA that I leave behind to see the job through,” Evan Feinman said in an email. “I don't know what my next chapter will be, and I'm going to take some time to consider that.”
Feinman had directed the program’s implementation at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration since 2022. He previously spent more than 6 years heading Virginia’s Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission before becoming the chief broadband advisor to then-Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.
The former BEAD director said he thinks the Trump administration is certain to remove provisions related to climate resilience, labor protections, and others – the parts of the program assailed by Republicans as being unrelated to deployment – and to institute some kind of per-location spending cap, above which the NTIA won’t greenlight state BEAD projects.
The first of those, Feinman said, likely wouldn’t be disruptive, as the rules in question weren’t significant parts of the program anyway. But a spending cap “could be very bad,” depending on how low it is. A low threshold would be the most direct way for NTIA to force states to spend less money on fiber and more money on fixed wireless or satellite, something that some in the GOP have consistently pushed for.
“There is still time to help the administration make the right call here,” Feinman wrote. He urged stakeholders to “reach out to your congressional delegation and reach out to the Trump Administration and tell them to strip out the needless requirements, but not to strip away from states the flexibility to get the best connections for their people.”
BEAD currently prioritizes fiber projects because of its higher speed and thus greater longevity, but it is more expensive to deploy than other technologies. States can fund non-fiber projects if fiber would be too expensive – a determination states themselves are allowed to make – or if no fiber providers are interested in a given area.
Republicans in Congress, and President Donald Trump himself in a podcast interview, have consistently advocated for making it easier to fund low-earth orbit satellite, arguing it can get people connected quicker for less money.
Elon Musk, a major benefactor of and close advisor to Trump, owns the satellite ISP Starlink, which dominates the market.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said the department is “revamping the BEAD program to take a tech-neutral approach,” but hasn't given guidance on what specifically that will entail.
The possibility of a spending cap, and where it might be set, is something the industry has been watching for. New Street Research analysts have said a per-location cap of $10,000 or lower would materially shift BEAD money away from fiber.
House Republicans introduced a bill this month that would make a host of specific changes to BEAD, including axing low-cost plan requirements and the other provisions Feinman mentioned. Notably, lawmakers did not seek to institute a per-location spending cap.
After three years of mapping and planning efforts, more than 30 states have already begun the process of fielding grant applications under the current BEAD rules. Three states had received the go-ahead on their spending plans under the Biden administration.
The three are being held up by a review from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which, among other things, functions as the NTIA’s grants administrator for BEAD, although the Trump administration hasn’t announced a formal pause on funding or the program.
Feinman urged the Trump administration to let those states out of limbo and to let states nearly done selecting preliminary winners move forward under the old rules, both of which he said would help avoid the disruption of having to re-do part of the process.
“If the administration cares about getting things done, they should allow any state that comes forward with a Final Proposal under the old rules in the next couple of months move forward with that plan,” he said.
The former BEAD director had put on a brave face back in November, telling ISPs he had no plans to leave the agency and didn’t foresee major changes under Trump. The Trump administration has made a concerted effort to push out federal employees, including non-political appointees like Feinman.
It’s not immediately clear who will succeed Feinman. Trump’s pick to lead NTIA, Arielle Roth, who had voiced many criticisms of BEAD, has yet to be confirmed.
