NTIA Planning to Finish BEAD Approvals by May
New notices of funding for the agency’s Tribal programs would come in late spring or early summer, a spokesperson said.
WASHINGTON, March 27, 2026 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is aiming to approve all state broadband spending plans by May 2026.
Just California, Illinois, and Oklahoma have yet to receive NTIA’s approval on their slice of the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. NTIA was planning to approve those plans within 90 days of submission, a deadline that has passed for each of the three states.
NTIA told the Commerce Department Office of Inspector General that it “plans to approve all final proposals by May 2026.” The OIG published on March 19 the latest of its biannual reports on NTIA’s broadband funding programs.
The agency also told the OIG it plans to publish new notices of funding opportunity for its Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program and for a Tribal entity allocation from its otherwise canceled Digital Equity Act programs sometime “in spring 2026.”
An NTIA spokesperson said the deadlines were all generally correct. They said the new NOFOs would probably come in “late spring/early summer.”
The agency didn’t say what was causing the delay on the three outstanding BEAD plans.
BEAD progress
While California, Illinois, and Oklahoma are lagging, the 53 other states and territories have had their spending plans cleared by NTIA and many are gaining access to their funding.
States and territories have to clear a separate review from the National Institute of Standard and Technology, BEAD’s grants manager, and then sign their award agreement with NTIA before officially having access to their allocations.
As of Thursday, 45 states and 5 territories had cleared NIST review according to NTIA's tracker. The only approved entities waiting on that step are D.C., Mississippi, and Washington.
As for grant agreements, 38 states and territories had signed the documents. That’s up from 35 NIST approvals and 20 signed grant agreements one month ago on Feb. 26.
Signed grant agreements are the last step before states can start signing contracts with the ISPs they selected for BEAD grants. Many states are working on the terms of those contracts now.
Tribal programs
NTIA paused the second round of its Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program in November in an effort to “reduce administrative burdens, prevent duplication, and ensure consistency across NTIA’s broadband initiatives.” Pending applications under the round were rejected.
The agency is still planning a new notice of funding opportunity, which a spokesperson said would come in spring or early summer of this year. The agency said at the time that the new round would make at least $500 million in funding available.
As for the first round, $1.8 billion was awarded under the Biden administration and projects had connected 5,800 homes as of April 30, 2025. About 160,000 homes are set to be connected when those projects are completed.
NTIA also opted not to cancel one $7.9 million Digital Equity Act grant, which was made to a Tribal entity, and told OIG it was still providing oversight of that award.
The $2.75 billion program was mainly targeted at states and nonprofits, and NTIA canceled each of those awards last year at the direction of the White House. The agency said pending Tribal applications were rejected. Participants are suing the Trump administration over the cancellations.
The Tribal slice of Digital Equity Act money, which the OIG report says is at least $95.3 million, was not canceled entirely. A new NOFO for that pot of cash would also come in spring or early summer, the spokesperson said.
Middle mile
NTIA also gave an update on its $1 billion Middle Mile program. So far recipients reported 6,000 miles of fiber deployed and 13 towers built.
Of the 37 awardees, two “requested to terminate their awards for convenience,” and five others had completed their work. The agency extended some projects’ deadlines and expected to continue issuing those as needed.
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