NTIA Releases Guidance for BEAD Buy America Compliance

NASHVILLE, July 30, 2024 – The Commerce Department released new domestic manufacturing guidance on Tuesday for internet providers looking to participate in the agency’s $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

The Infrastructure Act requires federally funded projects to comply with its Build America, Buy America rules, which call for two things: all construction materials – like fiber optic cable – and manufactured products – like casings and some electronic components – must be manufactured in the United States, and 55 percent of the component cost for the manufactured products must be spent with American suppliers.

Earlier this year, Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration waived those rules for many other components that are necessary for broadband networks but not yet able to be manufactured in the U.S. at scale, most importantly semiconductors.

Tuesday’s guidance lays out a process for manufacturers to self-certify, “at the risk of penalty,” that their products were made domestically and met the component cost requirements set out in the NTIA’s BABA waiver. The NTIA will maintain a list of providers that elect to self-certify online. 

As for participating providers, they’ll need to get a certification letter from manufacturers that their non-waived equipment was BABA compliant. They’ll also have to make a tracker of certain waived products they use and share that with states, the entities that will ultimately be administering grants under BEAD, and the NTIA.

The agency said the data will be “used to better understand the electronics used in domestic broadband deployments, including the specific types of equipment, their ubiquity, and their country of origin.”

“This release is timely, as subgrantees are preparing to bid on BEAD deployments across the country, and both subgrantees and manufacturers need clear rules of the road on how to report on BABA compliance,” NTIA senior policy advisor Will Arbuckle wrote in a blog post Tuesday.

Manufacturers of both fiber and the non-waived network components have been ramping up domestic production efforts to meet BEAD demand.

Companies like Nokia and Adtran have announced compliance with their equipment already, but states are largely still processing government broadband data in advance of fielding grant applications, with pack-leader Louisiana just beginning the pre-qualification process for those applicants.

Analysts at New Street Research have predicted BEAD money will start flowing in earnest in 2026.