NYC’s Education Department and Public Library Pull Out of FCC’s Cybersecurity Initiative

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2025 – The New York City Department of Education and the New York Public Library system have pulled out of the Federal Communications Commission’s $200 million Cybersecurity Pilot Program.

In a Monday letter to the Wireline Competition Bureau, NYCDOE E-rate Compliance Officer Junaid Qaiser did not go into detail about the department’s decision to pull out, stating only that “due to our lengthy procurement process, we will not have a registered contract for cybersecurity services, procured under E-rate rules, by the program’s application deadline of September 15, 2025.”

The NYPL’s letter, written by Associate Director of Network Engineering Jeff Marable, was even shorter, stating only that the 92-location strong system was requesting to withdraw from the program and that it had been an “honor” to be selected.

A request for comment from Qaiser by Broadband Breakfast was not answered in time for publication.

The FCC’s Cybersecurity Pilot Program is funded by the Universal Service Fund and seeks to help schools, libraries, and consortiums of those organizations bolster their cyber defenses by funding the purchase of cybersecurity services and equipment. 

When the FCC announced the launch of the three-year pilot program in September, it drew widespread interest around the country. In all, 2,734 applications requesting a total of $3.7 billion flooded the office, dwarfing the program’s $200 million budget. 

With so many requests, the FCC was forced to turn down many of the bidders, selecting 707 applicants based on need, geographic diversity, and other factors. The NYCDOE and NYPL were selected as participants for the initiative in January, and had until Tuesday to withdraw from the program.

Once an applicant was selected for the program, it was required to conduct a bidding process or work through a Master Services Agreement negotiated on its behalf to collect bids for its desired cybersecurity equipment and services. Only after completing this process, and submitting the corresponding paperwork to the FCC, could an entity receive funding from the pilot program.

Evidently, the NYCDOE and the NYPL were unable or unwilling to complete that process. Though they represented only two out of the 707 selected applicants, they were almost certainly two of the largest participants. The NYCDOE is the largest public school system in the country by enrollment, serving nearly one million K-12 students, while the New York Public Library is the second largest public library system in the U.S., dwarfed only by the Library of Congress. 

At least 15 other participants have withdrawn from the program, though almost none are near as large as NYCDOE or NYPL.