Broadband Technical Assistance

The Rural eConnectivity Program (ReConnect) was authorized under 7 U.S.C. 901 et seq., and Pub. L. 115-141, §779. The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will use technical assistance funds appropriated under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (Pub. L. 117-58). Applications received under the FOA will be administered by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS or the Agency), a Rural Development (RD) agency of the United States Department of Agriculture. The assistance instrument for this program will be through cooperative agreements which RD is authorized to administer pursuant to 7 U.S.C. 2204b(b)(4). This FOA provides competitive cooperative agreement funding to eligible entities to ensure technical assistance and training is delivered to rural communities in need of high-speed internet and rural broadband providers. Program funds must be used to support broadband technical assistance activities which include, but are not limited to, project planning and community engagement, operations support, financial sustainability, environmental compliance, engineering, accessing federal resources, and data collection and reporting. The goal of the program is to support the expansion of high-speed internet into unserved rural communities. Applications submitted for consideration will be reviewed for eligibility and completeness. Applications determined to be eligible will be evaluated according to the scoring criteria outlined in the FOA. The scoring criterion is targeted to applicants that demonstrate strong work plans, organizational capacity, clear performance metrics, and the ability to reach the most rural communities. Points are also available for projects benefitting targeted groups such as Tribes and Tribal Entities, colonias, persistent poverty counties, and distressed energy communities. Failure to collect proper information from applicants could hinder the government’s selection of funding recipients, and result in improper determinations of assistance, increase legal costs to the recipients as well as encumber customer service and, ultimately, slow the deployment of assistance to rural areas in need of high-speed internet. The timing of technical assistance is critical due to the historic levels of broadband funding made available under the IIJA. The programs created and funded under the IIJA are beginning to disburse funding and technical assistance is critical to ensure unserved rural communities are able to participate in these programs, successfully implement projects and properly manage funds.

The latest form for Broadband Technical Assistance expires 2026-07-31 and can be found here.