5. Amount of Grant Funding Allocations
The total Consortia program appropriation as authorized in SB 1040 is $10 million. The majority of parties support a base funding of $150,000 per Consortium per year over a three-year period as a standard for awarding grants. Various parties note that setting a core funding level of $150,000 per year and $450,000 for three years was the original basis for projecting a need of $10 million in the Consortia Account as enacted by SB 1040. However, instead of using a base of $150,000 as a core standard, the Commission plans to initially award grants based only upon the budgeted level of program activities approved for each Consortium, subject to a maximum funding cap of $150,000 per year per Consortium. The initial round of consortia applications may request funding covering up to a three-year period, capped at no more than $450,000 per consortium. Where an application seeks muti-year funding, however, the application must still present separate year-by-year annual workplans and budgets.
Various parties state that a modified approach is warranted within Los Angeles County in view of its concentrated population whereby grants may be requested in lesser amounts by smaller sub-regional Consortia. We agree that a modified funding approach is warranted for the Los Angeles County region, to allow for grants funding separate sub-regional Consortia that are partners of a larger regional Consortium. Therefore, for the Los Angeles region, we shall require the larger regional Consortium to be the umbrella organization submitting one application on behalf of all partnering sub-regional consortia. Each sub-regional consortium's action plan, work plan, budget, key contact information, and members will be consolidated into the application submitted by the larger regional Consortium with whom they are partners.
Consortia applicants will bear responsibility to identify the separate grant amounts requested for any sub-regional consortia partners, taking into account the smaller scope of a sub-region's planned activities, and recognizing that the nature of deployment and adoption issues in major served urban areas within the Los Angeles metropolitan region is very different from unserved and underserved rural areas in need of infrastructure. Each sub-regional Consortium must reflect such differences in budget and funding requests for its sub-region. In any event, the overall combined grant limits for all Los Angeles sub-regional consortia shall not exceed the established caps of $150,000 per year and $450,000 for three years.
Depending on the number and size of given sub-regional Consortia, the requested size of grants should thus be reduced accordingly in relation to grants for larger regional Consortia. Application requirements specified in this decision applicable to regional Consortia shall also apply to sub-regional Consortium. In addition, a sub-regional Consortium application must clearly identify its partner relationship with a larger regional Consortium.
The disbursement of funds at any time is subject to Commission discretion, including a review-and-approval process of each grantee through regular site visits, progress reports on a quarterly basis or as needed, supporting invoices and receipts, and execution of and compliance with a signed Consent Form. A sample Consent Form is included as Attachment H. Before the Commission releases any awarded CASF Consortia Grant Account funds to the Grantee, the Grantee must complete and execute the Consent Form and return it to the Communications Division. As the sample Consent Form states, it binds the Grantee to the terms, conditions, and requirements of both the Decision and the resolution awarding the grant.
In addition to the base grant, several parties also propose supplemental funding of $2,000 per person for up to five delegates annually to participate in a "Regional Consortia Learning Community Summit." As proposed by various parties, the purpose of this summit would be for the various regional consortia to gather as one large "learning community" to exchange information and ideas among themselves as to lessons learned and best practices to achieve common broadband adoption and deployment goals. We agree that a periodic gathering of all regional consortia to exchange information and ideas could be useful, and hereby adopt the proposal. The summit shall be hosted by the Commission's Communications Division. Specific information concerning the specific scheduling, location, and agenda for the first summit meeting will be posted on the Commission's website. We expect that the first "learning community" summit will be scheduled at the conclusion of the first year of CASF consortia funding activity.
The Commission will consider supplemental funding in addition to the base grant capped at $2,000 per person for up to five delegates annually as long as an applicant utilizes the additional funds exclusively for broadband access, adoption, and sustainability, such as participation in learning summits, workshops, conferences, and/or training to share best practices, to promote team-building among Consortia, and to facilitate networking across geographic regions. Applicants are required to provide supporting documentation of collective anticipated costs per person as part of its Action Plan and Work Plan with its application. Any actual reimbursement will be subject to the State of California Administrative Manual requirements for cost ceilings and documentation to support reimbursement of per-diem expenses incurred in connection with state-related business.
The actual amount of the award of individual grants and supplemental funding should be determined in relation to the broadband needs for the geographic and demographic region represented by the given regional Consortium seeking funding. As noted above, the specific amount of grant funding requested must be limited to the costs of eligible activities that the Consortium expects to incur, supported by an attached budget that collectively details the expected costs of proposed Consortium program activities. An applicant is required to keep detailed records, i.e., invoices and receipts, of each program element as specified below. These program elements must, in turn, be supported by an attached Action Plan and Work Plan, as well as execution of a Consent Form as previously discussed.
Our adopted limits on grant funding will help to ensure that a wide range of regions throughout California to have the opportunity to share in the $10 million Consortium funding program. By further limiting the actual annual funding limit to the Commission-approved budgeted level of planned activity in a given region, we will maintain assurance that funds are allocated in a fair and cost-effective manner.
Before the end of the initial CASF Consortia Grant Account funding period, the Commission's Communication Division will post a schedule for a new round of application filings to award remaining unencumbered Consortia grant funds. The Commission will establish this new round of application filings to allow those who initially applied but were not successful in securing grants another opportunity to participate in the grant program. In addition, previously awarded Consortia grant recipients may file applications at that time for renewed funding of additional activities. The Commission will consider how efficiently and cost-effectively any previously granted Consortia funds were spent as a basis for awarding of any new and/or additional funding.
