Louisiana Administrative Code
Title 4 - ADMINISTRATION
Part XXI - Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities
Chapter 3 - Applications
Section XXI-309 - Project Area(s) and Locations to be Served

a. Data and information relating to areas proposed to be served is required in order to confirm that the project is serving eligible areas, to accurately score the application; and track progress and completion of the project if awarded. If documentation is deemed insufficient, the office reserves the right to request additional supporting documentation. If the proposed project would result in the provision of broadband service to areas that are not eligible for funding, those ineligible areas shall be identified in the application along with the eligible areas. An applicant is allowed to propose construction of broadband infrastructure to GUMBO-ineligible locations if the proposed project includes GUMBO-eligible locations, and the applicant reports this intention. An applicant may not use any GUMBO grant funding to build to these ineligible locations. Broadband infrastructure deployment to ineligible areas must result as a natural byproduct of broadband infrastructure deployment to eligible areas, and an applicant is not allowed to use any GUMBO grant funding for deployment to ineligible areas. Any potential grant awardee proposing to build broadband infrastructure to GUMBO-ineligible areas will be subjected to additional and rigorous auditing and control standards to ensure compliance with all applicable state and federal law. In no instance shall the number of ineligible locations proposed exceed 25 percent of the number of GUMBO-eligible locations contained within an application.

b. Data and information included shall be relevant to the proposed project area and include the number of prospective broadband recipients that will be served and have access to broadband as a result of the project. For the proposed area to be served, the total cost per prospective broadband recipient must be provided, as well as the GUMBO cost per prospective broadband recipient.

c. The office reserves the right to request any additional data and technical information the office deems necessary.

d. Additionally, applicants may also submit applications for areas where transmission speeds are advertised as reliably meeting or exceeding 100:20 Mbps, if indisputable data is available to establish, to the satisfaction of the office, at its sole discretion, that delivered transmission speeds are reliably less than 100:20 Mbps. Such data should be statistically significant and fully support the application. In no instance should such data provide conflicting data points.

e. Data Submission Requirements

f. Additional Data Sets

a. The application requires an assessment of the current level of broadband access in the proposed deployment area. Within this section of the application, the applicant should describe what they believe to be the current level of service within the area and provide the data source or methodology used to capture this information. Raw data may be submitted as part of the assessment.

a. Applicants are required to sign the statement of attestation to attest to the office that the project area identified within the application is eligible as of the close of the applicable application period, as defined by Louisiana Revised Statutes 51:2370.1 through 2370.16 and this Part, to the best of their knowledge. The attestation statement and signature shall be included as part of the application.