March 30, 2022
On March 24, 2022, the Michigan legislature passed Senate Bill 565 and transitioned it to Governor Whitmer, who is expected to sign it. The bill provides $250,630,400 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) as a “one-time appropriation” for a “Michigan Statewide Broadband Services Grant Program.” In addition, the bill includes many provisions that ensure its members have a fair opportunity to compete and challenge for grant funding awards.
For more information on Senate Bill 565, please click here. The section regarding broadband service is in Section 359, which can be found on pages 40-50.
Geotech is here to assist you, and your company with the design and submitting for these funds to better serve your residents in your service exchange. Please feel in call us at 616-949-3340 or click on the “Contact Us” button on the page.
We look forward to working with you all as we continue to improve the broadband connections of Michigan.
Quick Information of Senate Bill 565
Allocation of Appropriation:
- $12,531,520 is available to operate the MIHI Office
- $87,720,640 may be used for middle-mile facilities infrastructure
- At least $150,378,240 will be available for last-mile grants, based on amounts allocated for MIHI and middle mile
Application Timelines and Deadlines:
- The Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) is required to establish criteria for determining infrastructure grants and publish them on website within 60 days after funds are released by the federal government
- Applicants have 60 days to submit applications after the LEO publishes the criteria.
- After scoring applications, LEO has 10 days to publish its website redacted versions of applications that we receive award recommendations.
- LEO must provide at least 45 days from the publication date of recommended awards for the recipient of comments and objections to applications.
- When a grant is awarded, LEO must immediately publish the information on its website.
Allowable funding uses
- Grants for last-mile applications can only be allocated for projects that support the provision of broadband service in unserved areas.
- Grants for middle-mile applications can be used to support the provision of broadband service of at least 100 MBPS downstream, 20 MBPS upstream, and scalable to at least 100 MBPS upstream exclusively to unserved areas.
Who can Apply
An Internet service provider, which is defined as:
- An entity holding a license under the Michigan telecommunications act
- An entity holding a franchise under the uniform video services local franchise act
- An entity currently providing broadband service in Michigan
An eligible sub-recipient, which is defined as:
- No internet service provider has directly applied for an infrastructure grant in the same unserved area and
- The government entity has entered into a “public-private partnership with an Internet service provider” and the partnership was subject to “a competitive bidding process.”
