Federal Technology/Broadband Grants
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 expanded federal investment in modernizing technology infrastructure across the United States. Through newly created grant programs, the federal government has invested billions of new dollars to expand the availability and use of broadband facilities and services in unserved and underserved areas of the nation. These programs include the NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) ($4.4 billion), RUS Broadband Initiatives Program ($2.5 billion) and the Department of Energy’s Smart Grid Investment Program and related programs ($4.5 billion).
Some 120 federal laws govern federal technology grant awards. Compliance lapses with respect to any of these laws can lead to severe consequences. Inadequate documentation of costs or procurement decisions can cause even legitimate project costs to be disallowed, and adverse audit findings can affect the ability to win future grants and may require the payback of award funds to the U.S. Treasury. In this era, waste, fraud and abuse of federal grant funds also can result in financial and criminal penalties.
In addition, as the Federal Communications Commission moves to implement the National Broadband Plan, it will continue to make significant investments in technology by refocusing existing federal universal service funding under the high-cost, low-income, schools and libraries and rural health care universal service fund mechanisms to support affordable access to broadband facilities and services nationwide.
Patton Boggs’ TechComm group includes some of the nation’s leading authorities in legal compliance issues arising under Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant awards, including the former BTOP director of Compliance and Audits. We offer clients unmatched expertise and guidance to navigate the vast, and often complicated, array of award terms and conditions that accompany these grant funds due to compressed award timelines and milestones, heightened transparency requirements, and government scrutiny.
Our clients include both first-time and experienced grant award recipients, such as commercial entities (using wireline, terrestrial wireless and satellite broadband technologies), state and local governments, tribal entities, health care providers, nonprofit foundations and public-private partnerships. Because Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant awards carry reporting and compliance requirements that extend far beyond those attached to other grant programs, these awards present substantial compliance risks for all recipients.
The TechComm group at Patton Boggs offers clients a comprehensive and complete set of capabilities, providing timely, actionable, business-oriented recommendations and solutions on critical legal issues including:
- Formation and management of public-private partnerships
- Addressing allegations of waste, fraud and abuse
- Transfer and novation of grant awards
- Compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act and related acts
- Addressing Federal security interests in grant-funded property
- Subrecipient and vendor monitoring and performance
- Federal procurement standards
- Bid protests
- Federal tax compliance
- Environmental compliance
- Inspector General and Government Accountability Office audits
- Federal procurement standards
- Intellectual property rights in grant-funded inventions and works of authorship
- Federal nondiscrimination and interconnection requirements
- Qui tam and False Claims Act matters
- Duplication of federal funding, such as federal universal service support
- Human subject research requirements
To supplement the legal capabilities of the TechComm team at Patton Boggs, The Schultz Group, our strategic partner, also offers its unique expertise and is able to assist clients with federal technology grant administration and management issues.