NTIA ADVISER SAYS BLOCK GRANTS MAY NOT WORK FOR STIMULUS MONEY

摘要

Block grants to states may not qualify as the competitive award that the law requires in distributing the $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus money, Laurence Atlas, a senior adviser to the NTIA, said at a meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures' communications committee in Washington. But Atlas, who spoke alongside RUS outreach coordinator Mary Campagnolo, wouldn't flatly rule out block grants. The officials said their agencies hope to present before July details of what they expect of grant applicants. The RUS is busy expanding staff and hiring contractors to handle an expected flood of applications, Campagnolo said. "We can't handle them with our current resources." The service plans three rounds of awards, the first to start as early as June and refinements to be made for later ones, she said.