Alaska Broadband Office The Alaska Broadband Office (ABO) was created on August 9, 2022, when Governor Dunleavy signed Alaska House Bill 363 into law. The State of Alaska had been engaged in broadband work for several years, most recently highlighted through efforts of the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband in their Final Report issued in November of 2021. Formal broadband efforts were then transferred to the Commissioner’s Office in the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. The Alaska Broadband Office oversees the State of Alaska's efforts to ensure all Alaskans have high quality, affordable internet. This will be done through two federal programs: the Digital Equity Act (DE) and the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. These programs, established under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) passed by Congress in November 2021, allocate funds to expand broadband access for underserved and unserved communities in Alaska. Alaska Broadband Grant Program The Alaska Broadband Grant Program and Application Specific Guidance is in a 30-day Executive Order Impact Review, starting March 21, 2025. The Alaska Broadband Grant Program has been paused for 30 days to evaluate the impact of the President’s Executive Orders (EO) on the Alaska Broadband Grant Program Notice of Funding Opportunity. Prospective applicants are encouraged to continue working on: Criterion 3 – Financial Capability Criterion 5 – Technical Capability The ABO wants your input during the 30 day review. The ABO will be holding two public listening sessions for public/applicant input. The listening session times and TEAMS links are here. The ABO has performed an initial DRAFT evaluation of the EO impact. That criterion and scoring impact can be found here. A comparison of the criterion and scoring impact evaluation to the original criterion and scoring matrix can be found here. Access to the original NOFO, appendices, and related resources can be found here. Request for Proposals AK BROADBAND GRANT RECIPIENT NEPA REVIEWER - Alaska Online Public Notices PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER REVIEW FOR THE ALASKA BROADBAND GRANT PROJECT - Alaska Online Public Notices Alaska Digital Empowerment Capacity Grant Program Application specific guidance is available here. To view the NOFO, appendices, and related resources click here To request paper copies of the Notice of Funding Opportunity, Application, and Appendices and for general questions please email the Grant Administrator at jan.cox@alaska.gov or call 907-269-5797. Technical Assistance Sessions To view meeting times click here.