TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Jon Gjestvang - Chief Information Office, Information Technology Services
REPORT BY: Julia Bordona - Staff Services Manager
SUBJECT: Request Approval of an MOU with Comcast for FFA Grant Funding for Broadband Deployment Projects
RECOMMENDATION
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County Executive Officer, Chief Information Officer and Director of Library Services and Community Outreach request the following actions related to the implementation of Broadband solutions:
1. Approval of and authorization for the Chair to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) No. 8667 with Comcast Cable Communications, LLC (Comcast) for the pursuit of funding for Broadband deployment projects effective September 12, 2023 which shall continue to the later of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) review period or, if awarded, 36 months from the date of award; and
2. Approval of and authorization for the Chair to sign a Letter of Support for Comcast’s grant application to the Federal Funding Account (FFA) for an award to financially assist with Last Mile Broadband deployment.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The County Broadband team has worked on various Broadband tasks since the last update to the Board of Supervisors in June 2022. This work included commencing activities on a County Broadband Strategic Plan with Tilson, working with the North Bay-North Coast Broadband Consortium (NBCBC) on Broadband digital equity (DE) education and outreach to residents in the consortium’s four counties, and seeking future Broadband funding and project opportunities with the Rural County Representatives of California’s (RCRC) Golden State Connect Authority (GSCA). The County’s Broadband team also continues its efforts to recruit a full-time Broadband Project Manager.
Today's request is approval of an MOU with Comcast to seek California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) administered funds for the deployment of Last Mile Broadband to those residents who are underserved as noted in the County’s Broadband Roadmap priority areas.
Comcast is not a local vendor.
FISCAL & STRATEGIC PLAN IMPACT
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Is there a Fiscal Impact? |
No |
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Is it Mandatory or Discretionary? |
Discretionary |
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Discretionary Justification: |
This MOU will establish the County’s support of Comcast’s pursuit of CPUC administered funds to build Last Mile Broadband infrastructure in identified priority areas, agreed upon by the two parties. |
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Is the general fund affected? |
No |
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Future fiscal impact: |
No fiscal impact. County will not provide any financial support outside of the grant award. |
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Consequences if not approved: |
If not approved, County will not formally endorse Comcast’s application for CPUC administered funds, which will prevent the County from having input on the identification of priority areas for Last Mile Broadband infrastructure. |
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County Strategic Plan pillar addressed: |
Collaborative and Engaged Community |
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The County is committed to ensuring that the residents and businesses have access to affordable and reliable high-speed Broadband services as the need for access grows across all sectors - government services, economic development, education, healthcare, agriculture, retail, and personal entertainment.
Access to internet and cell service in rural areas of Napa County continue to be challenging to address. Since 2014, the County has been working to increase service in these areas by working with the North Bay/North Coast Broadband Consortium (NBNCBC) to provide more accurate information to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) regarding unserved and underserved areas through real world service, ground-truth testing (to confirm or refute carrier provided information), with the ultimate goal to make more areas eligible for future grant funding and encourage provider expansion. Since 2017, wildfires and Public Safety
Power Shutoffs (PSPS) heightened the need to have access to internet and cell service, so residents and visitors are able to receive critical, emergency information in a timely manner. Because of this new urgency, the Board directed staff to shift their work to not only increase service in unserved/underserved areas, but also look at making our entire communications network more resilient for future wildfires and PSPSs. In addition, COVID-19 has led to an increased reliance on the internet with more people teleworking and adjusting to the demands of distance learning. With this, there is an even greater need in rural Napa County to deploy Broadband and high speed cell service.
The State of California’s provider, CENIC, continues to build Middle Mile infrastructure throughout the State. The roughly 10,000 mile project includes some development in Napa but will not meet all needs for use of Last Mile infrastructure projects.
The County also works with the North Bay-North Coast Broadband Consortium (NBCBC) on Broadband digital equity (DE) awareness to residents in the consortium’s four counties, Marin, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma. This includes outreach to residents and community groups to educate and support their applications for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). This Federally funded initiative provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households and a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers.
The County continues to recruit for a Broadband Project Manager position to help manage any grant projects, build and maintain relationships with Broadband providers and ensure community awareness of activities.
In May 2021, the County entered into an Agreement with CBG Communications, Inc. (CBG) to produce a Broadband Roadmap, Action Plan and to secure grant funding sources to use in the implementation of Broadband solutions.
In June of 2022, County staff and CBG, presented to the Board a Broadband Roadmap and Action Plan describing the proposed steps, activities, initiatives and other actions designed to provide at least 100 megabits per second (Mbps) download/20 Mbps upload capability, scalable to 100 Mbps/100 Mbps symmetrical download and upload capability, to all residents and businesses within the County as is statistically possible. This Broadband Action Plan identified 13 priority areas covering unserved households that do not have basic Broadband availability targeting those with less than 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload and underserved households, those that have less than 100 Mbps download/20 Mbps upload Broadband availability.
In the fall of 2022, the County received a Local Area Technical Assistance (LATA) grant in the amount of $500,000 for design, engineering walkout and market analysis related to Broadband project deployment.
In February 2023 RCRC selected Tilson as the consultant to perform Strategic Plan work for the County. Tilson continues to work on a Broadband Strategic Plan for the County.
On April 3, 2023 the County issued a Request for Information (RFI) to determine the interest, qualifications, experience, and expertise from Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to partner with the County to address the lack of adequate Broadband infrastructure in the unserved and underserved areas. The County offered to assist ISPs in the pursuit of State and Federal grant funding, provide access to community resources, and any other reasonable effort needed to support the ISPs.
On June 8, 2023 the County issued an RFP with the goal to receive responses from ISPs interested in providing access to residents and businesses in County identified priority areas and in applying for FFA funds. The CPUC allocated $10.7 million to the County in FFA funds for Last Mile Broadband infrastructure and service deployment to unserved and underserved areas.
Today’s request is approval of and authorization for the Chair to sign an MOU with Comcast for the collaborative pursuit of funding for Broadband deployment projects and for the Chair to sign a Letter of Support for Comcast’s FFA grant application to fund Last Mile Broadband deployment projects in the County.
Comcast is not a local vendor. The Company’s headquarters are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but the local office is located in Livermore, California.