Resources
Addendum SE-1 to PBPs in the AI Era
This addendum provides the systems-engineering foundation behind the statutory and performance obligations required of BEAD-designated Priority Broadband Projects (PBPs). It explains—in engineering terms—why AI Era networks must operate as deterministic systems, not as speed-test compliant builds.
Technical Addendum SE-1 covers:
– Real-world AI latency budgets and why sub-20ms end-to-end performance is already required
– Tail-latency (p99/p99.9) and its consequences for access, transport, and middle-mile
– Deterministic networking behaviors needed for edge inference
– The engineering implications of supporting future 5G, successor wireless, and advanced services
– How PBPs must be verified periodically during the 10-year Performance Period that begins once construction is complete
Together, the white paper and this addendum form the legal and engineering basis for a Priority Broadband Project Operational Framework that states can use to ensure long-term PBP compliance.
Learn More: Technical Addendum SE-1 to PBPs in the AI Era
Annex A.2 — Test Catalog Index
This index lists the full suite of engineering performance tests developed for Priority Broadband Projects (PBPs). It provides a complete, technology-neutral catalog of the 200 structured tests that states may use to verify long-term statutory compliance under 47 U.S.C. §1702(a)(2)(I).
The index does not prescribe which tests a state must use; instead, it allows each state broadband office to select the tests most relevant to its deployment conditions, technologies, and policy objectives.
Learn More: Test Catalog (A.2.1 – A.2.200) - Index Only
Annex A.2 — Test Cross-Reference Matrix
This matrix maps every test in the Annex A.2 catalog to the statutory clauses, engineering domains, and architectural elements it is designed to validate. It shows how the test suite aligns with federal requirements for scalability, latency, reliability, determinism, and end-to-end performance over the 10-year Performance Period.
The matrix helps states, engineers, and reviewers understand why each test exists and how it supports PBP compliance across fiber, cable, wireless, and satellite systems.
Learn More: ANNEX A.2 Cross-reference Matrix
Publications
A National Catalog for Testing Priority Broadband Projects
For states to administer BEAD responsibly, they need a structured way to measure and validate performance. Yet no single state wants to design a full engineering test suite from scratch, and no ISP wants fifty different states inventing fifty different compliance regimes. That is the vacuum the Annex A.2 Test Catalog is designed to fill.
BEAD Needs a National Standard
How will states verify that BEAD-funded networks continue to meet statutory performance and scalability obligations over the entire 10-year Performance Period?
Why NTIA’s new “lowest-cost” rule risks funding broadband that will be obsolete before it goes live—and why only fiber, or wireless fed by fiber, meets Congress’s future-proof mandate.
An expansion of the ideas first raised in "Missed Connections".
Fiber Isn’t Expensive—Short-Term Thinking Is
In an exhaustive analysis, one concludes that the only sustainable broadband infrastructure is one that aligns with the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model. Further, that of all available transmission media, only fiber can support the continuous evolution of network layers without structural replacement.
Is NTIA's 5-Mbps Busy-Hour Proxy Balanced on a Single Sentence?
In recent debates over NTIA’s 5-Mbps busy-hour surrogate, it helps to trace the agency’s own paper trail...
Why NTIA’s “5 Mbps-per-Location” Proxy Can’t Rescue Unlicensed Links from the Laws of Physics.
Starlink Fails BEAD Eligibility
A Physics-Versus-Policy Story
How Federal, State, and Local Governments Can Combine IIJA Funding Streams for Smarter, Interoperable Infrastructure Investment.
With the release of the BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice on June 6, 2025, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has fundamentally (and, perhaps, questionably) altered the direction of federal broadband deployment.
Future-Proofing Communities: Why Open Access Networks Built on Fiber Are the Best Path to Sustainable Infrastructure.
Navigating Funding Shifts, Emerging Technologies, and the Business Model of the Future.
The paper has already drawn interest from leaders across the broadband and BEAD community.
Learn More: Priority Broadband Projects in the AI Era