The President’s Budget Request (PBR) for Fiscal Year 2022 for the Department of Commerce was $11.5 billion in discretionary spending.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework proposes an additional $47.2 billion in funding for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the Department of Commerce. Specifically, the bulk, $42.4 billion, is to be spent on grants to facilitate the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program.

For comparison, the PBR for FY22 requested a mere $89.5 million for NTIA. And just this new broadband program is almost quadruple the President’s Budget Request for the entire Department of Commerce.

We believe expanding broadband access is a laudable federal goal. But we also believe it is a valid question how an organization currently charged with making grants worth roughly $1.5 billion per year can possibly be scaled up to instead decide on nearly $50 billion of grants to deliver broadband.

Are there enough staff at NTIA to administer a program this large?

Are there mechanisms in place to ensure proper oversight? Well, yes, kind of. The bill language specifies that $12 million be put aside for the Inspector General of the Department of Commerce for “…oversight of funding provided to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration…”. We’re not sure that’s going to cover the waterfront, but at least Congress threw a few shekels that way.

When you shovel federal funds out the door at such a rate, even for the most noble of goals, there must be accountability and oversight of that money. Congress must ensure that oversight is robust or we foresee a lot of money being spent without a lot of new households receiving broadband access.