TANgents Summer 2004

Grant program provides assistance to counties, municipalities to deliver advanced telecommunications services

The Nebraska Public Service Commission will open the first round of grants from the Nebraska Internet Enhancement Fund (NIEF) June 1, 2004. The NIEF was created by the Legislature in 2001 to provide financial assistance to counties and other municipalities for the installation and delivery of broadband or other advanced telecommunications infrastructure and service.

The fund combines seed money from the Nebraska Legislature with proceeds from leases by agencies and political subdivisions of dark fiber optic lines to certificated telephone companies. The purpose of NIEF is to provide start-up funding to municipalities or counties in Nebraska for economically viable and sustainable projects that provide broadband or other advanced telecommunications infrastructure to a community and/or enhance Internet service. By law, priority will be given to applicants based on high-cost factors, including population scarcity and location remoteness. Other factors, including financial need, may be considered by the Commission as deemed necessary.

All applicants must submit a pre-application on the form which will be available from the PSC website (www.psc.state.ne.us) to the Nebraska Public Service Commission in an electronic form and hard copy beginning June 1, 2004, or no later than 5:00 p.m. CT, August 15, 2004. Electronic copies shall be in MS Word format and sent via email to jraffety@mail.state.ne.us and amelton@mail.state.ne.us or submitted on disk along with the hard copy. Should an applicant be unable to submit an electronic copy, he or she shall advise the Commission prior to the deadline.

All pre-applications will be reviewed to ensure that the proposed project falls within the purposes of NIEF as set forth in the Guidelines. If the project is consistent with the purposes of NIEF, the applicant will be invited to submit a full application.

All applicants will be notified no later than September 1, 2004, whether they are eligible to submit a full application. All full applications must be submitted on or before November 15, 2004. The Commission anticipates announcing the grant awards in January 2005.

More information including the Guidelines and pre-application form can be found on the Commission's website at www.psc.state.ne.us. Should you have any questions regarding NIEF or the application process, please contact Angela Melton at 402-471-0274 or via email at amelton@mail.state.ne.us.

TANgents, a quarterly publication of Technologies Across Nebraska, is edited and produced by Linda Tempel, University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension, ltempel@unlnotes.unl.edu, and Anne Byers, Nebraska Information Technology Commission, abyers@notes.state.ne.us. Please contact us if you would like to contribute an article or an idea for an article. Comments and suggestions are also welcome.