As of early August, 53 of the 56 eligible entities in the BEAD program have closed or will soon close their Benefit of the Bargain application windows. This marks the end of the intake phase and kicks off what will be a tight, high-pressure sprint to finalize awards. The NTIA’s revised June guidance removed the fiber preference and introduced a lowest-cost-first mandate, meaning states must weigh cost efficiency against technical feasibility across all technologies, applications, and providers. What’s ahead is a four-week period that will likely be chaotic for both state broadband offices and the ISPs who submitted bids.

Right now, states are reviewing applications and scoring them based on the lowest cost per location. 

If multiple bids are within 15% of the lowest cost, states will apply secondary criteria, with varying weights among network reliability, deployment timelines, and whether a provider was previously designated as a provisional subgrantee. Once the scoring is done, states will move straight into subgrantee selection and begin notifying applicants that they have been preliminarily selected for an award.

At that point, direct negotiations begin. 

And that’s where it gets complicated. Because the NTIA no longer requires states to fund 100% of locations, all states allowed applicants to exclude BSLs in their bids. Some states capped these exclusions, like Idaho at 5% of BSLs in a project area, while others left it wide open. States now have the difficult task of piecing together partial bids and maximizing coverage without breaking the bank. At the same time, broadband offices have been guided to continue applying reason codes to exclude locations from funding, evolving location lists in real time. These include BSLs that already have enforceable commitments, those with existing service, those that were too costly to serve, or ones that don’t really exist.

All of this leads up to an incredibly tight deadline. Final Proposals must be posted for public comment by August 28th and submitted to NTIA no later than September 4th. 

That leaves states with just days to finalize scoring, complete negotiations, optimize applications, and publish their plans. At this crucial moment, providers must stay vigilant. They must monitor state broadband websites, check application portals frequently, and be ready to respond to requests for clarification or renegotiation at a moment’s notice. In a process this fast, requests falling through the cracks could mean missing an award. With so many moving parts, so little time, and millions at stake, the next few weeks might just be the most critical window in the entire BEAD process.


Early Results Are In, and It’s a Technology Showdown

As states progress through the scoring and evaluation phase of the Benefit of the Bargain process, a few have begun to release preliminary data that offers early insight into the evolving landscape of BEAD funding. Though the information remains preliminary, it reveals how providers across technologies are positioning themselves in an increasingly competitive environment defined by cost efficiency, scalability, and technical compliance.

Tennessee was among the first to disclose a breakdown of total BEAD funding requested by technology type. According to figures released by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, applicants requested approximately $76 million for LEO projects, $417 million for fiber projects, $187 million for cable, and $20 million for fixed wireless. These totals indicate that many prior fiber applicants under older guidelines have returned under the new rules. The presence of LEO and fixed wireless suggests increased competition from technologies that aim to drastically undercut fiber on a cost-per-location basis.

To illustrate the growing complexity of the award process, JLA conducted a detailed review of BEAD applications in Tennessee. By aligning grant requests with known project areas, JLA derived estimated cost-per-location figures. While this approach does not account for location exclusions, it nonetheless offers directional benchmarks. SpaceX and Kuiper, the two primary LEO providers, submitted average grant requests of approximately $980 and $969 per BSL, respectively. The lowest requests from these providers came in at $750 and $600 per location, respectively. 

In Colorado, the disparity between fiber and LEO is even more pronounced than in Tennessee. Fiber applications represent approximately 40% of total funding requests, while fixed wireless leads with 54%. Satellite proposals account for about 4.5%, with unlicensed wireless comprising the remaining 1.5%. Of the $1.16 billion in total BEAD funding requested, fiber providers aim to serve around 35,000 BSLs, translating to an average cost of $13,200 per location. In contrast, satellite providers propose reaching 104,000 BSLs at an average cost of just $500 per location. 

That’s cheap. The critical question facing broadband offices is whether those more cost-effective bids, particularly from LEO providers, can satisfy the technical standards required under the revised BEAD framework. 

Based on NTIA’s June guidance, every funded network must be capable of delivering at least 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload speeds, with low latency and the ability to evolve over time (vague, right?). The NTIA further clarifies that solutions must not only meet today’s thresholds but demonstrate long-term scalability, potentially supporting 5G or successor technologies. LEO performance today is shaky at best, with Ookla data from Q1 of 2025 showing only 17% of Starlink users receive those 100 by 20 speeds. 

But those technical hurdles haven’t stymied optimism from LEO providers. LEO is here to play, and it’s betting big. In Texas, for example, SpaceX bid on more than 244,000 locations, applying for essentially all BEAD-eligible locations, compared to Kuiper’s more selective bidding strategy targeting 160,000 locations. Satellite bids may offer coverage at a fraction of the cost of fiber, but must still demonstrate low-latency, long-term service consistency, and a clear upgrade path. If states conclude that these providers meet the bar, LEO could receive broader funding than previously anticipated. Alternatively, LEO may serve as a cleanup technology, deployed in hard-to-reach areas only after fiber awards have been maximized within the available budget. 

The bottom line? The BEAD Benefit of the Bargain round, as the name suggests, reveals accelerated competition and cost-cutting, particularly from satellite. 

Despite the drastic changes, many fiber applicants have remained active, likely betting on the long-term value of resilient infrastructure. These early results emphasize the tradeoffs states must weigh. Some will pursue broader coverage through lower-cost technologies, while others will prioritize durability and direct more funding to fiber. The compressed timelines have added greater complexity, establishing a bias towards providers who were able to generate network designs, business models, and technical documentation at breakneck speeds. As more states release data, a clearer picture will emerge of how cost, coverage, and compliance are shaping the exciting, complex, and tumultuous BEAD Benefit of the Bargain round.

As BEAD awards move into implementation, regulatory demands will grow. States must enforce compliance and monitor progress against milestones. JLA helps ISPs navigate this complexity by helping track buildouts, manage reporting, and ensure adherence. Through our AI-driven tools and programs, we reduce administrative burden and improve project visibility for multiple technology types. We also guide post-subsidy expansion and optimize deployment sequencing, ensuring that grant-related builds complement and enhance existing plans. With JLA’s support, clients stay compliant, efficient, and aligned with federal and state expectations.

JLA Advisors is a boutique firm offering clients a comprehensive end-to-end set of services, from strategy development, technology architecture design and execution, to software operational excellence, with an emphasis on innovation. JLA has been active in guiding multiple providers through BEAD and other state programs, providing mapping, modeling, and grant writing capabilities.

Contact info@jlaadvisors.io to discuss your BEAD Project.

Sources:

1. NTIA, BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice
2. NTIA, Public Resources for BEAD Plans and Milestones
3. NTIA, BEAD Progress Dashboard
4. Colorado Broadband Office, Revised BEAD Grant Program
5. Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, BEAD Program 
6. Texas Comptroller, BEAD Program 
7. Broadband Breakfast, Amazon and SpaceX Undercut Competition
8. Broadband Breakfast, LEO Bids Average Per Location in Tennessee
9. Broadband Breakfast, Texas BEAD Data Reveals Heavy Satellite Bidding
10. Broadband Breakfast, Decrease in BEAD Locations
11. Broadband.io, Tennessee Satellite Providers Gain an Edge
12. Ookla, Starlink US Performance on the Rise
13. Telecompetitor, Starlink Gets Aggressive
14. Telecompetitor, State by State Benefit of the Bargain Update
15. Benton Institute, What Do We Know About LEO Bids?