House hearing: DCED says 239 broadband applications submitted, vows "100% connectivity" despite prevailing-wage dispute
February 18, 2024 | Appropriations, House of Representatives, Legislative, Pennsylvania
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Secretary Seager told the House Appropriations Committee that the state roadband Development Authority has received strong interest from providers and is on track to begin deploying projects this year.
"We closed our application round just two weeks ago," Seager said, adding that the authority "received 239 applications from 26 separate applicants, and 97% of eligible locations across Pennsylvania have at least one application." He said the board had approved capital project grants under its Broadband Infrastructure Program and that DCED expects an initial subset of BIP projects to be operational in the first half of the year.
The secretary framed the federal BEAD/BEED funding as complementary to the state IP awards, and repeated the administration's objective: "100% connectivity of every broadband serviceable location." He acknowledged that different technologies and costs will be appropriate in different geographies, and that the agency is curating applications and intends to make awards in the coming months.
Several legislators pressed Seager on an unresolved wage-classification question that could affect construction costs. Representative Barton and Representative Krupa said reclassifying fiber installation work at higher prevailing-wage rates could materially increase per-hour labor costs and leave some locations unserved if federal or state rules push rates higher. Seager said a legal and administrative review is underway with the relevant labor authorities and that DCED is "monitoring that process carefully" and is in touch with providers, labor and local governments.
Seager did not offer a timeline for that review but said DCED remains "confident that we have the dollars to get this done." He declined to predict a final cost delta and offered to follow up with detailed estimates after the prevailing-wage process advances.
Next steps: the Broadband Development Authority will continue application review and DCED said it will report back to members with more detailed cost modeling and program timelines once the prevailing-wage determination is resolved.
"We closed our application round just two weeks ago," Seager said, adding that the authority "received 239 applications from 26 separate applicants, and 97% of eligible locations across Pennsylvania have at least one application." He said the board had approved capital project grants under its Broadband Infrastructure Program and that DCED expects an initial subset of BIP projects to be operational in the first half of the year.
The secretary framed the federal BEAD/BEED funding as complementary to the state IP awards, and repeated the administration's objective: "100% connectivity of every broadband serviceable location." He acknowledged that different technologies and costs will be appropriate in different geographies, and that the agency is curating applications and intends to make awards in the coming months.
Several legislators pressed Seager on an unresolved wage-classification question that could affect construction costs. Representative Barton and Representative Krupa said reclassifying fiber installation work at higher prevailing-wage rates could materially increase per-hour labor costs and leave some locations unserved if federal or state rules push rates higher. Seager said a legal and administrative review is underway with the relevant labor authorities and that DCED is "monitoring that process carefully" and is in touch with providers, labor and local governments.
Seager did not offer a timeline for that review but said DCED remains "confident that we have the dollars to get this done." He declined to predict a final cost delta and offered to follow up with detailed estimates after the prevailing-wage process advances.
Next steps: the Broadband Development Authority will continue application review and DCED said it will report back to members with more detailed cost modeling and program timelines once the prevailing-wage determination is resolved.
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