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| Editorial: Freeze BTOP Funding Until the Facts Are Public |
| Monday, 03 May 2010 22:28 |
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The North Georgia project asks something like $300,000 per mile of fiber construction, about ten times as much as others which came in at less than $30,000 per mile. The money could be required for particularly difficult construction, or many other perfectly appropriate purposes, but I saw no evidence of any of that in the public summary nor did they tell me about any when I asked.
I wanted to check further before I made allegations of waste, so I asked for a copy of the application. The North Georgia Network is a co-operative, not a commercial business. I was amazed when Ms. Lee Ann Roy refused to release the actual application, even with confidential information deleted. Nor would she answer the simple questions of "how many "unserved" homes will be passed and how many jobs directly created. In the summary, I also noticed an obvious distortion in their estimate of jobs directly created, the primary goal of the stimulus. My guess, based on the number of miles of fiber involved, is about 30-60 jobs for two years, but I really don't have the facts to be accurate. They claim the project will create 837 direct jobs and a totally unbelievable 21,000 indirect jobs over the construction period. The latter figure is probably just a typographical error. Almost half the project - 125 of 260 fiber miles - is being bought as IRUs on existing fiber, and hence does not directly create jobs. Including that spending in their jobs directly created estimate is only a partial explanation of what went wrong. Because that estimate is so far from reality, I would also freeze any other applications from their consultants, Civitas, which bragged in a press release they have other clients pending NTIA funding. If Booz Allen as NTIA consultants didn't catch such an obvious error, I'd ask both for a refund of some charges and an upgrade of the staff they assign if they don't want to forfeit the contract. Because they aren't willing to release the application, my gut is that something is rotten in the state of Georgia. I do not have proof. I've sent this to the Department of Commerce Inspector General. |