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Adventures in preparing a winning BTOP proposal or. Mark Johnson SURA IT Committee March 10, 2010 Apologies to Stanly Kubrick et al for the references contained in this presentation

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NTIA

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MCNCs BTOP Application Round 1 $28.2M request, $11.7M match, No State Funds Private partner put up equal match to MCNC 37 Counties 24 fully or partially underserved Private partner serves commercial customers 480 miles of new fiber construction, an Eastern ring and a Western ring Round 1 Results: WE WON!!!!!!!!!

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Why did we win? Cant say for sure but BTOP aligned nicely with existing plans We were able to show strong support from all stakeholders Our mantra was Make NTIAs job easy: We were maniacal about adhering to NOFA and application requirements

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Challenges We wanted a private partner from day 1 We wanted to meet matching requirements with cash In-kind rules made that seem risky $4M available from MCNC endowment Wanted (and received) equal match from partner(s) Wanted to submit to BTOP but could not rule out BIP Identifying un/underserved areas would be tricky Public broadband mapping data inadequate

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BTOP Timeline Pre-2007 close relationship with Lt Gov on K12 connectivity initiative 2007: Committed to goal of acquiring dark fiber to all PoPs Summer 2008 - Board commitment to overhaul NCREN (matching?) New design New core routers Completion of optical core

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BTOP Timeline [2] Fall 2008 New strategic plan All fiber backbone in 5 years SP partnership opportunity identified Former Lt Gov Perdue elected Governor December 2008 - Stimulus white paper in circulation [a key in obtaining stakeholder support]

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BTOP Timeline [3] March 2009 Solicit service provider partnerships Needed SP support Definitely DID NOT want SP opposition July 2009 NOFA released July 2009 BTOP/BIP application released August 20 2009 Application due November 12 2009 Due Diligence begins

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All Hands on Deck Developing the application

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Application Development All hands on deck Everything in Confluence Owners and reviewers assigned for every question Outside legal counsel engaged Team assigned to mechanics of application early on I have the pen

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Anyone heard of GIS?

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MappingJoint Techs to the rescue Google Earth Pro can read shape files Very interesting

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Key Elements/Ingredients/Inputs of MCNC BTOP Mapping Google Earth Pro Enlisted assistance of e-NC Authority and Broadband Consulting Group (BBCGI) Un-served/Underserved Determination Rural vs. Non-rural Determination Exported our Fiber Routes from (true) GIS software to KMZ files Creativity

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Proposed Funded Service Area

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NC Brownfields

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NC Wetlands

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2:17:24 AM

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Dear NTIA, WTF Discovered all sorts of things about the online application as we approached the deadline Page limits are really character limits Mapping not working as advertised Undocumented (or maybe just very poorly documented) features App wont complete upload uh oh!

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