Compliance

Each recipient is responsible for developing, implementing, and monitoring award activities to provide reasonable assurance that awards are administered in compliance with financial and programmatic requirements, including the award‘s standard terms and conditions, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) award terms, and Special Award Conditions (SACs).

These resources provide guidance, Federal regulations, useful references and other information regarding BTOP compliance, Department of Commerce (DOC) grants policies, ARRA guidelines as well as administrative, financial, audit information, and environmental requirements.

Monitoring and Program Oversight

The requirements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment of 2009 (ARRA) demand an unprecedented level of accountability and oversight for federal programs including BTOP. As the awarding agency, it is important for NTIA to implement an effective and rigorous programmatic monitoring process that engages recipients, tracks programmatic and fiscal performance, ensures compliance, mitigates risks and issues, and demonstrates the ability to be accountable to protect taxpayer investments. The overriding goal of BTOP monitoring is to ensure that recipients are in compliance with the terms and conditions of their awards incorporated in their CD-450s; they are progressing toward successful and timely completion of their projects, and the program mitigates the potential for waste, fraud, and abuse. As part of this monitoring process, NTIA staff will perform site visits to evaluate the project's current status and identify potential areas of concern that can be corrected immediately on-site or through the development of a technical assistance plan.

BTOP Compliance

In addition to ARRA compliance requirements, each BTOP grant award recipient is subject to program-specific compliance obligations. These materials contain detailed information on these requirements and provide guidance to ensure the recipient complies with BTOP regulations.

The Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) issued prior to each round of funding set forth the application requirements and detailed the award’s standard terms and conditions. Each recipient should only refer to the NOFA that corresponds with its award.
  • NOFA Round 1 (July 9, 2009)
  • NOFA Round 2 (January 22, 2010)
  • NOFA Round 2 limited reopening – This is an addendum to NOFA Round 2 and applies only to entities that received waiver authority from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to use the 763–768/793–798 Megahertz (700 MHz) public safety broadband spectrum.
For more information on BTOP compliance and ARRA reporting and compliance, refer to the following documents: