CostQuest is proud to have helped Louisiana in becoming the first state fully approved for BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program) funding. CostQuest’s cost modeling served as a foundation for their funding amount, $1.36 billion, for all BEAD funding-eligible locations, allowing fund administrators to know in advance approximately what bids would likely be reasonable and efficient.
ConnectLA, Louisiana’s state broadband office overseeing BEAD program requirements, became the first state in the nation to develop and deploy an NTIA-approved funding plan to utilize its BEAD allocation to serve all eligible unserved and underserved locations.
CostQuest supported ConnectLA during the initial BEAD efforts in 2024 and helped Louisiana become the first state to receive NTIA approval in January 2025. In June, ConnectLA again looked to CostQuest to support a revamped BEAD Benefit of the Bargain program. Leveraging CostQuest’s custom Grant Award Management System, ConnectLA’s program administrators were able to assess bid validity and evaluate the reasonableness of the requested funding amount. Louisiana efficiently delivered results that met the reforms required by the Restructuring Policy Notice, allowing it to become the first state to receive full NTIA and NIST approval.
As ConnectLA’s Executive Director, Veneeth Iyengar noted, “CostQuest has been a trusted partner throughout the entirety of the BEAD program. From the development of our SPAs and Reference Funding Amounts in early 2024 through the Benefit of the Bargain round, they have been with us every step of the way. Our goal has been to deliver robust broadband to the citizens of Louisiana as efficiently and as economically as possible. We are now on the precipice of achieving that goal.”