BEAD Program
About BEAD
The Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program is a federal initiative administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Through this program, Tennessee has been given $813,319,680.22 to expand high-speed internet access through infrastructure and adoption programs.
Final Proposal
TNECD submitted the Final Proposal to NTIA on September 4, 2025 and received approval on February 2, 2026. Find the approved document, data uploads, and a data dictionary below:
- BEAD Final Proposal
- Final Proposal Data Files
- TN Final Proposal Data Dictionary
- BEAD Program Monitoring Plan
- DRAFT TNECD BEAD Delegated Grant Authority and Grant Contract Templates
- Environmental and Historic Preservation Documentation
Draft versions of the proposed grant contract templates, as well as the supporting Delegated Grant Authority, are now available for public viewing on the TNECD website. These documents are currently under review by the State's Central Procurement Office, the Department of Finance and Administration, and the Comptroller of the Treasury. Finalized versions of the grant contract templates will be posted to this website once all approvals are obtained.
Awarded BEAD Areas
Tennesseans are encouraged to explore the Awarded BEAD Areas Map. The map shows the selected awardee by project area and identifies the awardee associated with each BEAD-eligible Broadband Serviceable Location (BSL).
- On the map, BSLs that will not be served by BEAD funding are colored gray.
Key Dates
Dates marked with an asterisk are tentative.
- Benefit of the Bargain Scalability Evidence Requirements
- Benefit of the Bargain Qualification Application
- Benefit of the Bargain Grant Application
- BEAD Guidebook
- TN Model Letter of Credit
- BEAD Construction Timeline Estimate
- BEAD Budget Helptext
- BEAD Application Submission - Certification
- BEAD Budget Template
- BEAD Benefit of the Bargain Guidance
- Cybersecurity and Supply Chain Risk Management Guide
- NEPA Project Milestone Schedule
- BEAD Environmental Readiness - One Pager
- BEAD Subgrantee One-Pager - Feb 2026
BEAD Challenge Process
Tennessee conducted the BEAD Challenge Process in the spring and summer of 2024. Please find the BEAD eligibility data and map above.
CostQuest Fabric version 3.2 was used for Tennessee’s Challenge Process and version 4 was used for the true-up.
Please find relevant dates below:
- BDC publication update date used for true-up: 9/17/24
- BDC submission true-up date: 12/31/23
- BDC publication update date used in Challenge Process: 3/5/24
- BDC submission date used in Challenge Process: 6/30/23