NTIA seeks volunteers to evaluate broadband grant applications
If you already have too much money, or are simply idle this summer and unusually patriotic, do consider volunteering to review broadband stimulus grant applications because the NTIA is not willing to pay any money at all for this extremely important task.
I find the NTIA’s refusal to pay for these services an absolute insult to people who have amassed a tremendous amount of expertise in this field. Perhaps the NTIA is counting on a vast army of unemployed consultants to do this work for free. I know what you’re thinking: “Yes, I would like to help my country but perhaps my country should also value my services enough and pay for them.” Actually the NTIA is simply following the trendy thing to do these days among enterprises that don’t want to pay for services – it’s called “crowdsourcing”. Linked In (the social network) recently asked their members to translate – for free – Linked In’s pages from English into various languages. Not surprisingly, translators around the world were insulted. Facebook has tried crowdsourcing, too. The message is the same: they’re cheap.
Here’s the problem with the NTIA’s something-for-nothing strategy: How are you going to find people who are truly qualified and have the requisite skills and experience if you are not going to pay them? How will you guarantee they aren’t approving projects that favor one vendor’s equipment and products over the others? Sure, the NTIA says it will look for conflicts of interest, but the ultimate conflict of interest is someone who is working for free, but quietly getting paid under the table by a vendor (or less obviously, seeking favors from a vendor) precisely because he or she isn’t being compensated at all by the NTIA and needs to pay a mortgage and put food on the table!
- – - – - – - -
Here’s the announcement (download the entire Call for Broadband Grant Reviewers):
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce is soliciting volunteers to serve as panelists to evaluate grant proposals for the $4.7 billion Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), an important part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. NTIA is accepting applications for its first round of BTOP grants from July 14, 2009 until August 14, 2009, and will conduct panel reviews through at least the end of September, 2009. As a reviewer, your evaluations will be an important factor considered by NTIA in determining whether to award grant funding. To be considered as a reviewer you must have significant expertise and experience in at least one of the following areas: 1) the design, funding, construction, and operation of broadband networks or public computer centers; 2) broadband-related outreach, training, or education; and 3) innovative programs to increase the demand for broadband services. In addition you must agree to comply with Department of Commerce policies on conflict of interest and confidentiality.
We are committed to ensuring that reviewers come from diverse backgrounds and areasof the United States. Please feel free to circulate this “Call for Reviewers” to other individuals or organizations that may be sources of qualified reviewers. To apply to be a panel reviewer for BTOP, please email a resume containing the information below to BTOPReviewers@ntia.doc.gov:
• Name
• Residence (city and state)
• Email/phone number
• Employer
• Position/Title
• Years and types of experience and positions in fields related to BTOP activities
NTIA will examine and approve reviewer applications on a first-come, first-served basis. Approved reviewers will be contacted to schedule participation in a webinar orientation session and teleconference panel reviews. Although there will be no direct reimbursement for your time and expertise, you may be assured that you will be making a significant contribution to enhancing broadband services throughout the United States. We appreciate the valuable contribution you will be making to the success of BTOP and look forward to working with you as a reviewer. If you have questions, please send them by email to: BTOPReviewers@ntia.doc.gov. For additional information, please see http://www.broadbandusa.gov/
- – - – - – - -
*Attention vendors and consultants! Get included in the Muniwireless Vendor Directory which appears online and in the upcoming guide, How To Get a Broadband Stimulus Grant. Please send an email to me.
*Join the MuniWireless / Muni WiMAX Linked In Group for networking and discussions.
*Sign up for the MuniWireless / WiMAX newsletter.
*Download the latest list of US cities and counties with WiFi
*Advertise on Muniwireless.com. Email us for current advertising rates.
Related posts:
Loading ...
I totally agree! This is an insult! Why, however, do I not find this myopic move surprising?!
On a larger scale, it’s reflective of governmental “thinking” in general and the new administration’s “thought process” specifically. I hope everyone now sees why the Government should not be running GM, the banks, or our healthcare system!!!!
Insult falls short, but I can’t think of the right word to describe this. I’ve built broadband networks for rural America (mortgaged my home to serve hundreds of thousands and never asked for a govt handout), and last week sent an email offering to help review the soon-to-be flood of applications. I have watched RUS dole out HUGE sums of taxpayer dollars to thieves who have never built a network, have no desire to do so, and are living it up until they bankrupt their non-existent entities only to keep a little personal stash hidden away for their greedy selves. Stop this non-sense! Put the money to use on rebuilding our broken transit system. Not a nickel should be spent until we can deliver 100mb to every home and business. I cant imagine volunteering to work for an incompetent bureaucrat who thinks that their time is worth more than mine!
So people will be working for “free” and will be responsible to award grants for million of dollars? Will these individuals be prevented from accepting “consulting” positions with equipment vendors at that time? or can they simply award the grants to the companies that they consult with? Has anyone even thought about the conflict of interest?
Well I have been in the ISP / WISP game MANY MANY Years.
I have seen companies try to provide wireless come and go.
After Katrina I did a good bit of grant reviewing.
Trust me, we need as many folks reviewing these grant requests as we can.
II am sure that each request will be reviewed by mmore than one person.
I would hope that the info provided for review would be cleansed of the info needed to commit fraud (we do not need to know the “vendor” nor do we need to know the company.
It is the deployment plan that fails or succeeds.
That is what we need to look at.
I know what it would take to pull off providing wireless here in my area, so I would better know if a plan would work here or not.
I am sure that is what they are after.
we all know just because you build it, it does not mean they will pay to use it.
We are the ones who can best make the calls.
I for one have no problemm giving my time to help with getting broadband everywhere I can.
And I am not insulted one bit, I give more than 20 % my time for free now anyway, what is another few hours here and there in the big picture.
And we would not be awarding any grant money, we would just give feedback on the requests.
Thanks for the heads up Esme. I am afraid we are in a damned if you do and damned if you don’t situation. We rightfully deserve compensation for our knowledge, work, heart, soul and sometimes house in offering true wireless broadband technologies and topologies for our nation. I am one of them.
If we don’t get involved even for free then we leave the door open for a handful of powerful organizations that frankly don’t get it. These organizations already have the lobbyists telling the federal, state and municipal consultants what to do and will just leverage their employees and suppose to be non-bias not for profits members to be BTOP reviewers. I agree we deserve to get paid because we have already been in the trenches. We already know what works and what doesn’t. We learned the hard way, by researching, testing and doing. To loose this experience and knowledge base would be devastating to the success of broadband stimulus program.
My suggestion is to give the whole MuniWireless Directory list to the BTOP reviewer organization and suggest if they want the program to be successful these peoples experience be taken seriously. The cost of their services compared to the potential of the BTOP failing is nothing. As an independent consultant and researcher, I always look for someone who has minimally already made a mistake or has had success. Why start from scratch? We have already weeded out the hype and can pretty much tell you what works, what doesn’t and were the improvements need to be made. The big guys will just offer their one size fits all (and it doesn’t) solution. Send the directory Esme. It might be our last chance to do it right.