GAO Decision Confirms the FCC's Selection of CostQuest as Provider of the National Location Fabric Data Set

WASHINGTON, March 4, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- CostQuest Associates (CQA), awardee of the U.S. Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric (BSLF) project, has officially been contracted to deliver the broadband location data to support the Commission's Broadband Data Collection (BDC) program. On February 24, 2022, The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied a protest challenging the FCC's award to CQA filed by another bidder.

Jim Stegeman, CQA's President and CEO, said that while the delay brought on by the protest was not optimal, CQA is nonetheless on-track to deliver the BSLF quickly. "Congress made a historic commitment to funding the closing of the Digital Divide, and part of that commitment included providing accurate data to support the efficient spending of public funds. The unfortunate delay in the start of this project will not keep us from delivering the quality data that supports giving Americans access to advanced broadband service."

Stegeman went on to say that the data will be made available to not only broadband service providers, but state governments as well. "States will have direct access to the location data in the BSLF to support the collective effort of building a better national map." The Commission's Broadband Data Task Force (Task Force) and the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) will provide further guidance on allowing access to the location data.

Though the protest delayed commencement of contract performance by more than three months, CQA will deliver the first version of the BSLF to the FCC later this year. The BLSF will be used to match broadband provider submissions of service availability, and other information, to build more granular broadband location maps. The FCC recently announced that service provider data submissions utilizing BSLF data must be submitted to the Commission by September 1st of this year.

More information about CQA's BSLF and BroadbandFabric data sets can be found at https://www.costquest.com/products/broadbandfabric/

About CQA
CostQuest Associates (CQA) has long led the communications industry in knowledge of costs, network modeling, telecommunications economics, and regulation. CQA applied its communications knowledge, and its data science chops to developing the most accurate data to support business and policy decisions related to broadband deployment. CQA has offices in Cincinnati, Ohio and Seattle, Washington.

Disclaimer: This disclaimer is required by CostQuest's Contract No. 273FCC22C0001. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has not reviewed or approved any statement in this document for accuracy or validity. The FCC and its employees do not endorse goods or services provided by the Contractor or any other contractor.

Media Contact

Mike Wilson, CostQuest Associates, 1 (425) 772-2261, [email protected]

SOURCE CostQuest Associates