Memo: BDC PE Certification Waiver Extended

December 6, 2023

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) extended the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) Professional Engineer (PE) certification waiver, with conditions.

In 2020, Congress passed the Broadband DATA Act, which required the FCC to adopt rules for a biannual data collection relating to the availability and quality of broadband Internet access service. This data collection effort and resulting BDC map set the foundation for eligible location awards in upcoming grant funding under various federal funding programs such as the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

As a part of its newly established requirements for these BDC efforts, the FCC determined that having a qualified engineer review and certify to the accuracy of a provider’s submission was consistent with the Congressional objective of achieving accurate data. However, in response to a 2022 Petition for limited waiver of the PE certification requirement, the FCC issued a waiver of the PE certification for three BDC filing periods. The limited waiver would have ended after the submission of June 30, 2023, data requiring a PE certification for the upcoming BDC filing (data as of December 31, 2023, due March 1, 2024).

Download the full memo for additional information.

BDC PE Certification Waiver Extended

For additional information or assistance, please contact the Vantage Point Solutions BDC Team (Troy Eilts, Tammie Herrlein, Dereck DeVries, MBA, and Courtney Spears).