| (a) No awards for funding will be disbursed by the
office except pursuant to an application submitted in accordance with
this subchapter.
(b) An application for funding under this subchapter
shall be submitted on the forms and in the manner prescribed by the
office. The office may require that applications be submitted electronically.
(c) Prior to publication of application information
pursuant to Government Code, §490I.0106(e), the office may undertake
an examination to determine whether the application appears on its
face to comply with applicable program requirements. The office may
not accept an application that does not appear to comply with applicable
program requirements on its face.
(d) The office shall publish on its website information
from each accepted application, including the applicant's name, the
project area targeted for expanded broadband service access or adoption
by the application, and any other information the office considers
relevant or necessary. The information will remain on the website
for a period of at least 30 days before the office makes a decision
on the application.
(e) During the 30-day application protest period described
by subsection (d) of this section for an application, the office shall
accept from any interested party a written protest of the application
relating to whether the applicant or project is eligible for an award
or should not receive an award based on the criteria prescribed by
the office. A protest of an application must be submitted as provided
under §16.41 of this subchapter.
(f) Notwithstanding any deadline for submitting an
application, if the office upholds a protest on the grounds that one
or more of the locations in a project area have access to broadband
service, the applicant may resubmit an amended application without
the challenged locations not later than 30 days after the date that
the office upheld the protest. An amended application may not include
additional areas or locations not already included in the original
application.
(g) If the office upholds a protest and the applicant
resubmits an application in accordance with subsection (f) of this
section, the resubmitted application is not subject to further protest.
(h) For the purposes of this section "interested party"
means a person, including an individual, corporation, organization,
government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust,
estate, trust, partnership, association, or any other legal entity,
that resides, is located, or conducts business in the designated area
subject to protest and also includes a broadband service provider
that is not located in the designated area but who proposes to provide
broadband service in the designated area.
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