| (a) The protesting party bears the burden to establish
that an applicant or project is ineligible for an award or should
not receive an award based on the criteria prescribed by the office.
(b) Protests shall be submitted electronically in the
manner and on the forms prescribed by the office and shall be accompanied
by all relevant supporting documentation.
(c) As set forth in greater detail in the application
instructions prescribed by the office, each protest shall, at a minimum,
include:
(1) a notarized statement verifying that the protest
and submitted information are true and submitted in good faith;
(2) data from the broadband development map, if available,
or if not available the current Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) Form 477 or equivalent;
(3) a detailed map, using the project area map(s) submitted
by the applicant, delineating the general challenged areas and indicating
where the protested serviceable locations are within the proposed
project area; and
(4) street level data for broadband serviceable locations
within the challenged area including, but not limited to, the number
of serviceable locations within the proposed project area and the
minimum and maximum speeds those serviceable locations are able to
receive.
(d) The office shall review the protest and make a
written determination as to whether the protest should be upheld.
(e) If the office upholds a protest, an applicant may
amend and resubmit an application without the challenged locations
and re-scope the application or project area.
(f) If an amended application without the challenged
areas is not received by the office by the 30th day after receiving
the determination under subsection (d) of this section, the office
may remove the application from grant funding consideration.
(g) A determination made by the office under this section
is not a contested case for purposes of Government Code, Chapter 2001.
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