The following definitions were added:

The purpose of this process is to ensure the Arkansas Economic Development Commission Broadband Office (“AEDC Broadband Office”), or its' designee, select the best projects that truly bridge the digital divide in Arkansas. This process is to gather additional information before making a final award. To streamline this process, challengers must provide point and polygon shapefiles as defined in this document. All shapefiles or KMZs must be functional. In addition, if someone submits information regarding a wireless project, the challenger is required to include shapefiles of heat maps indicating RSSI measures in the challenged area. The AEDC Broadband Office, or its' designee, may, at its' discretion, require any other kind of file to complete its analysis.

Planned service to a proposed project area is eligible for the purpose of a submission to the AEDC Broadband Office, or its' designee, if state or federal funds have been awarded or private funds will be used within a reasonable period of time. Additionally, the provider must be committed to providing service to the areas using private, state or federal funds. Areas adjacent to private, state or federally funded areas may be eligible to submit information to the AEDC Broadband Office, or its' designee, if the challenger demonstrates, to AEDC's Broadband Office or to its designee's satisfaction, existing awards or a self-funded project will cover the adjacent area. The challenger must commit to serving the adjacent areas, in writing, at speeds 100mbps/100mbps symmetrical or greater. The challenger may be required to enter into a written agreement with the State to complete the adjacent project within a certain time frame. The State will not issue awards in the adjacent area as consideration for the agreement.

The AEDC Broadband Office recognizes the nature of wireless projects has an inherent potential for overlap. Recognizing the unique circumstances of this technology, wireless projects will be allowed to exceed the 25% overlap allowance of existing networks, provided the wireless signal strength, measured in RSSI, is less than -90 in those areas. It is the determination of the AEDC Broadband Office that RSSI measures below -90 are unable to reliably deliver broadband. AEDC Broadband Office, or its' designee, will post ARC projects, for challenges, twenty business days following the announcement of the challenge information request. The announcement will be on the AEDC Broadband Office website or its' designee's website. Challengers wishing to submit information to the AEDC Broadband Office, or its' designee, must provide the required information, in this section, no later than 5:00 p.m., 20 business days after posting ARC projects -- no exceptions.

Providers wishing to submit information to the AEDC Broadband Office, or its' designee, on multiple applications must submit information separately for each application. Challengers can submit information to the AEDC Broadband Office, or its' designee, concerning portions of a proposed project area without invalidating the entire project. AEDC Broadband Office, or its' designee, reserves the right to invalidate a portion(s) of a proposed project area, aggregate challenges by different providers to determine the percentage of serviceable units served in a proposed project area and invalidate insufficient submissions. Challengers must demonstrate that more than 10%, for wireline projects, or 25%, for wireless projects, of serviceable units in the project area have access to speeds at or above 100/20 mbps as of the date of the application or that the application is ineligible because of committed state or federal funding subject to the conditions described above. These percentages may be changed, by the AEDC Broadband Office, or its' designee, based on the funding source and federal guidance.

AEDC Broadband Office, or its designee, must receive all the information detailed below or the submission will be deemed incomplete and invalid. Challengers must provide:

AEDC Broadband Office, or its' designee, reserves the right to request verified speed tests on all or portion(s) of the questioned area. The AEDC Broadband Office, or its' designee reserves the right to require any awardee to re-scope their ARC application/project footprint and amend funding request post award. The AEDC Broadband Office, or its' designee, may also require any applicant to alter its' project and funding request if it is in the best interest of the state. After all information have been submitted and reviewed, the AEDC Broadband Office or its' designee will evaluate the additional information to determine if it will let the project footprint stand, be altered, or be removed. The AEDC Broadband Office or its' designee, after administrative review, will post the final project areas no later than 5:00pm two weeks after all information has been evaluated. Due to the volume of applications and submissions there can be necessary delays to this timeline.