RUS officials told GAO that they do not have the resources to do so.

Although RUS conducts some outreach with tribes, it has not undertaken a formal assessment to identify and address the regulatory barriers that tribes may face in obtaining RUS's funding for broadband deployment. An interagency council recently recommended that federal agencies identify and address regulatory barriers that may unduly impede broadband deployment. For example, they said tribes face regulatory barriers in applying for RUS's grant funding, including (1) preparing existing and proposed network design, (2) demonstrating financial sustainability of the broadband project within 5 years, and (3) obtaining matching funds. The tribal officials, tribal associations, and tribally owned broadband providers GAO contacted cited several barriers tribes face in obtaining federal funding to deploy broadband service on tribal lands. GAO's Analysis of Federal Funding for Broadband Deployment, 2010-2017ĪFCC funding includes the Mobility Fund Phase I, Tribal Mobility Fund Phase I, and Connect America Fund. GAO found that 14 tribal entities received federal funding from FCC and RUS to increase broadband deployment for 2010–2017. GAO reviewed funding for four programs, three in FCC and one grant program in RUS, and found that in total, less than 1 percent has gone directly to tribes or to tribally owned broadband providers to expand broadband service. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) are the primary sources of federal funding to deploy broadband infrastructure where the cost of providing service is high, including on tribal lands. According to the tribes participating in the partnerships, almost all of the partnerships improved broadband service on tribal lands. Among the seven examples GAO identified, tribes partnered with different types of entities including private broadband providers, a community access network provider, an electric cooperative, a regional consortium, and tribally owned broadband providers. GAO identified some partnership arrangements between tribes and other entities to increase broadband access on tribal lands.

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