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Program MilestoneAugust 28, 2026

All 56 states and territories now have NTIA-approved BEAD spending plans

With Illinois's approval, every state and territory has cleared its BEAD spending plan with the Commerce Department. The approved plans cover 3.79 million locations and total $18.19 billion in planned deployment spending under the $42.45 billion program.

Award amount: $18.2B

What this means for BEAD compliance

ISPs seeking or holding BEAD subgrantee status in Illinois and any remaining states now that all 56 state/territory BEAD spending plans have federal approval, moving those programs into subgrantee selection and award.

Approval of the final state's spending plan clears the last program-level gate before subgrantee selection and award execution can proceed nationwide, meaning ISPs in previously pending states should now expect award notifications and must be ready to satisfy pre-award compliance obligations. This includes SCRM/covered-equipment certifications, environmental review documentation, and internal control system attestations that gate execution of subgrant agreements. Once awards are executed, active_deployment-phase clocks (procurement, Buy America, performance milestones) will begin for newly funded projects.

Phase 1 · Road to AwardSCRM-008FIN-005-16ENV-001-6SCRM-006-2

Analysis by BeadComply Compliance Intelligence, grounded in the BEAD requirements registry.

Read the source: Broadband Breakfast (BEAD coverage)

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