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Award ExecutedIndianaJuly 22, 2026

Decatur County REMC, NineStar Connect sign Indiana BEAD contracts

Decatur County REMC and NineStar Connect became among the first organizations in Indiana to sign federal BEAD contracts. DCREMC will receive $7,133,202 in BEAD funding, matched by $6,534,465 in cooperative investment, to build fiber-to-the-home service across six counties, with construction starting in August and completion by August 2027. NineStar Connect also signed a contract to build infrastructure in seven counties.

Providers named: Decatur County REMC, NineStar Connect

Award amount: $7.1M

What this means for BEAD compliance

Decatur County REMC and NineStar Connect, as Indiana BEAD subgrantees now under executed award contracts for fiber-to-the-home deployment across their respective service territories.

Execution of the BEAD contracts triggers the 24-month construction completion clock (deployment must finish by August 2027) and activates the full suite of active-deployment obligations, including reimbursement-based disbursement procedures, quarterly address and speed-test reporting, Davis-Bacon prevailing wage compliance, Buy America requirements, and NEPA/environmental review completion prior to construction start. Both providers must now maintain cost-per-passing documentation, letters of credit, and continuous default risk monitoring for the duration of the build. Failure to meet the fixed 24-month deadline or to document matching cooperative investment properly could trigger default remediation or clawback risk under IN-FIN-003 and IN-PERF-001-2.

Phase 3 · BEAD DeploymentIN-PERF-001-2IN-FIN-001IN-ENV-001IN-LABOR-001-2

Deadline August 1, 2027: DCREMC and NineStar Connect must complete network construction and meet all associated reporting, environmental, and labor compliance milestones before the August 2027 completion deadline.

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

Read the source: Indiana Broadband Office

Won a BEAD award in Indiana? See Indiana's program status and compliance requirements →

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