BEAD program toolkit

Run your BEAD fiber overbuild with the regulatory clocks running.

Group submittal batches into BEAD projects under a state-broadband-office sub-grant. Track the FCC §1.1411 make-ready timeline live. Split §224 cost causation between pole owner and new attacher with named-attacher rate calculations. Ship one NJUNS-shape bundle the broadband office accepts.

BEAD program
$42.45B

broadband equity, access, and deployment

FCC clock
§1.1411

OTMR / Simple / Complex schedules tracked

Cost split
§224

Cable + Telecom formulas + causation-based make-ready

Make-ready bundle
1 ZIP

NJUNS CSV + GeoJSON + cited PDF

Just shipped. Portfolio rollup, FCC §1.1411 timeline tracker, §224 cost-causation split, joint-use rate calculator, NJUNS bundle export, and the per-pole payer split — all live on the QA/QC console at qaqc.epcstudio.io.

Why BEAD is hard

The schedule is regulatory. The cost split is regulatory. The deliverable is regulatory.

BEAD builds aren't a normal pole-attachment job. The FCC sets the make-ready clock, §224 sets who pays for what, and the state broadband office wants a defensible cost-allocation submittal. We built the toolkit so engineers don't fight the regulation while they're trying to design the build.

Group submittal batches into BEAD projects

Roll N QA/QC batches into one project under a state-broadband-office sub-grant. Pass / make-ready / replacement counts and cost bands roll up to the portfolio dashboard — no per-batch context switching.

FCC §1.1411 timeline, citation-anchored

Pick the mode (One-Touch, Simple, or Complex) and the dashboard renders every milestone with status — complete, due soon, overdue — and the 47 CFR sub-paragraph that fixes the cap. You see the day you cross from "wait for existing attachers" into self-help.

§224 cost-causation split

Per-finding heuristic tags every make-ready dollar as pre-existing (pole owner pays) or new-attachment (new attacher pays) or unknown (engineer review). The dashboard shows the dollar split before negotiations start.

Joint-use rate calculator

Per-attacher Cable (47 CFR §1.1406(d)(1)) and Telecom (§1.1406(d)(2)) annual rates. National-average carrying-charge defaults you can override per utility. Both formulas surfaced side-by-side so engineers can compare.

Per-pole payer split in the CSV

The NJUNS-shape CSV gains seven cost-allocation columns per pole — pole owner / new attacher / other attachers — plus a JSON breakdown for the full audit trail. Drops straight into a spreadsheet for the cost-allocation review.

GIS-ready bundle export

One ZIP per project: NJUNS CSV, GeoJSON FeatureCollection with payer split + classification properties, and a cited make-ready PDF with the FCC §1.1411 timeline + §224 cost-share appendices.

How it works

From submittal batches to state-broadband-office bundle.

Eight steps. Each one writes to the same BEAD project document so the next reviewer (engineer-of-record, project manager, broadband-office reviewer) picks up where the last one left off.

  1. 01

    Group your batches

    Upload your fiber-route drone or field captures through QA/QC. Group the relevant batches into one BEAD project under your state-broadband-office sub-grant.

  2. 02

    Portfolio rollup

    Pass / make-ready / replacement counts and per-pole cost bands roll up across every linked batch. CPUC GO-95 vs FCC OTMR posture detected from state code.

  3. 03

    Causation tags

    Every finding gets a §224 causation heuristic — pre-existing, new-attachment, or unknown — surfaced per pole and aggregated to the project for the dollar split.

  4. 04

    Start the FCC clock

    Mark the project's §1.1411 mode + start date. The dashboard tracks every milestone — survey complete, estimate provided, existing attachers notified, make-ready complete — with citation-anchored status.

  5. 05

    Configure joint-use

    Add the project's attacher list with occupied-space per pole + the utility's net bare-pole cost and carrying-charge rate. Cable + Telecom annual rates compute per attacher.

  6. 06

    Make-ready split

    The dashboard apportions the project's make-ready spend per §224: pole owner takes pre-existing; new attacher takes new-attachment; unknown splits by cable-formula space share.

  7. 07

    Bundle export

    One-click ZIP: NJUNS CSV (with per-pole payer columns), GeoJSON, and the cited make-ready PDF — both the §1.1411 timeline and the §224 cost-share appended.

  8. 08

    Hand off

    Ship the bundle to the state broadband office, the pole owner, or NJUNS. Audit trail proves every cost allocation back to a finding.

FCC §1.1411 timeline

Three make-ready schedules. One dashboard. Every milestone cited.

The FCC's pole-attachment timeline isn't optional. Miss the survey or notice window and you lose self-help eligibility — your project speed drops to whatever the slowest existing attacher decides. The dashboard tracks the clock for whichever mode the build uses, with every milestone anchored to the controlling 47 CFR sub-paragraph.

One-Touch (§1.1411(j))

New attacher serves a single OTMR notice; 15-day objection window; make-ready completes in one coordinated pass; 90-day post-inspection window.

Simple (§1.1411(c)–(e)(1)(i))

Survey within 45 days; estimate +14 days; acceptance window +14 days; existing-attacher notice +15 days; 30-day simple work window for existing attachers.

Complex (§1.1411(e)(1)(ii))

Same survey + estimate + acceptance + notice chain as Simple, but existing-attacher work window extends to 90 days for above-communications-space or pole-replacement work.

§224 cost causation

Who pays for the make-ready, by finding.

FCC §224 / Section 1.1413 OTMR says the new attacher pays make-ready their attachment caused, and the pole owner pays for pre-existing safety violations the new attacher did not create. That split is the single biggest cost-dispute battleground on a BEAD build.

Every finding is tagged heuristically — pre-existing, new-attachment, or unknown — from the bucket, the detail text, and the analyzer's raw output. The dashboard surfaces the dollar split before negotiations start. The PDF makes it auditable.

Tag rules (first match wins)

  1. framing-fault + data-quality → pre-existing (independent of any attachment)
  2. strong fiber markers in detail text → new-attachment
  3. pole_overloaded with comm controlling source → new-attachment; else pre-existing
  4. clearance / midspan / sag with comm in detail → new-attachment; else pre-existing
  5. missing_guying / guy_upsize → unknown (engineer review)
  6. everything else → unknown

Heuristic by design — the report is labelled "review per-pole before finalising the §224 cost split." A deterministic Measured-vs-Recommended diff is on the roadmap.

Joint-use rates

Both FCC formulas, side-by-side.

47 CFR §1.1406 gives two statutory maxima for pole-attachment rates: the Cable formula (occupied ÷ usable × cost × carrying-charge) and the Telecom formula (with a cost-allocator factor that depends on attacher count). The console computes both per attacher so the design team can defend whichever the utility negotiates.

Cable formula

§1.1406(d)(1): rate = (occupied / usable space) × net bare-pole cost × annual carrying-charge rate. Defaults match the FCC's typical-pole numbers (1 ft / 13.5 ft).

Telecom formula

§1.1406(d)(2): adds a (2/3) × (unusable / height) × cost-allocator term. Cost-allocator from FCC 11-50 Appendix A: 0.31 for 2 attachers, 0.34 for 3, 0.41 for 4, 0.44 for 5+ (saturates).

Make-ready split

Pole owner pays 100% of the pre-existing band; the named new attacher pays 100% of the new-attachment band; the unknown band splits by cable-formula space share across configured attachers.

Bundle exports

One ZIP per project. State-broadband-office ready.

The console rolls every linked batch's per-pole findings into one project scope and ships three deliverables a state submittal hangs on — bundled into a single ZIP behind the dashboard's Download button.

NJUNS-shape CSV

One row per pole with ticket sequence, classification, action summary, cost band, causation tag, and the new payer columns (pole owner / new attacher / other attachers). Drops into NJUNS or any spreadsheet without reshaping.

GeoJSON FeatureCollection

Pole points with classification + causation + cost band + payer split as feature properties — colour-code the broadband office's GIS layer by who pays. RFC-7946 compliant; nulls for poles missing GPS.

Make-ready PDF

Cover page (grant + sub-grantee + state office), portfolio rollup, §224 causation split, §1.1411 timeline appendix (when started), joint-use cost-share appendix, per-pole scope table. Citation-anchored — the artifact the design team attaches to the state submittal.

Bring a BEAD build.

We'll walk you through ingesting your captures, grouping them into a BEAD project, starting the §1.1411 clock, configuring the §224 attacher split, and shipping the bundle — in twenty minutes.