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Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 8.17.09     By Gregory Monroe - August 17, 2009 12:09 pm Greetings! Welcome back to Merit Network's continuing coverage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. This post is just one of many weekly updates intended to keep you informed on the latest developments in funding opportunities for cyber-infrastructure, research and education. The blog underwent an unexpected and brief hiatus in previous weeks due to the hectic demands of the latest Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) and application for the first round of funding. In the case that any of you tuned and were disappointed to find no new entry, I apologize on behalf of Merit. Our resources were maximized pursuing important federal funds that will extend the Merit backbone network into areas of Michigan where communities have lacked access to 21st century broadband for too long. Our application exceeds the minimum bandwidth, speed and capacity standards set forth by the NOFA (which drew quite a bit of criticism in the past months) with the goal of supplying schools, colleges, libraries and healthcare facilities with connectivity that is leading-edge and will continue to be so long into the future. Perhaps the greatest disappointment of this round of funding has been the number of organizations that were reported to have opted out of consideration because of the extensive resources required to complete an application. Though both organizations have drawn criticism, I mention that not to criticize the folks at the National Telecommunication and Information Agency (NTIA) and USDA's Rural Utility Service (RUS). It must have been difficult to anticipate the diversity in organizations planning to submit proposals. Really the complexity of the NOFA and the comprehensive requirements of the application speak to the responsibility with which the NTIA and RUS have handled the large amount of money they were charged with distributing. It certainly was not perfect, and the flaws pointed out by critics are not unfounded, but there is room for improvement in subsequent rounds and one would hope that these organizations are listening. The deadline to submit an application was set for Friday, August 14th at 5 pm. But on Thursday, a message on the BroadbandUSA website appeared that extended the deadline to Thursday, August 20th at 5 pm (EST)—provided an application was begun electronically before the August 15th deadline. The extension could not have come at a better time, as the previous week saw the online application system experience several outages. There has not been much to report on the past couple of weeks and it seems I've covered all we can update you on this week. Check back next week for an overview of the proposal Merit Network has submitted to the NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program and RUS Broadband Initiatives Program. Thanks for reading and have a great week! Post a Comment   Blog Archive   Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 11.16.09 By Gregory Monroe - November 16, 2009 9:50 am Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 11.12.09 By Gregory Monroe - November 12, 2009 12:35 pm Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 11.3.09 By Gregory Monroe - November 03, 2009 12:21 pm Merit Network Blog Members in the News 10.30 By Brian Warkoczeski - October 29, 2009 4:28 pm Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 10.26.09 By Gregory Monroe - October 26, 2009 10:42 am Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 10.19.09 By Gregory Monroe - October 19, 2009 10:58 am Merit Network Blog Members in the News 10.08 By Brian Warkoczeski - October 08, 2009 1:03 pm Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 10.6.09 By Gregory Monroe - October 06, 2009 1:19 pm Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 9.29.09 By Gregory Monroe - September 29, 2009 12:33 pm Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 9.21.09 By Gregory Monroe - September 21, 2009 12:35 pm Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 9.16.09 By Gregory Monroe - September 16, 2009 12:41 pm Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 9.8.09 By Gregory Monroe - September 08, 2009 11:25 am Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 8.24.09 By Gregory Monroe - August 24, 2009 10:36 am Merit Network Blog Members in the News 8.14 By Brian Warkoczeski - August 14, 2009 9:14 am Professional Learning MJTS Call for Presentations By Brian Warkoczeski - August 06, 2009 12:53 pm Merit Stimulus Blog Members in the News 7.24 By Brian Warkoczeski - July 24, 2009 12:47 pm Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 7.21.09 By Gregory Monroe - July 21, 2009 11:29 am Merit Network Blog Members in the News 7.16 By Brian Warkoczeski - July 16, 2009 11:05 am Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 7.13.09 By Gregory Monroe - July 13, 2009 11:06 am Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 7.7.09 By Gregory Monroe - July 07, 2009 11:19 am Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 7.2.09 By Gregory Monroe - July 02, 2009 11:55 am Merit Network Blog Members in the News 6.30 By Brian Warkoczeski - June 30, 2009 4:20 pm Merit Network Blog NANOG46 Videos Available By Brian Warkoczeski - June 25, 2009 9:31 am Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 6.23.09 By Gregory Monroe - June 23, 2009 11:54 am Professional Learning Archived Merit Member Conference videos now available By Brian Warkoczeski - June 17, 2009 9:43 am Merit Stimulus Blog Merit Stimulus Blog 6.15.09 By Gregory Monroe - June 15, 2009 11:41 am Professional Learning Merit Member Conference Concludes By Brian Warkoczeski - June 12, 2009 3:57 pm Professional Learning Day Two of Merit Member Conference Begins By Brian Warkoczeski - June 12, 2009 10:32 am Professional Learning Dale Dougherty Brings Ingenuity to Merit Member Conference By Brian Warkoczeski - June 11, 2009 2:47 pm Professional Learning Merit Member Conference Extra! 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