§ 9-12-1504 — Challenge process

(a) Within three (3) business days of the close of the
funding application process, the council shall publish on its
official website the proposed geographic broadband service area
and the proposed broadband service speeds for each application
submitted and shall notify each broadband provider who is listed
with the council as providing broadband service in the proposed
project area of the application and proposed project. The
notification to each listed broadband provider shall include the
shapefile or map submitted by the applicant under W.S. 9-12-
1503(a)(i). An existing broadband service provider may, within
fourteen (14) business days of publication of the information,
submit in writing to the council a challenge to an application.
A challenge shall contain information demonstrating that:
(i) The provider currently provides or has begun
construction, undertaken permitting or has received, obtained
approval for or won an option for other federal or state funding
for a project in the proposed geographic broadband service area
to provide broadband service comparable to that in the proposed
project at speeds equal to or greater than the speeds proposed
in the application and with other capabilities and project size
comparable to the project proposed in the application; or
(ii) The provider commits to complete construction of
broadband infrastructure and provide broadband service
comparable to that in the proposed project at speeds equal to or
greater than the speeds proposed in the application and with
other capabilities and project size comparable to the project
proposed in the application no later than eighteen (18) months
after the funding determinations are to be made under this
section for the application submitted.
(b) The council shall evaluate the information submitted
in a provider's challenge under this section, and is prohibited
from funding a project if the council determines the provider is
currently providing broadband service or the provider's
commitment to provide broadband service that meets the
requirements of subsection (a) of this section in the proposed
project area is credible.
(c) If the council denies funding to an applicant as a
result of a broadband service provider's challenge made under
this section, and the broadband service provider does not
fulfill the provider's commitment to provide broadband service
in the project area, the challenging provider is prohibited from
applying for funding for a project under this article for the
following five (5) years and the council is prohibited from
denying funding to an applicant as a result of a challenge by
the same broadband service provider for the following five (5)
years, unless the council determines that the broadband service
provider's failure to fulfill the provider's commitment was the
result of factors beyond the broadband service provider's
control.