ISPs shall be required to submit:

1. (1) An implementation plan that explains how broadband will be deployed to reach all residences in the municipality, unincorporated community, or county, including the technology that will be used;
2. (2) A project timeline that includes a date of anticipated completion of project deployment and establishment of service availability no later than November 2022;
3. (3) A map of the project footprint if it extends beyond the community’s legal boundaries or involves multiple ISPs serving different parts of the town;

4. (4)

   1. (A) A narrative of less than five hundred (500) words describing the company’s experience providing consumer broadband service, which may include total numbers of customers served and revenues earned.
   2. (B) The purpose of this narrative is to establish that a company has a one-year track record of providing consumer broadband;

5. (5)

   1. (A) Unless otherwise specified in accordance with 15 CAR § 189-317(d), a commitment to continue providing broadband service through January 1, 2030, after the project is complete or pay penalties in accordance with a predetermined schedule, unless the Arkansas Department of Commerce Broadband Office, in consultation with the relevant local government, agrees that it is in the public interest to waive the penalties because the service has been overbuilt and/or become obsolete or superfluous.

   2. (B) The penalties are as follows:

      1. (i) If service ceases to meet standards between January 1, 2029, and January 1, 2030, the minimum of five percent (5%) of the total ARC grant and the total funds disbursed by ARC for the project;
      2. (ii) If service ceases to meet standards between January 1, 2028, and January 1, 2029, the minimum of ten percent (10%) of the total ARC grant and the total funds disbursed by ARC for the project;
      3. (iii) If service ceases to meet standards between January 1, 2027, and January 1, 2028, the minimum of fifteen percent (15%) of the total ARC grant and the total funds disbursed by ARC for the project;
      4. (iv) If service ceases to meet standards between January 1, 2026, and January 1, 2027, the minimum of twenty-five percent (25%) of the total ARC grant and the total funds disbursed by ARC for the project;
      5. (v) If service ceases to meet standards between January 1, 2025, and January 1, 2026, the minimum of thirty-five percent (35%) of the total ARC grant and the total funds disbursed by ARC for the project;
      6. (vi) If service ceases to meet standards between January 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025, the minimum of fifty-five percent (55%) of the total ARC grant and the total funds disbursed by ARC for the project;
      7. (vii) If service ceases to meet standards before January 2024, the minimum of seventy-five percent (75%) of the total ARC grant and the total funds disbursed by ARC for the project; and
      8. (viii) If service never meets standards, the minimum of the total ARC grant and the total funds disbursed by ARC for the project.

   3. (C) Service may cease to meet standards either by:

      1. (i) Being canceled altogether;

      2. (ii) Ceasing to provide the required:

         1. (a) (a) Speeds;
         2. (b) (b) Latencies; and
      3. (c) (c) Data caps; or
      4. (iii) Ceasing to offer service to at least ninety-five percent (95%) of households.
   4. (D) Penalties can be triggered by sustained degradation of network performance due to intensive utilization;

6. (6)

   1. (A) An affirmation that all the information provided by the coapplicant public official, inasmuch as it relates directly to the ISP’s intended activities under the project, is correct and acceptable.
   2. (B) This requirement is intended to prevent any misunderstandings of the project between the ISP and public officials representing the communities to be served;

7. (7)

   1. (A) Except in the cases below specified, financial statements for the three (3) most recent years, with CEO and CFO certification, including the following:

      1. (i) Balance sheet;
      2. (ii) Income statement;
      3. (iii) Depreciation schedule;
      4. (iv) Debt schedule;
      5. (v) Accounts receivable aging; and
      6. (vi) Accounts payable aging.

   2. (B)

      1. (i) The financial statement for the most recent year must be:

         1. (a) (a) Audited for grant requests exceeding two million dollars ($2,000,000); and
         2. (b) (b) Either audited or reviewed for grant requests exceeding five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000).
      2. (ii) For grant requests under five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000), financial statements shall be provided but the broadband office shall have discretion to accept financial statements that have not been audited or reviewed as sufficient evidence of the company’s working capital adequacy.
   3. (C) These financial statements may demonstrate to the broadband office that the ISP has sufficient unencumbered resources to pay for planned investment activities under the ARC project, in advance of receiving reimbursements from grant funds, with a reasonable buffer of cash and other liquid assets in case of cost overruns.
   4. (D) Note that the broadband office cannot guarantee that financial statements of ISPs applying for ARC grant projects will enjoy immunity from being required to be released to members of the public under Freedom of Information Act of 1967, Arkansas Code § 25-19-101 et seq., requests.

   5. (E) Alternatively, ISPs may provide the following in lieu of complete financial statements:

      1. (i) Option 1:

         1. (a) (a) An estimate of the working capital needs of the project; and
         2. (b) (b) A sworn statement by the CFO of the ISP and a third-party CPA that the ISP has at least that amount of unencumbered funds; or

      2. (ii) Option 2.

         1. (a) (a) Documentation showing that the ISP has provided internet service to at least one thousand (1,000) subscribers in Arkansas for at least five (5) years.
         2. (b) (b) Note that such documentation can also be used to establish the ISP’s capacity to deploy broadband so as to remove the need to get a professional engineer stamp (see 15 CAR § 189-602); and
8. (8) Disclosure of any conflicts of interest that might affect, or be suspected to affect, the decisions of the public officials involved in the project.