§  54.1020   Non-compliance measures for 5G Fund support recipients.

   (a) General. A 5G Fund support recipient that has not deployed service
   that meets the 5G Fund performance requirements specified in
   § 54.1015(c) to at least 20 percent of the total square kilometers
   associated with the eligible areas for which it is authorized to
   receive support in a state by the Year Three Interim Service Milestone
   deadline must notify the Commission and the Administrator within ten
   (10) business days after the Year Three Interim Service Milestone
   deadline that it failed to meet this milestone. Upon such notification,
   the support recipient will be deemed to be in default. The Wireline
   Competition Bureau will issue a letter evidencing the default and the
   support recipient will be subject to full support recovery. The
   provisions of paragraph (b) of this section will not be applicable to
   such a support recipient.

   (b) Interim service milestones. A 5G Fund support recipient must notify
   the Commission, the Administrator, and the relevant state, U.S.
   Territory, or Tribal government, if applicable, within ten (10)
   business days after the applicable interim service milestone deadline
   if it has failed to meet an interim milestone. Upon notification that a
   support recipient has defaulted on an interim service milestone, the
   Wireline Competition Bureau will issue a letter evidencing the default.
   For purposes of determining whether a default has occurred, the support
   recipient must be offering service meeting the requisite performance
   requirements specified in § 54.1015(c). The issuance of this letter
   shall initiate reporting obligations and withholding of a percentage of
   the 5G Fund support recipient's total monthly 5G Fund support, if
   applicable, starting the month after issuance of the letter:

   (1) Tier 1. If a support recipient has a compliance gap of at least
   five percent but less than 15 percent of the total square kilometers
   associated with the eligible areas in a state for which it is to have
   deployed service that meets the 5G Fund performance requirements
   specified in § 54.1015(c) by the interim service milestone, the Wireline
   Competition Bureau will issue a letter to that effect. Starting three
   months after the issuance of this letter, a support recipient will be
   required to file a report with the Administrator every three months
   that identifies the eligible square kilometers to which the support
   recipient has newly deployed facilities capable of delivering service
   that meets the requisite 5G Fund performance requirements in the
   previous quarter. The support recipient must continue to file quarterly
   reports until it has reported, and the Administrator has verified, that
   it has reduced the compliance gap to less than five percent of the
   total square kilometers associated with the eligible areas for which it
   is authorized to receive support in a state by that interim service
   milestone and the Wireline Competition Bureau issues a letter to that
   effect. A support recipient that files a quarterly report late, but
   within seven days after the due date established by the letter issued
   by the Wireline Competition Bureau for filing the report, will have its
   5G Fund support reduced by an amount equivalent to seven days of
   support. If a support recipient does not file a report within seven
   days after the report's due date, it will have its 5G Fund support
   reduced on a pro-rata daily basis equivalent to the period of
   non-compliance, plus the minimum seven-day reduction, until such time
   as the quarterly report is filed.

   (2) Tier 2. If a support recipient has a compliance gap of at least 15
   percent but less than 25 percent of the total square kilometers
   associated with the eligible areas in a state for which it is to have
   deployed service that meets the 5G Fund performance requirements
   specified in § 54.1015(c) by the interim service milestone, the
   Administrator will withhold 15 percent of the support recipient's
   monthly support for that state and the support recipient will be
   required to file quarterly reports with the Administrator. Once the
   support recipient has reported, and the Administrator has verified,
   that it has reduced the compliance gap to less than 15 percent of the
   required eligible square kilometers for that interim service milestone
   for that state, the Wireline Competition Bureau will issue a letter to
   that effect, the Administrator will stop withholding support, and the
   support recipient will receive all of the support that had been
   withheld. The support recipient will then move to Tier 1 status.

   (3) Tier 3. If a support recipient has a compliance gap of at least 25
   percent but less than 50 percent of the total square kilometers
   associated with the eligible areas in a state for which it is to have
   deployed service that meets the 5G Fund performance requirements
   specified in § 54.1015(c) by the interim service milestone, the
   Administrator will withhold 25 percent of the support recipient's
   monthly support for that state and the support recipient will be
   required to file quarterly reports with the Administrator. Once the
   support recipient has reported, and the Administrator has verified,
   that it has reduced the compliance gap to less than 25 percent of the
   required eligible square kilometers for that interim service milestone
   for that state, the Wireline Competition Bureau will issue a letter to
   that effect, and the support recipient will move to Tier 2 or Tier 1
   status, as applicable.

   (4) Tier 4. If a support recipient has a compliance gap of 50 percent
   or more of the total square kilometers associated with the eligible
   areas in a state for which it is to have deployed service that meets
   the 5G Fund performance requirements specified in § 54.1015(c) by the
   interim service milestone:

   (i) The Administrator will withhold 50 percent of the support
   recipient's monthly support for that state and the support recipient
   will then be required to file quarterly reports with the Administrator.
   As with the other tiers, as the support recipient reports, and the
   Administrator verifies, that it has lessened the extent of its
   non-compliance, and the Wireline Competition Bureau issues a letter to
   that effect, it will move through the tiers until it reaches Tier 1 (or
   no longer is out of compliance with the applicable interim service
   milestone).

   (ii) If after having 50 percent of its support withheld for six months,
   the support recipient has not reported that it is eligible for Tier 3
   status (or one of the lower tiers), the Administrator will withhold 100
   percent of the support recipient's forthcoming monthly support for that
   state and will commence a recovery action for a percentage of support
   that is equal to the support recipient's compliance gap plus 10 percent
   of the support recipient's support in that state that has been
   disbursed to that date.

   (5) If at any point prior to the Year Six Final Service Milestone the
   support recipient reports, and the Administrator verifies, that it is
   eligible for Tier 1 status or that it is no longer out of compliance
   with the 5G Fund performance requirements specified in § 54.1015(c), it
   will have its support fully restored and the Administrator will repay
   any funds that were recovered or withheld.

   (c) Year six final service milestone. A 5G Fund support recipient must
   notify the Commission, the Administrator, and the relevant state, U.S.
   Territory, or Tribal government, if applicable, within 10 business days
   if it has failed to meet the Year Six Final Milestone. Upon
   notification that the support recipient has not met the Year Six Final
   Service Milestone, the support recipient will have twelve months from
   the date of the Year Six Final Milestone deadline to come into full
   compliance with this milestone. If the support recipient does not
   report that it has come into full compliance with the Year Six Final
   Milestone within twelve months, as verified by the Administrator, the
   Wireline Competition Bureau will issue a letter to this effect.
   Recipients of 5G Fund support shall be subject to the following
   non-compliance measures related to the recovery of support after this
   grace period:

   (1) If a support recipient has deployed service that meets the 5G Fund
   performance requirements specified in § 54.1015(c) to at least 80
   percent of the total eligible square kilometers in a state, but less
   than the required 85 percent of the total eligible square kilometers in
   that state, the Administrator will recover an amount of support that is
   equal to 1.25 times the average amount of support per square kilometer
   that the support recipient has received in the state times the number
   of square kilometers unserved up to the 85 percent requirement;

   (2) If a support recipient has deployed service that meets the 5G Fund
   performance requirements specified in § 54.1015(c) to at least 75
   percent, but less than 80 percent, of the total eligible square
   kilometers in that state, the Administrator will recover an amount of
   support that is equal to 1.5 times the average amount of support per
   square kilometer that the support recipient has received in the state
   times the number of square kilometers unserved up to the 85 percent
   requirement, plus 5 percent of the support recipient's total 5G Fund
   support for the 10 year support term for that state;

   (3) If a support recipient has deployed service that meets the 5G Fund
   performance requirements specified in § 54.1015(c) to less than 75
   percent of the total eligible square kilometers in a state, the
   Administrator will recover an amount of support that is equal to 1.75
   times the average amount of support per square kilometer that the
   support recipient has received in the state times the number of square
   kilometers unserved up to the 85 percent requirement, plus 10 percent
   of the support recipient's total 5G Fund support for the 10 year
   support term for that state.

   (d) Additional evidence required at year six final service milestone
   deadline. At the Year Six Final Service Milestone deadline, a 5G Fund
   support recipient is also required to provide evidence, which is
   subject to verification by the Administrator, that it has provided
   service that meets the 5G Fund performance requirements specified in
   § 54.1015(c) to at least 75 percent of the total square kilometers for
   each census tract or census tract group in which it was authorized to
   receive support. If after the grace period permitted in paragraph (c)
   of this section the Administrator has not verified based on the
   evidence provided that the support recipient has provided service that
   meets the 5G Fund performance requirements specified in § 54.1015(c) to
   at least 75 percent of the total square kilometers for each census
   tract or census tract group in which it was authorized to receive
   support, the Administrator will recover an amount of support that is
   equal to 1.5 times the average amount of support per square kilometer
   that the support recipient had received in the eligible area times the
   number of square kilometers unserved within that eligible area, up to
   the 75 percent requirement.

   (e) Compliance reviews. If the Administrator determines subsequent to
   the Year Six Final Service Milestone that a support recipient does not
   have sufficient evidence to demonstrate that it continues to offer
   service that meets the 5G Fund performance requirements specified in
   § 54.1015(c) to all of the eligible square kilometers in the state as
   required by the Year Six Final Service Milestone, the Administrator
   shall immediately recover a percentage of support from the support
   recipient as specified in paragraphs (c)(1) through(c)(3) and (d) of
   this section.

   Effective Date Note: At  85 FR 75822 , Nov. 25, 2020, § 54.1020 was
   revised, however, paragraphs (a), (b), and (c)(1) and (c)(2) have a
   delayed effective date.