BEAD program deadlines, state by state. The 2026 tracker.

BEAD is the largest federal broadband funding event since the dot-com era. $42.45 billion to deploy fiber across the unserved and underserved US. As of May 2026, every state has cleared NTIA's Initial Proposal phase, and most are in active sub-grant procurement.

The reporting requirements are state-specific, the eligibility maps are state-specific, and the deadlines are absolutely state-specific. Here's what we're tracking.

What BEAD reporting actually requires

Every state has its own quirks, but the through-line is the same: BEAD requires structured, queryable, parcel-level data on (a) what's eligible to be served, (b) what you've committed to build, (c) what you've actually built, and (d) when service was activated to each location.

If your fiber records are in spreadsheets and AutoCAD, you'll spend 18 hours a week on BEAD reporting. With a structured fiber GIS, you'll spend two.

Full state-by-state BEAD status tracker (all 56 programs)

Tier 1: Initial Proposal accepted, sub-grant procurement open

• ·Michigan — Initial Proposal accepted Jan 2026; sub-grant applications open Q2 2026; challenge window 30 days from award notice
• ·Texas — Initial Proposal accepted Dec 2025; CPCN program running parallel; challenge process active
• ·California — Initial Proposal accepted Nov 2025; CASF/BEAD alignment ongoing; largest single allocation ($4.14B)
• ·Virginia — Initial Proposal accepted Oct 2025; VATI program wrapping; early sub-grant awards in northern counties
• ·North Carolina — Initial Proposal accepted Jan 2026; GREAT grant program wrapping; first sub-grants expected Q3 2026
• ·Ohio — Initial Proposal accepted Feb 2026; BroadbandOhio running challenge process; sub-grant portal open
• ·Georgia — Initial Proposal accepted Jan 2026; GEFA broadband office administering; 60-day challenge window
• ·Pennsylvania — Initial Proposal accepted Mar 2026; PEMA program coordination; sub-grant expected Q3 2026

Tier 2: Initial Proposal under NTIA review

• ·Florida — Initial Proposal submitted Feb 2026; $1.24B allocation; FBIP program running parallel
• ·New York — Submitted Jan 2026; $1.55B allocation; Empire State Digital Equity plan integrated
• ·Illinois — Submitted Dec 2025; $1.08B allocation; DCEO coordinating with rural health broadband
• ·Washington — Submitted Feb 2026; $830M allocation; CERB program transition period
• ·Colorado — Submitted Dec 2025; $560M allocation; DOLA and OITT joint administration
• ·Minnesota — Submitted Jan 2026; $652M; Border-to-Border broadband program integration
• ·Wisconsin — Submitted Feb 2026; $702M; BroadbandConnect grant coordination
• ·Indiana — Submitted Mar 2026; $868M; OCRA and IEDC joint administration
• ·Missouri — Submitted Feb 2026; $975M; Office of Broadband Development filing
• ·Tennessee — Submitted Jan 2026; $842M; ECD broadband office; rural co-op focus

Tier 3: Submitting by June 2026 deadline

• ·Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming — all targeting Q2 2026 submission
• ·U.S. Territories: Puerto Rico ($334M), U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands — operating on extended timelines coordinated with NTIA
• ·Washington D.C. — Submitted Dec 2025; $75M; OCTO administering

What your GIS must support before you file

Every BEAD Initial Proposal requires operators to submit coverage polygon data tied to the FCC location fabric. That means your network records need three capabilities your GIS may not currently have: (1) per-location tracking against specific FCC fabric IDs, (2) polygon export in the NTIA-specified format for your state, and (3) a challenge-ready evidence trail with GPS-linked photos and timestamps for each served location.

• ·Per-location coverage data: not just 'we serve this census block' but 'we serve this specific FCC location ID, with activation date X'
• ·Challenge process documentation: photos, GPS coordinates, activation records, and a 30-day response capability
• ·State-specific polygon format: most states have amended the NTIA base format; verify your state's data dictionary
• ·Build progress reporting: BEAD sub-grants require quarterly progress reports with per-location milestone tracking

Eligibility & location-fabric overlays

BEAD uses the FCC's Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric as the canonical list of "locations." Your eligibility for funding is determined by which fabric points fall within your proposed build area AND meet the eligibility criteria (unserved or underserved as of the published assessment date).

States have layered their own challenge process on top — letting providers contest eligibility decisions before the funding round opens. Most state challenge windows are 30 days; some are 60. All of them require structured spatial data that aligns to the fabric.

State-by-state highlights

Michigan

• ·Sub-grant applications opened February 2026; first awards announced April 2026.
• ·Reporting cadence: quarterly, with mid-cycle eligibility-map refresh in July.
• ·Filing format: GeoJSON + CSV, NTIA-compliant. Power BI and Tableau exports also accepted.
• ·Challenge window: 45 days from each location-fabric publication.

Texas

• ·Sub-grant program structured by Comptroller's office. Phase 1 awards rolled in March 2026.
• ·Reporting cadence: quarterly, plus annual progress narrative.
• ·Filing format: state-defined GIS schema (TX-BEAD-Schema-v2) plus standard NTIA exports.

California

• ·Most-funded state. Sub-grant program tightly coordinated with CPUC's Broadband for All Initiative.
• ·Reporting: monthly during active build. Quarterly post-completion.
• ·Filing format: layered — CPUC reports + NTIA reports + state-equity supplement.

New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida (regional)

All four are mid-cycle. NY's BEAD Office and PA's PA-BEAD program have published quarterly cadences. OH and FL are still on bi-annual reporting.

Other states with significant BEAD allocations and active deadlines: Virginia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona. Reach out if you need state-specific timelines for any of these.

What good BEAD data looks like

Structured. Spatial. Tied to the location fabric. Auditable. Here's the data model that survives every state's filing:

• ·Each location: a unique ID tied to the fabric, with state, county, parcel ID.
• ·Each location: planned-status (committed, deferred, ineligible), planned-service-date, planned-service-tier (e.g., 100/100, 1G/1G).
• ·Each location: built-status (built, in-progress, not-started), actual-build-date.
• ·Each location: activation-status (in-service, pending, ineligible), actual-activation-date, customer-billing-status.
• ·Audit log: every change with who, when, and what changed.

How MapItRight helps

We track the live state-by-state cadence; pre-build templates for each state's filing format; auto-generate the spatial data BEAD reports require; and store the audit log NTIA will eventually ask for.

We're not the only way to file BEAD reports — a sufficiently diligent operator can do it from spreadsheets. We are an option for not spending 18 hours a week on it.