MCA's Approach to Potential Changes to Federal Funding

​

Over the course of the last week there have been important communications around potential changes to federal funding that impact the Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA)’s programs and Maine’s commitment to comprehensive connectivity for everyone. This message is intended to convey updates and guidance for existing partners, subgrantees, program applicants, contractors, vendors, and the public at large.

On Sunday, February 2, MCA received notice from The United States Department of The Treasury’s Office of Procurement Executive directing compliance with a Temporary Restraining Order dated Jan 31, 2025, which prohibits enforcement of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum (issued on January 28 and rescinded on January 31) ordering a temporary pause in many federal financial assistance programs. The order further prohibits the Trump Administration “from reissuing, adopting, implementing, or otherwise giving effect to the OMB Directive under any other name or title,” and to “not impede the States’ access to awards and obligations, except on the basis of the applicable authorizing statutes, regulations, and terms.”

The Temporary Restraining Order ensures that MCA, on behalf of the State of Maine, will continue implementing and administering investments that have been legally obligated to Maine through federal programs such as the Capital Projects Fund, Broadband Infrastructure Program, Enabling Middle Mile, BEAD, and more. MCA will not pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate compliance with awards and obligations to provide federal financial assistance.

As a reminder, MCA does not have possession of the funds for grant awards, and these are kept at the federal level. When a subgrantee or vendor requests reimbursement of expenses, MCA follows a predefined process to verify the accuracy and eligibility of the funding request and then submits a subsequent drawdown to different federal agencies. Those agencies conduct their own review and then distribute funds to MCA, which in turn issues payment to the subgrantees and contractors in the next MCA payment cycle.

If you are an existing subgrantee or vendor, please continue to follow your award and contract terms and conditions. Please communicate early and often with your Grant Manager or MCA contact with questions about your specific projects or inquiries at large.

For those with disbursement requests already in motion, please connect with your MCA Grant Manager to discuss the timeline for the review, approval and payment of your project. Grant Managers will also plan to address open disbursement questions during February’s ISP monthly check-in meetings.

For those with projects underway, please continue to submit timely disbursement requests for those costs that are already incurred and are supported by the backup materials as required by your contract.

MCA is committed to administering and processing disbursement requests as quickly as possible and will submit requests to the funding partner (e.g., Department of The Treasury) in our usual manner.

MCA will notify subgrantees of the expected timing of the payment to MCA and subsequent disbursement to the best of our ability, but please keep in mind this is dependent on external processes outside our control.

If you are a prospective applicant for the Digital Opportunities Network Grant program or have an application underway for the BEAD program, MCA has not received official notice or information that would cause us to change or delay these open opportunities. These are historic investments, and we are committed to deploying these programs as rapidly and effectively as possible as designed and approved through bipartisan legislation. We will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates as they become available.

It is more important than ever to help our legislators and federal partners understand just how critical this work is. Please help us help you. If you or your community are affected by the digital divide in Maine - please respond to this email and share your story with our communications team.

We can (still) get there from here!

Andrew Butcher

President, Maine Connectivity Authority