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BEAD, data center build-out, and federal contract FAQs

Source-backed answers for contractors, suppliers, and small businesses.

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BEAD funding and broadband awards

Understand the program, find award recipients, and research where your business fits.

The BEAD program

BEAD stands for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment. NTIA administers the $42.45 billion program through states and territories. The tracker brings dated award records and their public sources together.

BEAD awards by state

Start with the state or territory’s published award notices. NTIA’s progress dashboard records program milestones. Kapwork state pages organize available award totals, project counts, award holders and source dates.

Subgrantees and subcontractors

A subgrantee receives a grant award through a state or territory. A subcontractor performs work under a separate commercial contract. The award holder decides its own vendor needs and procurement process.

Award records for fiber contractors

Compare awarded broadband projects in the states you serve. Review the reported technology, locations, award holder and source dates. Confirm project status and vendor needs with the award holder.

Technologies covered by BEAD

BEAD includes multiple network technologies. Check the applicable state selection and NTIA guidance for each project. The tracker groups records by the reported fiber, cable, wireless and satellite technologies.

Award status and project schedules

Provisional, Approved, Agreement executed, Construction and Complete describe project award status. Construction and completion show only once an executed subaward links to the project. Schedule dates on their own are plans.

BEAD grants and federal contracts

BEAD passes grant funding through states and territories. A federal procurement contract is a separate agreement with a federal agency. State notices document BEAD selections. Federal procurement notices document agency buying activity.

Award amounts and payment records

An allocation sets aside program funding. An award assigns funding to a recipient. Payments follow the agreement and its terms. Read each record’s measure, source and date before comparing figures.

Data center construction and build-outs

Learn the project vocabulary and how to research owners, trades, and procurement routes.

Data center build-outs

A data center build-out equips space for computing, storage and networking. The scope can include a building, power distribution, cooling, connectivity and security. Published scope documents describe the work included in a specific project.

Hyperscale and colocation

Hyperscale describes very large computing deployments. Colocation customers use space and supporting infrastructure in a provider’s facility. Colocation providers can also serve hyperscale customers. The facility operator’s documents identify the organizations involved.

Public records for data center projects

Research local planning records, dated operator announcements and contractor procurement channels. Cross-check the location, owner and scope. An announcement records a plan. The organization’s procurement documents describe available work packages.

Data center supplier qualification

Owners and contractors publish trade-partner requirements through their procurement channels. These can include capabilities, capacity, safety practices and project experience. Qualification and award decisions remain with the organization buying the work.

Commercial and federal data center projects

Commercial operators and federal agencies procure data center work through their own processes. The customer, solicitation and award record establish the contracting relationship. Read those documents to identify the responsible organization.

Kapwork’s current tracker coverage

BEAD broadband awards are live for 56 states and territories. Data center fit-outs are coming next, followed by federal contract awards. The sources linked here provide background while those trackers are being developed.

Federal contract awards and subcontracting

Separate procurement notices from award records and read each source’s dates.

Solicitations and federal contract awards

A procurement notice communicates a federal buying requirement or related procurement activity. An award record identifies work already awarded to a contractor. Notice types, response deadlines and action dates distinguish these records.

Reported federal contract recipients

SAM.gov publishes reported federal contract awards. USAspending records federal award and spending information. Search by company, agency or award identifier. Check action dates and modifications when comparing records.

Federal procurement notices

SAM.gov publishes federal procurement notices. Read the notice type, response deadline, scope, attachments and contact details. Notices can request proposals, gather market research or announce a later procurement step.

Federal prime contractors and subcontractors

A prime contractor contracts directly with the federal government. A subcontractor supplies goods or services under a separate agreement with a contractor. Each organization manages its own supplier process.

SAM.gov registration and entity identifiers

SAM.gov provides entity registration and Unique Entity IDs. Direct federal award applications generally require registration. The specific solicitation and current SAM.gov guidance define the applicable requirements.

SAM.gov registration cost

SAM.gov charges no fee for obtaining a Unique Entity ID, registering an entity or maintaining registration. Third-party assistance is a separate service. Use the official site and registration checklist before sharing business information.

Obligations, outlays and contract value

An obligation records a commitment to spend. An outlay records money paid. Potential contract value can differ from current obligations. Check the measure and reporting period attached to each figure.

Data center records

The 1,317 data center builds in this directory and how to read them.

What counts as a data center build here?

A build is a data center in the tracker's pipeline: proposed, approved, under construction, or an operating site that is expanding. Operating and cancelled facilities are not builds; the tracker keeps them, this directory does not. A build is a signal that work is coming, not a contract, an open bid or a purchase order. Power plants and crypto-mining sites are out.

What do the stages mean?

Proposed means the project has been announced or filed but has no approval yet. Approved means an authority has granted the permits or entitlements the source describes. Under construction means a source reports that work has started on site. Expanding means an operating facility is adding capacity. The stage reflects what the cited sources said on the date shown, not a guarantee of what happens next. The words are the same ones the Kapwork Grow app uses.

Where do these records come from, and do they match the Kapwork Grow app?

Every record is a facility from the Kapwork Grow data-center tracker, the same snapshot the app serves. That snapshot, built 2026-09-23, follows 3,028 facilities across 95 operators; 1,317 of them are builds in the pipeline and 337 are under construction today. This directory publishes 1,317 of those builds. The tracker merges 7 licensed sources; each record lists the rows it was merged from, and the "What each source reports" table shows where they disagree on name, stage or capacity.

Why is a facility I know about missing?

Three reasons cover almost every gap. It is already operating or was cancelled, so it is not a build; the app still lists it. No licensed source the tracker reads has reported it yet. Or a source reports it under a different name or place, so the tracker has not joined the rows. Report an error from any record page and we will check it against the sources.

What are the licences and who should be credited?

Every source the tracker reads is licensed for commercial use with attribution: Compute Atlas: Kubiak, E. (2026). Compute Atlas [Data set]. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22284476 (CC BY 4.0); Server Country, https://servercountry.org/data/ (CC BY 4.0); Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Data Center Permit Tracker (state government data); US EPA Facility Registry Service via ECHO (public domain); Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, data center lists (Texas public record); University of Virginia DC-SENSE, https://doi.org/10.18130/V3/AYLB4S (CC0); Public Evidence Project, U.S. Data Center Public Records Dataset, https://publicevidence.org/data/national-data-center-public-records (CC BY 4.0). No dataset with a non-commercial or no-redistribution licence is used anywhere in these records.