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Sub-Grantee Selection Process

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Application Documents

BEAD-Eligible Locations and Project Area Units

The BEAD-funded Connect Illinois Round 4 organizes unserved and underserved locations and eligible community anchor institutions into Project Area Units (PAUs). PAUs are clusters of eligible locations no more than five miles apart. They serve as the building blocks of an application -- applicants can apply to serve one or more PAUs, and PAUs cannot be separated. Each PAU has an associated Reference Cost and is designated as hard-to-serve or a high-cost area.

  • PAUs are available as a layer on the Illinois Broadband Map and for download as Shapefiles.
    • Map Tips:
      • Zoom in four times to view PAU areas.
      • Zoom in six times to view locations.
      • Click on a point to view location- and PAU-specific information.
      • Click on a shaded area to view PAU-specific information.
      • On the right-hand panel, deselect other layers to only view PAUs.
    • To Download:
      • Click on the folder icon on the top left of the page, called “Downloads.”
      • Download PAUs by selecting “PAU Area & Eligible Location Data (Shapefile/GDB).”
      • This will bring you to another page – click on “Download All.”
    • Eligible locations (without PAUs) are also available for download in CSV format below.

For the application process, the Office of Broadband will publish a Project Area Selection Tool where applicants can dynamically select PAUs for their applications, indicate “must have” PAUs, and make use of other features.

For support navigating PAUs, please view this instructions guide, email broadband@illinois.gov and register for the webinar series. 

 Guidance Documents

BEAD Deep Dive Webinar Series
Wednesdays, 12-1 pm CT | Registration Link

Access past webinar content here.