CAB Program 2024

We are working with interested individual N.C. counties to fund broadband deployment projects in unserved and underserved areas of each county through the Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program. Please send any questions or comments about the program to CABprogram@nc.gov.  

CAB Program Guidance

The CAB program guidance was updated Jan. 3, 2024. 

CAB County Commitment Forms

The CAB legislation (N.C.G.S. 143B-1373.1) requires counties to provide matching funds for CAB projects. These matching funds will be combined with NCDIT’s contribution and the vendor’s contribution according to the match amounts designated by the statute. Counties’ proposed contributions, as communicated to us, are tracked in the CAB County Commitment Tracker below: 

CAB Mapping Tool for Counties

Counties can work with us to define areas or locations to prioritize for the CAB program that best align with their priorities. For example, priority locations may include areas where residents and businesses have reported high-speed internet access issues, areas with vulnerable populations, key economic or agricultural sites/zones, communication towers, community anchor institutions such as libraries, schools, health clinics, or public safety sites. These priority areas will become part of the county’s scope of work and will be mapped so counties may evaluate internet service providers’ project responses. 

CAB Scopes of Work

We are working with counties to prepare a scope of work to seek proposals from prequalified internet service providers. Each scope of work will include the evaluation criteria by which a provider will be chosen and instructions for submitting proposals. Please visit the Active CAB Proposals page to review currently posted scopes of work. 

Scope of Work Instructions for Counties

A scope of work template is provided below. This template is not a final document but is being provided as a guide. We will work together with the county to create a final scope of work that reflects the county’s priorities and lists required submission materials.  

NEW: CAB Match Calculator Tool

Counties participating in the CAB program must provide matching funds for the projects using ARPA funds or nonrestricted general funds as their source of matching funds. The percentage of matching funds required from the broadband provider and the county varies depending on the amount of ARPA funds allocated from the federal government directly to the participating county. Matching fund requirements are set in the CAB statute and are separated into the categories below:

  • Counties receiving $8 million or more in ARPA funding
  • Counties receiving $4-8 million and the provider match is exactly 15% (Option A)
  • Counties receiving $4-8 million and the provider match is more than 15% (Option B)
  • Counties receiving $250,000-$4 million and the provider match is exactly 15% (Option A)
  • Counties receiving $250,000-$4 million and the provider match is more than 15% (Option B)

The CAB Match Calculator Tool can assist counties and internet service providers in estimating cost sharing for CAB-funded projects and to assess possible project size based on funding contributions. For projects in counties that have received less than $8 million in ARPA funds, the calculator allows counties to look at total project sizes possible based on whether a provider is contributing matching funds under Option A (provider match is exactly 15%) or Option B (provider match is more than 15%). *Option A always maximizes the amount of NCDIT's contribution to the project and generally results in a much larger project than Option B. Under Option B, providers must contribute significantly more funding in order to reach project sizes similar to Option A. Therefore, we anticipate that most proposals will select Option A, where the provider contributes exactly 15%.  

Instructions: Using on the yellow cells in the below tool, select the desired county in the dropdown menu and then select the desired provider share using the second dropdown menu. Repeat these steps for each county you wish to calculate.