Your BEAD Win Is Just the Beginning—Here’s How To Stay Compliant and Competitive

Congratulations on securing BEAD funding. It's a major milestone, but the real work starts after the award letter arrives. For broadband service providers (BSPs), the next challenge is meeting the Buy America Build America (BABA) requirements and ensuring your network passes NTIA performance testing. These aren't just boxes to check-they're NTIA requirements that directly impact reimbursement and project timelines.

At this stage, every decision you make matters. The winners who succeed will be those who can navigate regulatory complexity without slowing down builds or overburdening their teams.

The BABA Compliance Challenge

Under the BABA provisions, all BEAD projects must use U.S.-manufactured materials unless a waiver applies. This impacts everything from fiberoptic cables to electronics, and compliance must be documented carefully to avoid costly delays, possible penalties, and reimbursement forfeiture. As outlined in our BEAD compliance overview, BSPs will need:

• Clear visibility into the supply chain
  
  
• Documentation processes that withstand NTIA and state audits
  
  
• Partnerships with vendors that can certify their solutions as BABA compliant

Without these safeguards, even the strongest BEAD build plan can stall.

Performance Testing: Proving You Deliver What You Promised

The NTIA requires BEAD winners to demonstrate that their networks consistently meet speed, latency, and reliability benchmarks. These tests aren't one-and-done-they're ongoing obligations that can impact your ability to retain funding.

This means putting the right tools in place before deployment begins. BSPs must be ready to:

• Automate collection of performance data
  
  
• Document compliance for NTIA reporting
  
  
• Troubleshoot proactively to protect subscriber experiences

For many BSPs, this can feel like a burden-but with the right platform, performance testing can strengthen operations and subscriber trust.

How Calix Can Help

Calix has built a comprehensive approach to support BEAD winners through both BABA compliance and performance testing.

• BABA Made Simple: With our BABA compliance resources, trusted vendor ecosystem, and automatic certification delivery, you'll know where your materials stand, what waivers apply, and how to keep your project on track. Every order includes the necessary BABA certifications, ensuring your documentation is complete and your compliance seamless.
  
  
• Testing Built In: Our cloud-based solutions integrate performance monitoring directly into your network, making NTIA testing a byproduct of everyday operations rather than a separate project. This reduces risk, saves staff time, and ensures you're always ready for audits.
  
  
• Confidence to Execute: Beyond compliance, Calix gives you the ability to focus on what matters most: delivering reliable, high-quality broadband experiences to your communities.

Winning BEAD funding is only the beginning. The BSPs that thrive will be those that can execute quickly while staying compliant and audit ready. By simplifying BABA compliance and embedding performance testing into daily operations, Calix helps providers transform regulatory requirements into operational advantages.