ICF plows into USDA plan to expand rural broadband

ICF Incorporated LLC will assist the Agriculture Department’s program to expand rural broadband access under a multi-year contract valued at up to $27 million.

Under this contract, ICF, a subsidiary of ICF International, will support the department’s Rural Development, Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Broadband Initiatives Program, a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The ICF team will provide communications and outreach, program administration, application processing, post-award monitoring, program reporting and technical assistance.

The first step will be to immediately set up the application review process to assist the RUS in making timely awards, ICF officials said.

"We are mobilizing our experience in a wide variety of areas, including rapid program deployment, broadband technologies, and federal lending procedures, to support this critical infrastructure for rural America," Andrew Zehe, ICF principal and RUS program manager, said in a statement.