Around 130 consultants from all over Germany gathered in Berlin on March 7 for an information event on the federal broadband funding program. At the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure(BMVI), the project management agency aconium, which has been entrusted with the project, first provided information at the so-called “Consultants’ Day” on specifics of the guideline “Funding to support broadband expansion in the Federal Republic of Germany” as well as updates to the central online portal www.breitbandausschreibungen.de, which is used to submit applications for the federal broadband funding program.
Other key points at the “Consultants’ Day” included the consultants’ approach to planning, invoicing as part of the funding of consulting services and the sample performance profiles from the guidelines for implementing the directive. The latter refer to the economic efficiency assessment for planning or consulting services as well as the consulting service Gigabit Society. In the second part of the event, the path to the funding decision for broadband expansion in the final amount of the grant, which the districts and municipalities receiving funding from the BMVI as part of the federal broadband funding program, was described. In this context, the selection procedure was discussed and the corresponding handout was presented. This was followed by a discussion on how to deal with changes in the infrastructure projects. The procedure for submitting an amendment application was presented using the example of a change to the approval period.
The event concluded with a presentation on the request for funds, in which, in addition to the general requirements, a lecture was also given on how to submit such requests for funds with proof of invoices and supporting documents. The employees of the Agency for Technology and Networks KOM (aconium) answered the various questions of the participants, among other things on lot formation in the selection procedure, the central online portal and the submission of interim proof within the request for funds.
Photos: Consultants’ Day for the Federal Broadband Funding Program at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in Berlin on 08.03.2018.
Photo credits: aconium GmbH / Christina Flore