§2370.10. Failure to perform

            A. A grant recipient shall forfeit the amount of the grant received if it fails to perform, in material respect, the obligations established in the agreement. Grant recipients that fail to provide the minimum advertised connection speed and cost at the advertised rate shall forfeit any matching funds, up to the entire amount received through the GUMBO program. The office shall use its discretion to determine the amount forfeited. A grant recipient that forfeits amounts disbursed under this Subpart is liable for up to the amount disbursed plus interest. The number of subscribers that subscribe to broadband services offered by the provider in the project area shall not be a measure of performance under the agreement for the purposes of this Subsection.

            B. A grant recipient shall not be required to forfeit the amount of the grant received if it fails to perform due to a natural disaster, an act of God, force majeure, a catastrophe, pandemic, the failure to obtain access to private or public property or any government permits under reasonable terms, or such other occurrence over which the grant recipient has no control.

            C. Except as provided for in Subsection B of this Section, if a grant recipient fails to perform and fails to return the full forfeited amount required pursuant to this Section, the ownership and use of the broadband infrastructure funded by the GUMBO program shall revert to the division of administration.

            D. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section to the contrary, if a grant recipient fails to complete a project in a material respect, the grant recipient, at the discretion of the office, may be required to reimburse the state the actual cost to finish the project. The actual cost to finish the project shall be determined by the office in consultation with the grant recipient. The office shall not require a grant recipient that it deems has made a good faith effort to complete a project to reimburse the state an amount greater than the remaining GUMBO cost per prospective broadband recipient as set forth in the grant recipient's application.

            Acts 2021, No. 477, §1, eff. July 1, 2021; Acts 2022, No. 288, §2; Acts 2023, No. 383, §3A.