- In 2026, Texas, Oregon, New Mexico, Virginia and other states moved to re-award BEAD locations after winners backed out.
- Where the timing is known, 2026 withdrawals happened before the grant agreement was signed.
- NTIA told states in August 2026 that they can't change signed BEAD contracts on their own.
- A replacement provider's four-year clock runs from its own subgrant, so the outside finish date moves later.
When a BEAD winner backs out, your address doesn’t simply lose its funding. In the 2026 cases below, states moved to re-award the locations, usually through a quick re-bid among other providers. But a new provider’s four-year clock runs from its own subgrant, so expect a later date.
“Backing out” covers a few different events, and the difference matters for how fast your state can recover:
- A provisional winner declines before signing. This is the most common case in the table below.
- The state rescinds an award. New Mexico did this to eleven awards in July 2026.
- A provider misses the signing deadline. That happened in Oregon in September 2026 (news).
Why winners walk away
States rarely publish detailed reasons. Their notices mostly record that a company declined or that an award was rescinded, and move on to the re-award. When a company does explain itself, its own words are worth more than a summary. The pattern as of Nov 3, 2026 is about timing rather than reasons: where the timing is known, withdrawals came between provisional selection and signing, the point where a provider sees the final agreement and the final list of locations.
What states did next
These are the 2026 cases in this site’s state records as of November 3, 2026. Each state name links to its guide, where the revision notes and sources sit.
| State | Who withdrew | Locations | What the state did | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | Four provisional winners (press report) | About 31,000 | Ran a special process open only to signed providers; chose eight for more than 27,000 locations | June 2026 |
| Oregon | Four original awardees, 15 projects | 13,381 | Five providers took 8,187 locations in round 1; Amazon Leo took 5,192 in round 2 (preliminary, pending NTIA) | Jul 8, 2026 |
| New Mexico | Eleven awards to one company rescinded; a second awardee withdrew one application | About 7,361 from the rescinded awards | Selecting new providers; 19 projects with 15 providers remained | Jul 1 and Oct 14, 2026 |
| Nebraska | Three provisional winners didn’t sign, Amazon among them (press report) | 1,735 | Said it would open another application round and publish a map of open locations | May 22, 2026 |
| Virginia | Wi-Fiber declined to sign | About 1,800 | Amazon, Comcast and All Points each taking some | Aug 3, 2026 |
| Vermont | DVFiber no longer listed | Not stated | Published an updated project list without it | Sep 14, 2026 |
| Idaho | Not stated | 26,236 listed as eligible | Opened a “Round 3” for remaining project areas and locations | Aug 13, 2026 |
| Colorado | Agreements not finalized | 4,430 | Re-bid among earlier BEAD applicants; bids due Nov 9, 2026 | Oct 22, 2026 |
Two things stand out. Texas, Oregon and Virginia lined up replacements within weeks, while New Mexico, Nebraska and Colorado were still choosing new providers months later. And the replacement isn’t always the same kind of service: in Oregon, the areas nobody picked up in the first reassignment went to a satellite provider.
Signed vs unsigned: why it matters
Before signing, a provisional winner can walk away, and the state can reassign the locations through its own process, as Texas and Oregon did. After signing, the agreement binds both sides. NTIA told states in August 2026 that they can’t change signed BEAD contracts on their own, according to Broadband Breakfast’s August 14 report. That’s why some of the satellite cuts NTIA asked for in 2026 needed the company’s agreement in states that had already signed.
Locations whose winner never signed sit in between: in limbo rather than lost, as in Oregon after its September deadline (news).
How the four-year clock moves
Federal law gives each BEAD provider four years after it receives its subgrant to build and begin service. A replacement provider receives its subgrant later than the original winner would have, so its deadline lands later too.
In practice, a home whose winner backed out in mid-2026, and whose replacement signs in late 2026 or 2027, may be looking at 2030 or 2031 as the outer limit. That’s a ceiling, not a forecast. Many providers build well inside it, especially where they already run lines nearby. Where each state’s builds stand shows the stated finish dates by state.
How to find your new provider
- Look for a re-award notice on your state’s BEAD page, linked from your state guide. Words to watch for: “rescinded,” “declined,” “special process,” “reassignment,” “round 2” or “round 3.”
- Search your address again on the newest list. If the provider changed, note the new name and the technology, since the replacement may build something different from the original winner.
From there, checking whether the new provider has signed and when it reaches your road works the same as for any BEAD build: see where each state’s builds stand.
If your address isn’t on any BEAD list now, the reason may be something else entirely. Why BEAD skipped my house covers the four common causes, and BEAD’s second round covers the 2026 round for homes the first one missed.
What to use meanwhile
A re-award usually adds months, and a new four-year window starts with the new subgrant. If your connection is struggling now, a short, no-penalty plan keeps you covered without betting on a date that has already slipped once; what to use while you wait lists the commitments worth avoiding.