Technology and cybersecurity

Executive Order 13821: Streamlining and Expediting Requests To Locate Broadband Facilities in Rural America

President: Donald J. Trump

Directed GSA to review how requests to site broadband facilities on federal property are processed.

Status: In effect. Is Executive Order 13821 still in effect? Yes. Executive Order 13821 remains in effect. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13821 do?

EO 13821 instructed GSA and federal property agencies to assess common application and master-contract processes for locating broadband facilities on federal real property, with a focus on rural access. It required an evaluation and recommended improvements, not automatic permission to install equipment or a guarantee of broadband service. GSA later published reporting on federal broadband-siting requests. Individual installations still require property, communications and environmental approvals where applicable.

Administration position: Rural connectivity benefits were a policy goal; the order did not prove service reached any particular community.

The before-and-after change was administrative, not the creation of broadband permission from scratch. Section 6409 of the 2012 tax-relief and job-creation law already called for a common form and master contract for wireless siting on federal property. EO 13821 added an effectiveness review, possible form revisions and recurring transparency requirements. It retained an agency’s mission and national-interest grounds for not approving a request. Signed sections 1–2.

GSA’s follow-up record identifies an actual form change: OMB approved revised SF-299 on February 14, 2020. But the later report also explains a land-specific exception. Bureau of Indian Affairs rights-of-way on trust and restricted lands use the BIA rights-of-way or business-lease process rather than the SF-299 used by other agencies, citing 25 U.S.C. §§ 323–328 and 25 C.F.R. part 169. A prospective applicant therefore needs to identify the land manager and applicable process, not assume one form fits every parcel. GSA form FAQ; FY 2026 Q2 report, page 11 footnote.

The quarterly data also need careful interpretation. In GSA’s report, approval is the agency’s offer of an authorization, while authorization records both parties agreeing to its terms. Neither count by itself measures households newly connected. GSA also describes inconsistent agency treatment of when an application becomes newly received, affecting pending-time comparisons. These are limits on the evidence, not grounds for treating every permit as overdue or every rural household as served. Report pages 4 and 7–8.

SignedJanuary 8, 2018
LeadGSA
Initial evaluationWithin 180 days
Follow-upGSA reporting published

Before and after

Before the order

GSA already had a common form and master contract under 2012 law.

After the order

GSA was directed to evaluate and improve the siting process.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
GSA AdministratorEvaluate the common application with property-agency heads; determine appropriate lawful revisions and begin implementing them; send aggregate reports and improvement recommendations to OMB.Sections 2(a)–(b): evaluation within 180 days of January 8, 2018. Section 2(e): first aggregate report 90 days after signing, quarterly thereafter; improvement recommendations not later than one year after signing.
Federal property-managing agenciesUse the common application; review and approve requests expeditiously unless approval would harm the agency mission or otherwise not serve U.S. interests; report applications, decisions, reasons and working-day processing times to GSA.Sections 2(c)–(d): initial agency report within 180 days, then quarterly, covering the preceding quarter. The order sets no universal numerical permit-decision deadline in section 2(c).
Applicants for broadband facilities on federal propertyUse the common application prescribed under section 6409 for covered siting requests. Later implementing forms and land-specific legal processes matter.Section 2(c): application-process requirement, not automatic permission to install equipment or a new filing deadline for every project.
OMB DirectorNamed recipient of GSA’s aggregate quarterly reports and recommendations for common-form improvements.Section 2(e): GSA’s 90-day/quarterly reporting and one-year recommendation clocks; no separate numerical OMB approval deadline specified.

The signed text gives GSA’s first aggregate report and the agencies’ initial reports different clocks: 90 days after signing and within 180 days, respectively. They should not both be rewritten as one 180-day deadline or as a deadline beginning only after every agency reports. A direction to review requests expeditiously also is not a promise that every application will be granted. Signed section 2(a)–(e).

What happened next

EO 13821 signed.

The Federal Register published EO 13821, three days after signing. Its numerical reporting and evaluation clocks are measured from signing, not this publication date. Official source.

OMB approved revised SF-299, according to GSA’s official form FAQ. The later reporting process distinguishes approved, authorized and withdrawn applications rather than treating them as the same outcome. Official source.

GSA’s quarterly-report library carries this update date and lists the FY 2026 Q2 report as continuing subsection 2(e) reporting. This is the library update date, not an independently established publication day for the PDF or proof every siting request was resolved. Official source.