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agreement to provide service that reliably delivers 100/20 Mbps by December 31, 2024 was too <br />restrictive. Commenters noted that many plans do not always lead to a successful and complete <br />deployment, as issues may arise that prevent such infrastructure from deploying on time or at all, <br />and that several existing federal grants were designed and awarded before the onset of the <br />COVID-19 pandemic and do not meet the critical broadband needs highlighted by the pandemic. <br />Other commenters argued that Treasury's encouragement to avoid duplication of resources <br />should be strengthened, as investing in areas with existing agreements would be an inefficient <br />duplication of efforts. <br />Treasury Response: Given the final rule's revised requirements on eligible areas for <br />investment, the final rule also modifies the interim final rule's requirements around duplication <br />of resources. Since recipients must ensure that the objective of the broadband projects is to serve <br />locations with an identified need for additional broadband investment, the final rule provides <br />that, to the extent recipients are considering deploying broadband to locations where there are <br />existing enforceable federal or state funding commitments for reliable service at speeds of at <br />least 100 Mbps download speed and 20 Mbps upload speed, recipients must ensure that SLFRF <br />funds are designed to address an identified need for additional broadband investment that is not <br />met by existing federal or state funding commitments. Recipients must also ensure that SLFRF <br />funds will not be used for costs that will be reimbursed by the other federal or state funding <br />streams. <br />Cybersecurity <br />Public Comment: Several commenters expressed concern about the cybersecurity of new <br />broadband projects funded with SLFRF funds and urged Treasury to prohibit recipients from <br />311 <br />