Estimating the Economic Impact of NIST Grant Investments in Developing the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network

The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 provided $300 million for National Institute of Science and Technology to help develop the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network. The NPSBN’s primary goal is to improve first responder communication capabilities during emergencies and disasters. NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research Division, which led NIST’s work in this area, administered a series of grants under the federal Small Business Innovation Research program and its own internal grants system. In total, NIST invested $225 million between 2016 and 2020 to develop the NPSBN. Subsequently, NIST contracted with ERG to assess the extent to which its $225 million investment had fostered increased economic activity and job creation.

ERG conducted an economic impact assessment in which we reviewed each of the 65 grants NIST had awarded to support NPSBN development. We assigned a NAICS code and geographic impact area to each grant project. Our project team then applied Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Input-Output Modeling System II (RIMS II) multipliers to each grant to estimate key economic outcomes, including total economic output and jobs. Overall, we found that the NIST program catalyzed $510 million (in 2020 dollars) in economic output and created 4,280 jobs. The $225 million investment, however, was just the beginning of NIST’s outlays in this area. To help NIST staff estimate the economic impacts of future NIST investments, ERG developed a tool, including instructions, that would enable NIST staff to conduct similar future economic assessments in house.