Is three weeks enough time for NTIA/RUS to Pick winners?

So the deadline for submitting applications for the first chunk of money from the broadband stimulus programs is basically today. NTIA and RUS have also announced that they're giving themselves a Sept 14th deadline for when they're going to unveil the finalists who made it through the first round of vetting. At this point they'll accept input from governors to help determine which projects in a state to fund.

But let's pause for a moment and consider something: is three weeks enough time to read let alone vet let alone weigh the relative merits of what is almost certainly hundreds of applications? Because between today and Sept 14th that's basically all the time that's left...