FCC and NTIA Commit To Improved Coordination and Information Sharing

Defense contractors rely on the successful coordination between the FCC and NTIA to ensure that spectrum is available for experimentation and testing, in support of contract implementation, or for IR&D activities.

In many cases, applications for spectrum approval submitted to the FCC must be reviewed and approved by NTIA – to ensure deconfliction with federal usage – before the FCC can approve spectrum requests.

This process is subject to significant delay if there are gaps in the communication pipeline between the agencies, and such delays can threaten the performance deadlines and contractual obligations of contractors.

In an effort to “improve the two agencies’ ability to address gaps in governmental coordination,” the FCC and NTIA have recently announced a new “Spectrum Coordination Initiative” to improve U.S. government coordination on spectrum management.

In announcing the initiative, FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel stated, “Now more than ever we need a whole-of-government approach to spectrum policy….Over the past few years we’ve seen the cost of not having one— and we need a non-stop effort to fix that.”

The agencies have committed to the following initial actions in support of this initiative:

• Reinstate High Level Meetings. For the first time, the Chair of the FCC and the Assistant Secretary will hold formal, regular meetings, beginning monthly, to conduct joint spectrum planning. This will go above and beyond the existing statutory requirement, as well as the existing Memorandum of Understanding between the agencies, which provides that the Chair and the Assistant Secretary meet twice each calendar year.
• Reaffirm Roles and Responsibilities. Building on NTIA’s statutory role as manager of the federal government’s use of spectrum, the FCC and NTIA will update the nearly twenty-year-old Memorandum of Understanding between the agencies to address gaps in government coordination and to better reflect today’s spectrum opportunities and challenges. 
• Renew Efforts to Develop a National Spectrum Strategy. To secure America’s leadership, the FCC and NTIA will collaborate to help inform the development of a national spectrum strategy, increase transparency around spectrum use and needs, and establish long-term spectrum planning and coordination.
• Recommit to Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking. The FCC and NTIA will work cooperatively to develop processes for spectrum engineering compatibility analysis. These will include a compilation of principles, guidelines, accepted technical standards, interference protection criteria, propagation models, and other characteristics.
• Revamp Technical Collaboration. The FCC and NTIA will foster proactive technical exchange and engagement with industry and other federal agencies by participating in cross-agency advisory groups. To start, the FCC will participate as an observer in the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, and NTIA will participate as an observer in the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council and the Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council.

If you have any questions regarding this initiative, or how to provide input to the FCC and NTIA to improve the spectrum coordination process, or if you have any questions regarding Arent Fox’s National Security practice, please contact Jeff Rummel.