FCC Open Minded on System for Reporting 911 Certification
The FCC offered an update Monday on its work to develop rules for carriers to file annual certifications at the agency addressing how they are following best practices for 911 connections. The FCC approved an order in December requiring the certifications (CD Dec 13 p7), a step taken in reaction to the June 2012 derecho windstorm that saw connection problems at 77 public safety answering points (PSAPs).
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"We're trying to reach out as broadly as we can before we get the first certification in the door,” said Jeffery Goldthorp, Public Safety Bureau associate chief. More outreach is coming over the summer, particularly aimed at small carriers, he said.
The FCC is not interested in relitigating the issues addressed in the rulemaking process that led to development of the rules, Goldthorp said. “That’s done,” he said. “Assume that the rules as they exist right now are the rules as they will be."
The FCC’s goal is to offer rules that are easy, user friendly and secure, said John Healy, associate chief of the bureau’s Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Division. The information also has to be “complete,” he said. “We get the appropriate information and we can easily analyze it, sort it and use it.” The FCC is considering various reports it will require, though not all carriers will have to file all of them, he said. The current template is based on the FCC’s existing Network Outage Reporting System, he said. The FCC is open to other proposals, Healy said. “Right now, we're very flexible,” he said. “In about five months, we won’t be very flexible.”
Eric Schmidt, an attorney adviser at the bureau, said the certification requirement applies to carriers that operate a central office that directly serves a PSAP. A carrier will have to demonstrate it has conducted “diversity audits” of critical circuits, show that it is keeping track of the audit and eliminate possible “single points of failure” in circuits that serve PSAPs, he said. The FCC explained in detail the new rules in its report and order (http://bit.ly/1jMYaJk).