GAO: FCC, NTIA NEED MORE COOPERATION ON SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT
The General Accounting Office (GAO) said Tues. that the overall structure of spectrum management in the U.S. doesn’t encourage efficiency. The agency encouraged stronger spectrum review by NTIA over spectrum usage by federal agencies. In a report examining federal spectrum use, the GAO said there were few incentives for the govt. to use the resource efficiently. NTIA mainly relies on individual agencies to develop spectrum-efficient systems, the GAO said, but these agencies’ guidance to suppliers don’t require “systemic consideration of spectrum efficiency in their acquisitions.”
The GAO encouraged more cooperation between the FCC and NTIA. The GAO had 3 recommendations for both agencies: (1) Assess the feasibility of redefining the spectrum allocation system to build in greater flexibility where appropriate to accommodate emerging technologies. (2) Develop and carry out plans to gain a more thorough and on-going understanding of the current spectrum environment. (3) Strengthen efforts to develop jointly accepted models to evaluate the impact of new technologies on overall spectrum use and increase opportunities to permit testing of those technologies.
GAO also had 3 recommendations specifically for NTIA: (1) Establish guidance for agencies to determine and report their future spectrum requirements. (2) Strengthen NTIA’s spectrum certification process to more directly address spectrum efficiency. (3) Determine approaches for providing incentives to agencies to use spectrum more efficiently and then pilot and measure the effectiveness of those approaches.
The FCC told GAO it supported the recommendations and “would work with NTIA to incorporate the report’s findings and recommendations in future works,” GAO said. The FCC also told the GAO that it has encouraged and facilitated new technologies that might improve spectrum efficiency. The Commerce Dept. didn’t comment on the recommendations, GAO said, but did note that NTIA and FCC meet regularly on spectrum issues. But GAO said it’s unclear whether these meetings will address recommendations to improve spectrum efficiency. “Continued difficulty in reaching consensus between NTIA and the FCC will hinder opportunities to accommodate new technologies and users and improve spectrum efficiency,” GAO said. The GAO report was directed to House Govt. Reform Chmn. Davis (R-Va.) and Govt. Reform Technology Subcommittee Chmn. Putnam (R-Fla.).