PUBLIC NOTICE Federal Communications Commission 445 12 th St., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 DA 14-1664 Released: November 18, 2014 PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELAND SECURITY BUREAU ANNOUNCES EFFECTIVE DATES OF 911 RELIABILITY CERTIFICATION AND PSAP OUTAGE NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS PS Docket Nos. 13-75, 11-60 By this Public Notice, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) announces the effective dates of new reliability certification and PSAP notification requirements for 911 communications providers, following approval of the associated information collections by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Bureau also announces that an Initial Certification of substantial progress toward meeting the requirements of the Annual Reliability Certification will be due to the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) on October 15, 2015. 911 Reliability Order On December 12, 2013, the Commission adopted a Report and Order (911 Reliability Order) requiring certain 911 service providers 1 to take reasonable measures to provide reliable service with respect to 911 circuit diversity, central office backup power, and diverse network monitoring, as evidenced by an annual certification of compliance with specified best practices or reasonable alternative measures. 2 The Commission also adopted changes to its outage notification requirements, specifically the requirement to notify Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) of outages that might impact 911. Both the requirements to file 911 reliability certifications and the changes to the outage notification rules required approval from OMB. 3 1 See 47 C.F.R. § 12.4(a)(4) (defining “Covered 911 Service Providers” as entities that “[p]rovide[] 911, E911, or NG911 capabilities such as call routing, automatic location information (ALI), automatic number identification (ANI), or the functional equivalent of those capabilities, directly to a public safety answering point (PSAP), statewide default answering point, or appropriate local emergency authority,” or that “[o]perate[] one or more central offices that directly serve a PSAP”). 2 Improving 911 Reliability; Reliability and Continuity of Communications Networks, Including Broadband Technologies, PS Docket Nos. 13-75, 11-60, Report and Order, 28 FCC Rcd 17476 (2013) (911 Reliability Order), available at http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db1212/FCC-13-158A1.pdf. 3 Rules that did not require OMB approval became effective on February 18, 2014, including the substantive obligation to take such reasonable measures. Id. at 17535 ¶169. 2Certification. On October 15, 2014, in accordance with the 911 Reliability Order, the Commission published notice in the Federal Register that OMB has approved a new information collection for a period of three years and issued OMB Control Number 3060-1202. 4 Accordingly, Commission Rules 12.4(c), 12.4(d)(1), and 12.4(d)(3), 5 which pertain to Annual Reliability Certifications, Initial Reliability Certifications, and associated record retention requirements, became effective on October 15, 2014. 6 As stated in the 911 Reliability Order, “[o]ne year after the effective date of [Rule 12.4(d)(1)], a Certifying Official of every Covered 911 Service Provider shall certify to the Commission that it has made substantial progress toward meeting the standards of the Annual Reliability Certification.” 7 Substantial progress is defined as “compliance with standards of the full certification in at least 50 percent of the Covered 911 Service Provider’s Critical 911 Circuits, central offices that directly serve PSAPs, and independently monitored 911 Service Areas.” 8 Therefore, an Initial Reliability Certification of at least 50 percent compliance with applicable certification requirements will be due October 15, 2015. Annual Reliability Certifications described in Commission Rule 12.4(c) will then be due each year thereafter, i.e., October 15, 2016, etc. 9 PSAP Notification. On November 4, 2014, in accordance with the 911 Reliability Order, the Commission published notice in the Federal Register that OMB has approved the revised Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) information collection for a period of three years and re-issued OMB Control Number 3060-0484. 10 Accordingly, requirements contained in Commission Rule 4.9(h) with respect to PSAP notification became effective on November 4, 2014. 11 Further Information For further information about the rules, please contact Eric Schmidt in the Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Division of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau at (202) 418- 1214 or eric.schmidt@fcc.gov. For technical information about the certification process, please contact John Healy in the Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Division of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau at (202) 418-2448 or john.healy@fcc.gov. 4 Improving 911 Reliability; Reliability and Continuity of Communications Networks, Including Broadband Technologies, 79 Fed. Reg. 61785 (Oct. 15, 2014), available at https://federalregister.gov/a/2014-24474. 5 47 C.F.R. §§ 12.4(c), 12.4(d)(1), 12.4(d)(3). 6 Improving 911 Reliability; Reliability and Continuity of Communications Networks, Including Broadband Technologies, 79 Fed. Reg. at 61785-86. 7 47 C.F.R. § 12.4(d)(1). 8 Id. 9 Certification information will be collected through an online system. The Bureau will provide additional information on the process for submitting certification information as it becomes available and will provide training opportunities on the use of the certification system in advance of the due date of the Initial Certification. 10 See Improving 911 Reliability; Reliability and Continuity of Communications Networks, Including Broadband Technologies, 79 Fed. Reg. 65348 (Nov. 4, 2014), available at https://federalregister.gov/a/2014-26117. 11 Id. at 65349. For more specific information about the revisions to the Commission’s PSAP notification rule, see 911 Reliability Order, 28 FCC Rcd at 17526-29, ¶¶ 139-47.