Federal Communications Commission DA 20-813 DA 20-813 Released: July 30, 2020 PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELAND SECURITY BUREAU ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF 911 RELIABILITY CERTIFICATION SYSTEM FOR ANNUAL RELIABILITY CERTIFICATIONS PS Docket Nos. 13-75, 11-60 By this Public Notice, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) announces that the Federal Communications Commission’s (Commission’s) 911 Reliability Certification System is now open for filing annual reliability certifications, which are due on October 15, 2020. See Improving 911 Reliability; Reliability and Continuity of Communications Networks, Including Broadband Technologies, Report and Order, 28 FCC Rcd 17476, 17497, 17534, para. 65, 163 (2013) (911 Reliability Certification Order). This collection of information has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under control number 3060-1202. See Notice of Office of Management and Budget Action, Improving 911 Reliability; Reliability and Continuity of Communications Including Networks, Broadband Technologies, OMB Control No. 3060-1202 (Sept. 14, 2015) https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/DownloadNOA?requestID=268844. Covered 911 service providers should file certifications using the Commission’s online portal at https://apps2.fcc.gov/rcs911/. See 47 CFR § 9.19(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”). The Commission’s rules require covered 911 service providers to take reasonable measures to provide reliable 911 service with respect to: (i) 911 circuit diversity; (ii) central office backup power; and (iii) diverse network monitoring. 47 CFR § 9.19(c); see also Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Announces Effective Dates of 911 Reliability Certification and PSAP Outage Notification Requirements, Public Notice, 29 FCC Rcd 13900, 13901 (2014). Covered 911 service providers must certify as to their compliance with each of these three requirements or to their implementation of reasonable alternative measures. See 47 CFR § 9.19. The Commission has clarified that, under section 9.19 (formerly section 12.4) of its rules, covered 911 service providers may implement and certify an alternative measure for any of the specific certification elements, as long as they “provide an explanation of how such alternative measures are reasonably sufficient to mitigate the risk of failure,” which “should include an explanation of how the alternative will mitigate such risk at least to a comparable extent as the measures specified in our rules.” Improving 911 Reliability; Reliability and Continuity of Communications Networks, Including Broadband Technologies, Order on Reconsideration, 30 FCC Rcd 8650, 8651, para. 2 (2015). Covered 911 service providers may register new users on the login page at https://apps2.fcc.gov/rcs911/. As with the Commission’s Network Outage Reporting System (NORS), there are two types of users for the 911 Reliability Certification System: inputters and coordinators. Inputters only have access to information that they submit, while coordinators have access to all information submitted by their companies. Users responsible for limited portions of a company’s certification (e.g., particular service areas or topics such as circuit diversity, backup power, or network monitoring) should register as inputters, while users responsible for overseeing each company’s certification as a whole should send a request to David Ahn (David.Ahn@fcc.gov) or to Julia Tu (Julia.Tu@fcc.gov) to receive coordinator status. For security purposes, these requests are handled on an individual basis. Companies that serve numerous Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) or service areas may choose to enter their responses in an Excel spreadsheet, which is available for download on the main menu page of the 911 Reliability Certification System. Please note that only users registered as coordinators will have access to the Excel upload and download capability. Once users enter all certification information into the 911 Reliability Certification System, the system provides a link to upload a signed attestation from a company’s certifying official that such information is true and correct. See 47 CFR § 9.19(a)(2)-(3) (defining certification as “[a]n attestation by a certifying official, under penalty of perjury, that a covered 911 service provider: (i) Has satisfied the obligations of paragraph (c) of this section. . . . [t]he term “certification” shall include both an annual reliability certification under paragraph (c) of this section and an initial reliability certification under paragraph (d)(1) of this section;” and defining Certifying official as “[a] corporate officer . . . with supervisory and budgetary authority over network operations in all relevant service areas” and explaining attestation requirements). More detailed instructions on how to complete the annual reliability certifications are available as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at https://apps2.fcc.gov/rcs911/911RCS_FAQ.html, and in a User Manual posted on the main menu of the 911 Reliability Certification System. For further information about the 911 Reliability Certification System and/or the filing process, please contact Julia Tu at (202) 418-0731 or Julia.Tu@fcc.gov. For further information about the 911 reliability rules, please contact Jennifer Holtz at (202) 418-2336 or Jennifer.Holtz@fcc.gov. -FCC- 2