Public Information Collections Approved by Office of Management and Budget, 5843-5845 [E8-1782]

Agencies

• FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 21 (Thursday, January 31, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5843-5845]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-1782]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION


Public Information Collections Approved by Office of Management 
and Budget

January 25, 2008.
SUMMARY: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for the following public 
information collection(s) pursuant to the

[[Page 5844]]

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520. An agency may not 
conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a 
collection of information unless it displays a currently valid control 
number.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Leslie F. Smith, Federal 
Communications Commission, (202) 418-0217 or via the Internet at 
Leslie.Smith@fcc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    OMB Control Number: 3060-1112.
    Title: Comprehensive Review of the Universal Service Fund 
Management, Administration, and Oversight.
    OMB Approval Date: 01/23/2008.
    Expiration Date: 01/31/2011.
    Form Number(s): N/A.
    Type of Review: New information collection.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.
    Number of Respondents and Responses: 1 respondent; 1 response.
    Estimated Time per Response: 1.0 hours.
    Frequency of Response: Recordkeeping requirements.
    Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits.
    Total Annual Burden: 1.0 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: None.
    Privacy Impact Assessment: No impact(s).
    Needs and Uses: On August 29, 2007, the FCC released a Report and 
Order (``R&O''), Comprehensive Review of the Universal Service Fund 
Management, Administration, and Oversight; Federal-State Joint Board on 
Universal Service; Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support 
Mechanism; Rule Health Care Support Mechanism; Lifeline and Link-up; 
and Changes to the Board of Directors for the National Exchange Carrier 
Association, Inc., WC Docket No. 05-195 et al., FCC 07-150.
    In this R&O, the FCC has adopted new and revised information 
collection requirements that include timely filing for 
Telecommunications Reporting Worksheets, a reminder that USF 
contributors must file FCC Forms 499-A and 499-Q on a periodic basis, 
document retention and recordkeeping requirements and administrative 
limitation periods for the high-cost, low-income, and rural health care 
universal service programs, and various other performance measures and 
reporting requirements for the universal service programs and for the 
Universal Service Fund (``USF'') Administrator. These recordkeeping and 
reporting requirements are part of the FCC's continuing process to 
deter misconduct and inappropriate uses of the universal service funds. 
It is the FCC's intention that these requirements will both safeguard 
the USF from waste, fraud, and abuse and improve the management, 
administration, and oversight of the USF. These information collection 
requirements are as follows:
    Timely filing for Worksheets. At present, Universal Service Fund 
contributors must file FCC Form 499-Q, ``Telecommunications Reporting 
Worksheet'' (``Worksheet''), on a timely filing basis and must not 
submit inaccurate or untruthful information. In addition, the R&O will 
require the USF Administrator to add information, e.g., a notification 
requirement, to the monthly invoice sent to contributors. Each monthly 
invoice must now also include language pertaining to the Debt 
Collection Improvement Act (DCIA) of 1996, substantially as follows:
    A failure to submit payment may result in sanctions, including, but 
not limited to, the initiation of proceedings to recover the 
outstanding debt, together with any applicable administrative charges, 
penalties, and interest pursuant to the provisions of the Debt 
Collection Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-365) and the Debt Collection 
Improvement Act of 1996, (Pub. L. 104-134) as amended (the ``DCIA''), 
as set forth below.
    The date of payment on the invoice is the due date. If full payment 
is not received by the date due, the debt is delinquent. Because the 
unpaid amount is a debt owed to the United States, we are required by 
the DCIA to impose interest and to inform you what may happen if you do 
not pay the full outstanding debt. Under the DCIA, the United States 
will charge interest at the annual rate equal to the U.S. prime rate as 
of the date of delinquency plus 3.5 percent from the date the 
contribution was due. This interest rate incorporates administrative 
charges of collection pursuant to 47 CFR 54.713. If the debt remains 
unpaid more than 90 days, you will be charged an additional penalty of 
6 percent a year for any part of the debt that is more than 90 days 
past due. If the debt remains unpaid, the full amount of the 
outstanding debt may be transferred to the United States Department of 
Treasury (``Treasury'') for debt collection, and you will be required 
to pay the administrative costs of processing and handling a delinquent 
claim as set by the Treasury (currently 28 percent of the debt). 
However, if you pay the full amount of the outstanding debt and 
associated administrative fees and penalties within 30 days of the due 
date, the DCIA Interest will be waived. These requirements are set out 
at 31 U.S.C. Section 3717. In addition to the language in the invoice, 
the R&O has specified that USF Administrator's invoice shall state 
clearly that the invoiced amount is due on a specific date and that the 
debt is delinquent if not paid in full by that date. The USF 
Administrator's invoices and any letters shall also explain the 
applicable sanction and administrative changes for late payments, i.e., 
under 31 U.S.C. 3717, a delinquent debt that is not paid in full within 
30 days from the date due will incur interest, and if not paid in full 
within 90 days from the due date, will also incur a penalty of 6 
percent per year. In addition, the delinquent contributor will be 
assessed the administrative costs of collection, pursuant to 47 CFR 
54.713 of FCC rules. Finally, an invoice sent after partial payment 
should show clearly that the payment was applied to outstanding 
penalties, administrative costs, accrued interest, and then to the 
oldest outstanding principal (``American Rule'').
    Document retention requirements. Having concluded in the R&O that 
document retention and recordkeeping requirements not only prevent 
waste, fraud, and abuse, but also protect applicants and service 
providers in the event of vendor disputes, the FCC has adopted or 
revised several of these requirements that will demonstrate compliance 
with FCC rules and regulations and be available to the USF 
Administrator, auditors, and the FCC, as follows:
    High-cost program. Recipients of universal service support for 
high-cost providers must retain all records that they may require to 
demonstrate to auditors that the support they received was consistent 
with the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and FCC rules, 
assuming that the audits are conducted within five years of 
disbursement of such support. This R&O clarifies that beneficiaries 
must make available all such documents and records that pertain to 
them, including those of NECA, contractors, and consultants working on 
behalf of the beneficiaries to the Commission's Office of Inspector 
General (``OIG''), to the USF Administrator, and to their auditors. See 
47 CFR 54.202(e).\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ 47 CFR 54.202(e): All eligible telecommunications carriers 
shall retain all records required to demonstrate to auditors that 
the support received was consistent with the universal service high-
cost program rules. These rules should include the following: Data 
supporting line count filings; historical customer records; fixed 
asset property accounting records; general ledgers; invoice copies 
for the purchase and maintenance of equipment; maintenance contracts 
for the upgrade or equipment; and any other relevant documentation. 
This documentation must be maintained for at least five years from 
the receipt of funding.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 5845]]

    Low-income program. With respect to the two low-income universal 
service programs Lifeline and Link-Up, the FCC has concluded that it 
should maintain the current two-tiered document retention requirements. 
Participating service providers must retain a record verifying the 
eligibility of a recipient of the program for as long as the recipient 
continues to receive supported service and three years more, and to 
make it available in conjunction with any audit to which it may be 
relevant. However, the R&O removes the clause that waives the 
requirement to retain documentation of eligibility once an audit is 
completed. The FCC also clarifies that beneficiaries must make 
available all documentation and records that pertain to them, including 
those of contractors and consultants working on their behalf, to the 
Commission's OIG, to the USF Administrator, and to auditors working on 
their behalf. See 47 CFR 54.417(a).\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ 47 CFR 54.417(a): Eligible telecommunications carriers must 
maintain records to document compliance with all Commission and 
state requirements governing the Lifeline/Link Up programs for the 
three full years preceding calendar years and requiring carriers to 
retain documentation for as long as the customer receives Lifeline 
service from the ETC or until audited by the Administrator and 
provide that documentation to the Commission or Administrator upon 
request * * *.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Rural health care and schools and libraries programs. The FCC 
maintains the current requirement that rural health care providers and 
schools and libraries must retain their records, which evidence that 
the funding they receive was proper, for five years. In addition, this 
requirement will now also apply to those service providers that receive 
support for serving rural health care providers. Furthermore, the FCC 
clarifies that beneficiaries must make available all documents and 
records that pertain to them, including those of contractors and 
consultants, working on their behalf, to the Commission's OIG, to the 
USF Administrator, and to their auditors, as required by 47 CFR 
54.516(a) \3\ and 47 CFR 54.619(a).\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ 47 CFR 54.516(a) Recordkeeping requirements--(1) Schools and 
libraries. Schools and libraries shall retain all documents related 
to the application for, receipt, and delivery of discounted 
telecommunications and other supported services for at least 5 years 
after the last day of the service delivered in a particular Funding 
Year. Any other document that demonstrates compliance with the 
statutory or regulatory requirements for the schools and libraries 
mechanism shall be retained as well. Schools and libraries shall 
maintain asset and inventory records of equipment purchased as 
components of supported internal connections services sufficient to 
verify the actual location of such equipment for a period of five 
years after purchase.
    \4\ 47 CFR 54.619(d) Service providers. Service providers shall 
retain documents related to the delivery of discounted 
telecommunications and other supported services for at least five 
years after the last day of the delivery of discounted services. Any 
documentation that demonstrates compliance with the statutory or 
regulatory requirements for the rural health care mechanism shall be 
retained as well.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Contributors. The R&O also requires contributors to the Universal 
Service Fund to retain all documents and records, e.g., financial 
statements and supporting documentation, etc., that they may require to 
demonstrate to auditors that their contributions were made in 
compliance with the program rules, assuming that audits are conducted 
within five years. The FCC clarifies that contributors must make 
available all documents and records that pertain to them, including 
those of contractors and consultants working on their behalf, to the 
Commission's OIG, to the USF Administrator, and to their auditors. 
Connectivity. The FCC will require the USF Administrator to work with 
the Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau to modify the relevant FCC 
Forms or to create additional questions for USF program participants to 
determine more accurately how schools and libraries connect to the 
Internet and their precise levels of connectivity.
    These new and revised information collection requirements, which 
include document retention and recordkeeping requirements, etc., will 
affect numerous information collections that the FCC currently 
maintains. Once OMB approves these requirements, the FCC will begin to 
update these information collections as required by the rules adopted 
in this R&O.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-1782 Filed 1-30-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P