Expanding America's Leadership in Wireless Innovation, 37431-37435 [2013-14971]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 119 (Thursday, June 20, 2013)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 37431-37435]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-14971]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 119 / Thursday, June 20, 2013 / 
Presidential Documents

[[Page 37431]]


                Memorandum of June 14, 2013

                
Expanding America's Leadership in Wireless 
                Innovation

                Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and 
                Agencies

                A combination of American entrepreneurship and 
                innovation, private investment, and smart policy has 
                positioned the United States as the global leader in 
                wireless broadband technologies. Expanding the 
                availability of spectrum for innovative and flexible 
                commercial uses, including for broadband services, will 
                further promote our Nation's economic development by 
                providing citizens and businesses with greater speed 
                and availability of coverage, encourage further 
                development of cutting-edge wireless technologies, 
                applications, and services, and help reduce usage 
                charges for households and businesses. We must continue 
                to make additional spectrum available as promptly as 
                possible for the benefit of consumers and businesses. 
                At the same time, we must ensure that Federal, State, 
                local, tribal, and territorial governments are able to 
                maintain mission critical capabilities that depend on 
                spectrum today, as well as effectively and efficiently 
                meet future requirements.

                In my memorandum of June 28, 2010 (Unleashing the 
                Wireless Broadband Revolution), I directed the 
                Secretary of Commerce, working through the National 
                Telecommunications and Information Administration 
                (NTIA), to collaborate with the Federal Communications 
                Commission (FCC) to make 500 MHz of Federal and 
                nonfederal spectrum available for wireless broadband 
                use within 10 years. Executive departments and agencies 
                (agencies), including NTIA, have done an excellent job 
                of pursuing the twin goals of advancing their agency 
                missions and promoting innovation and economic growth. 
                Although existing efforts will almost double the amount 
                of spectrum available for wireless broadband, we must 
                make available even more spectrum and create new 
                avenues for wireless innovation. One means of doing so 
                is by allowing and encouraging shared access to 
                spectrum that is currently allocated exclusively for 
                Federal use. Where technically and economically 
                feasible, sharing can and should be used to enhance 
                efficiency among all users and expedite commercial 
                access to additional spectrum bands, subject to 
                adequate interference protection for Federal users, 
                especially users with national security, law 
                enforcement, and safety-of-life responsibilities. In 
                order to meet growing Federal spectrum requirements, we 
                should also seek to eliminate restrictions on 
                commercial carriers' ability to negotiate sharing 
                arrangements with agencies. To further these efforts, 
                while still safeguarding protected incumbent systems 
                that are vital to Federal interests and economic 
                growth, this memorandum directs agencies and offices to 
                take a number of additional actions to accelerate 
                shared access to spectrum.

                Therefore, by the authority vested in me as President 
                by the Constitution and the laws of the United States 
                of America, including the Federal Property and 
                Administrative Services Act, 40 U.S.C. 101 et seq., and 
                in order to promote economy and efficiency in Federal 
                procurement, I hereby direct the following:

                Section 1. Spectrum Policy Team. (a) The Chief 
                Technology Officer and the Director of the National 
                Economic Council, or their designees, shall co-chair a 
                Spectrum Policy Team that shall include representatives 
                from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the 
                National Security Staff, and the Council of Economic 
                Advisers. The Spectrum Policy Team shall work with NTIA 
                to implement this memorandum. The Spectrum Policy Team 
                may invite the FCC to provide advice and assistance.

[[Page 37432]]

                    (b) The Spectrum Policy Team shall monitor and 
                support advances in spectrum sharing policies and 
                technologies. Within 1 year of the date of this 
                memorandum, the Spectrum Policy Team shall publish a 
                report describing how NTIA and FCC are incorporating 
                spectrum sharing into their spectrum management 
                practices. The report shall include recommendations 
                that enable more productive uses of spectrum throughout 
                our economy and society and protect the current and 
                future mission capabilities of agencies. The Spectrum 
                Policy Team shall also assess national security, law 
                enforcement, safety-of-life, economic, scientific, 
                social, international, and other policy considerations 
                related to licensed and unlicensed spectrum use, 
                including standardization as well as the extent to 
                which the revenue potential of spectrum auctions 
                affects spectrum policy.

                Sec. 2. Collaboration on Spectrum Sharing. (a) The 
                Secretary of Commerce, working through NTIA, has been 
                facilitating discussions between agencies and 
                nonfederal entities that have produced an unprecedented 
                level of information-sharing and collaboration to 
                identify opportunities for agencies to relinquish or 
                share spectrum, currently focusing on the 1695-1710 MHz 
                band, the 1755-1850 MHz band, and the 5350-5470 and 
                5850-5925 MHz bands. The NTIA shall continue to 
                facilitate these discussions and the sharing of data to 
                expedite commercial entry into these bands where 
                possible, provided that the mission capabilities of 
                Federal systems designed to operate in these bands are 
                maintained and protected, including through relocation, 
                either to alternative spectrum or non-spectrum 
                dependent systems, or through acceptable sharing 
                arrangements. These discussions shall also be expanded 
                to encompass more spectrum bands that may be candidates 
                for shared access, specifically those in the range 
                below 6 GHz, subject to the protection of the 
                capabilities of Federal systems designed to operate in 
                those bands.

                    (b) Within 3 months of the date of this memorandum, 
                the Secretary of Commerce, working through NTIA and the 
                National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 
                and building on the results from the Networking and 
                Information Technology Research and Development 
                Program, shall publish an inventory and description of 
                Federal test facilities available to commercial and 
                other stakeholders engaged in research, development, 
                testing, and evaluation of technologies to enhance 
                spectrum sharing and other spectrum-related 
                efficiencies. To maximize the productive use of these 
                facilities and to facilitate greater collaboration 
                among agencies and nonfederal stakeholders, the 
                Secretary of Commerce, working through NTIA, NIST, and 
                other appropriate agencies, shall, within 6 months of 
                the date of this memorandum, establish a plan for the 
                development and promulgation of standard policies, best 
                practices, and templates governing the following: 
                research, development, testing, and evaluation of 
                spectrum sharing technologies by and among commercial, 
                Government, and academic stakeholders at Federal 
                facilities.
                    (c) All policies, practices, and templates shall be 
                subject to safeguards reasonably necessary to protect 
                classified, sensitive, and proprietary data. Within 6 
                months of the date of this memorandum, the Spectrum 
                Policy Team, in consultation with the Department of 
                Justice, the National Archives and Records 
                Administration, the Office of the Director of National 
                Intelligence, and other appropriate agencies, shall, 
                consistent with applicable law, including 5 U.S.C. 552, 
                as amended by Public Law 107-306 and Public Law 11-175, 
                and Executive Order 13526 of December 29, 2009 
                (Classified National Security Information), implement 
                policies for the sharing with authorized nonfederal 
                parties of classified, sensitive, or proprietary data 
                regarding assignments, utilization of spectrum, system 
                configurations, business plans, and other information.

                Sec. 3. Agency Usage of Spectrum. (a) The NTIA, in 
                consultation with the Spectrum Policy Team and 
                appropriate agencies, shall include in its Fourth 
                Interim Report required by section 1(d) of my 
                memorandum of June 28, 2010, a plan directing 
                applicable agencies to provide quantitative assessments 
                of the actual usage of spectrum in those spectrum bands 
                that NTIA previously identified and prioritized in its 
                Third Interim Report and such

[[Page 37433]]

                other bands as NTIA and the Spectrum Policy Team 
                determine have the greatest potential to be shared with 
                nonfederal users. Each agency's assessment shall be 
                prepared according to such metrics and other parameters 
                as are reasonably necessary to determine the extent to 
                which spectrum assigned to the agency could potentially 
                be made available for sharing with or release to 
                commercial users, particularly in major metropolitan 
                areas, without adversely affecting agencies' missions, 
                especially those related to national security, law 
                enforcement, and safety of life. Each assessment shall 
                also include a discussion of projected increases in 
                spectrum usage and needs and shall identify where 
                access to nonfederal spectrum could aid in fulfilling 
                agency missions. The plan shall further require each 
                agency to submit its assessments to NTIA and the 
                Spectrum Policy Team within 12 months of the plan's 
                release. In identifying spectrum bands with the 
                greatest potential to be shared, NTIA and the Spectrum 
                Policy Team shall consider the number and nature of 
                Federal and nonfederal systems in a band, the technical 
                suitability of the band for shared use, international 
                implications, any potential for relocating Federal 
                systems to comparable spectrum or otherwise enabling 
                comparable capabilities, and other factors NTIA and the 
                Spectrum Policy Team deem relevant based on 
                consultation with agencies and other stakeholders. A 
                band shall be identified as a candidate for shared 
                access under this subsection only if it has been 
                likewise identified under section 2(a) of this 
                memorandum.

                    (b) The reporting of information under this section 
                shall be subject to existing safeguards protecting 
                classified, sensitive, and proprietary data. The NTIA 
                shall release a summary of the assessments publicly to 
                the extent consistent with law. The NTIA and the 
                Spectrum Policy Team shall make any appropriate 
                recommendations regarding the possible availability of 
                spectrum in the subject bands for innovative and 
                flexible commercial uses, including broadband, taking 
                into account factors such as the nature of the Federal 
                systems in the bands and the extent to which those 
                systems occupy and use the bands.
                    (c) The NTIA shall design and conduct a pilot 
                program to monitor spectrum usage in real time in 
                selected communities throughout the country to 
                determine whether a comprehensive monitoring program in 
                major metropolitan areas could disclose opportunities 
                for more efficient spectrum access, including via 
                sharing. The NTIA shall work with agencies to ensure 
                the program will not reveal sensitive or classified 
                information. The NTIA shall consult with each agency to 
                determine the correct technical parameters to monitor 
                usage.
                    (d) Within 6 months of the date of this memorandum, 
                NTIA shall take such actions as are necessary to 
                require that each agency's regular reviews of its 
                frequency assignments include a quantitative assessment 
                of its actual usage of spectrum under such assignments.
                    (e) The NTIA shall also take such actions as are 
                necessary to require that an agency requesting a 
                frequency assignment or spectrum certification for 
                systems operating between 400 MHz and 6 GHz verify that 
                it must operate in this critical range, and that it 
                will use the minimum spectrum reasonably necessary to 
                most effectively meet mission requirements. The 
                requesting agency shall also verify that it is not 
                reasonable to satisfy such requirements in some other 
                manner, such as at higher frequencies, via commercial 
                services, or via a system that is not spectrum-
                dependent, whether due to cost, technology, 
                implementation, performance reasons, international 
                obligations, or other practical or legal constraints. 
                In the case of system certification requests only, the 
                requesting agency shall also present with its request a 
                narrative explaining why its proposed solution will 
                most effectively meet its mission requirements, in 
                light of potential alternative approaches and all 
                practical and legal constraints. Further, requesting 
                agencies shall identify spectrum that will no longer be 
                used by any legacy systems that are replaced. In 
                implementing this subsection, NTIA shall take all steps 
                necessary to protect against disclosure of sensitive 
                and classified information.

[[Page 37434]]

                Sec. 4. Spectrum Efficiency in Procurements. Agencies 
                shall include spectrum efficiency when considering 
                procurement of spectrum-dependent systems and hardware, 
                as a technical requirement, an evaluation criterion for 
                award, or both. The Director of OMB, in consultation 
                with NTIA, shall develop and incorporate spectrum 
                efficiency guidelines into budget and procurement 
                processes. These guidelines shall facilitate, as 
                appropriate, the design and procurement of systems that 
                increase flexibility through means such as multiple-
                band tuning capabilities and the use of commercial 
                systems. The guidelines also shall require, to the 
                extent possible, procurements of Federal systems such 
                that emission levels resulting from reasonable use of 
                adjacent spectrum will not impair the functioning of 
                such systems, consistent with any applicable radio 
                receiver performance criteria and international 
                obligations.

                Sec. 5. Performance Criteria for Radio Receivers. The 
                FCC is strongly encouraged, in consultation with NTIA, 
                where appropriate, the industry, and other 
                stakeholders, to develop to the fullest extent of its 
                legal authority a program of performance criteria, 
                ratings, and other measures, including standards, to 
                encourage the design, manufacture, and sale of radio 
                receivers such that emission levels resulting from 
                reasonable use of adjacent spectrum will not endanger 
                the functioning of the receiver or seriously degrade, 
                obstruct, or repeatedly interrupt the operations of the 
                receiver. In developing such a program, the FCC is 
                strongly encouraged to give due consideration to 
                existing policies and prudent investments that have 
                been previously made in systems, including receivers. 
                In its consultation with the FCC, NTIA shall provide 
                information regarding Federal receiver standards and 
                agency practices under those standards.

                Sec. 6. Incentives for Agencies. The Spectrum Policy 
                Team shall, within 6 months of the date of this 
                memorandum, publish a report making recommendations to 
                the President regarding market-based or other 
                approaches that could give agencies greater incentive 
                to share or relinquish spectrum, while protecting the 
                mission capabilities of existing and future systems 
                that rely on spectrum use. The report shall consider 
                whether the Spectrum Currency and Spectrum Efficiency 
                Fund proposals made by the President's Council of 
                Advisors on Science and Technology would be effective. 
                The report shall also analyze the impact of the 
                Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act of 2004 (Title II 
                of Public Law 108-494), as modified by the Middle Class 
                Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Public Law 
                112-96).

                Sec. 7. Rapid Deployment of Wireless Broadband. The FCC 
                is strongly encouraged, in collaboration with NTIA, 
                where appropriate, to expedite the repurposing of 
                spectrum and otherwise enable innovative and flexible 
                commercial uses of spectrum, including broadband, to be 
                deployed as rapidly as possible by:

                    (a) identifying spectrum allocated for nonfederal 
                uses that can be made available for licensed and 
                unlicensed wireless broadband services and devices, and 
                other innovative and flexible uses of spectrum, while 
                fairly accommodating the rights and reasonable 
                expectations of incumbent users;
                    (b) identifying spectrum allocated for nonfederal 
                uses that can be made available to agencies, on a 
                shared or exclusive basis, particularly where necessary 
                to accommodate agencies seeking to relocate systems out 
                of bands that could be made available for licensed 
                services or unlicensed devices;
                    (c) promulgating and enforcing rules for licensed 
                services to provide strong incentives for licensees to 
                put spectrum to use and avoid spectrum warehousing. 
                Such rules may include build-out requirements or other 
                licensing conditions as appropriate for the particular 
                circumstance;
                    (d) establishing and maintaining conditions that 
                promote a reliable secondary market for spectrum, 
                including provisions enabling negotiated access by 
                agencies and uses not addressed in subsection (b) of 
                this section;

[[Page 37435]]

                    (e) promulgating and enforcing rules for licensed 
                services and unlicensed devices to share Federal 
                spectrum that accommodate mission changes and 
                technology updates by both Federal and nonfederal 
                users; and
                    (f) consulting with the Department of State 
                regarding international obligations related to spectrum 
                use.

                Sec. 8. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this 
                memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise 
                affect:

                    (i) the authority granted by law to any agency, or 
                the head thereof; or
                    (ii) the functions of the Director of OMB relating 
                to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
                    (b) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed 
                to require the disclosure of classified information, 
                law enforcement sensitive information, or other 
                information that must be protected in the interest of 
                national security or public safety.
                    (c) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent 
                with applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.
                    (d) This memorandum is not intended to, and does 
                not, create any right or benefit, substantive or 
                procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any 
                party against the United States, its departments, 
                agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or 
                agents, or any other person.
                    (e) Independent agencies are strongly encouraged to 
                comply with the requirements of this memorandum.
                    (f) The Presidential Memorandum of November 30, 
                2004 (Improving Spectrum Management for the 21st 
                Century), is hereby revoked.
                    (g) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized and 
                directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal 
                Register.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    Washington, June 14, 2013.

[FR Doc. 2013-14971
Filed 6-19-13; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3510-07