PRA Supporting Statement FINAL 8 31 07

3060-XXXX

August 2007

SUPPORTING STATEMEMENT

A. Justification:

1. On August 3, 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 (Act), Public Law 110-53. The purpose of the Act is to “provide for the implementation of the recommendations of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.” Towards this end, the Act mandates that the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) “shall conduct a vulnerability assessment of the Nation’s critical communications and information systems infrastructure and shall evaluate the technical feasibility of creating a back-up emergency communications system that complements existing communications resources and takes into account next generation and advanced communications technologies.” The Commission must submit a report to Congress that details the findings of its evaluation not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Act (since the Act was enacted on August 3, 2007, the report will be due to Congress on January 30, 2008).

As noted on the Form OMB 83i, this information collection does not affect individuals or households; thus, there are no impacts under the Privacy Act.

2. The information collected will be used to conduct the breadth and depth of analysis mandated by the statute, which states that the overriding objective of the evaluation that the Commission must undertake is “providing a framework for the development of a resilient interoperable communications systems for emergency responders in an emergency.” The Act mandates that the evaluation of an emergency communications system include: (1) a survey of all Federal agencies that use terrestrial or satellite technology for communications security and an evaluation of the feasibility of using existing systems for the purpose of creating such an emergency back-up public safety communications system; (2) the feasibility of using private satellite, wireless, or terrestrial networks for emergency communications; (3) the technical options, cost, and deployment methods of software, equipment, handsets or desktop communications devices for public safety entities in major urban areas, and nationwide; and (4) the feasibility and cost of necessary changes to the network operations center of terrestrial-based or satellite systems to enable the centers to serve as emergency back-up communications systems.

3. It is not anticipated that this information collection will make use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques.

4. This information is not available elsewhere. It is being collected specifically to meet the requirements of the Act. This is a unique collection and there is no duplication.

5. In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the FCC is making the effort to minimize the burden on all respondents, regardless of size. The Commission has limited the information requested to that which is absolutely necessary to gather information necessary to comply with the statute. To this end, we do not anticipate an information collection from small business. Further, participation in the information collection is entirely voluntary.

6. Failure to collect this information will adversely impact the FCC’s ability to carry out its congressionally mandated objective of preparing a report to “evaluate the technical feasibility of creating a back-up emergency communications system that complements existing communications resources and takes into account next generation and advanced communications technologies.”

7. This is a one-time information collection. There are no special circumstances that would cause the information collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the criteria set forth in no. 7.

8. The Commission will publish a notice in the Federal Register informing the public that the Commission has requested emergency processing of this information collection by OMB and that the public may submit comments on the collection to OMB and the FCC by September 12, 2007. The notice should appear in the Federal Register on September 5, 2007.

9. No gifts or payments will be received.

10. We will work with respondents to ensure that their concerns regarding the confidentiality of filings are resolved in a manner consistent with the Commission’s rules.

11. The reporting requirement does not address private matters of a sensitive nature.

12. Respondents will provide information primarily through face-to-face meetings, phone calls (including conference calls), and e-mail correspondence.

Total Burden Hours to collect this information is as follows:

45 respondents x 40 hours = 1,800 hours.

Total annual burden = 1,800 hours

13. We estimate that the total annual cost for all respondents to be $33,000. This is based on an estimate that half the respondents (22) will fly a representative (or representatives) the equivalent of a coast-to-coast round trip to Washington, D.C. and will have lodging for one night. The average cost of a single round trip fare and one night lodging is estimated to be $1500

14. There are no costs to the Commission beyond what we consider to be part of the FCC’s normal operating costs.

15. This is a new one-time collection that will result in a program change increase of 1,800 burden hours.

16. We do not intend to publish this information for statistical use.

17. Since this collection does not involve a form we do not seek approval not to display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection.

18. There were no exceptions to Item 19 on OMB Form 83i.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods:

This information collection does not employ any statistical methods.