January 2010
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
A. Justification:
1. The Federal Communications Commission ("Commission") is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve an extension of OMB Control No. 3060-1056 (delegated authority collection) titled, "Application for an International Broadcast Station License” (FCC Form 421-IB).
The FCC Form 421-IB will be used by applicants to request licenses to operate international broadcast stations. The FCC Form 421-IB has not been implemented yet due to a lack of budget resources and technical staff. After the form has been implemented, it will be completed by international broadcasters in lieu of the "Application for an International, Experimental Television, Experimental Facsimile, or a Developmental Broadcast Station," (FCC Form 310).
(Note: The Commission received approval from the OMB for the FCC Form 310 under OMB Control No 3060-1035).
Currently, the FCC Form 310 is shared between the International Bureau and the Media Bureau. The International Bureau and Media Bureau have different information collection requirements. The FCC Form 310 is used by the Media Bureau to request experimental and developmental broadcast licenses and it is used by the International Bureau to request licenses to operate international broadcast stations.
We stated previously that the International Bureau plans to make the FCC Form 421-IB available to the public in the International Bureau Filing System (“MyIBFS”). However, the Commission has long-term plans to develop a new system called the Consolidated Licensing System (“CLS”) that will replace MyIBFS. Therefore, the FCC Form 421-IB will be housed in the CLS in the future rather than in MyIBFS.
The Commission put the FCC Form 421-IB under a separate OMB control number to facilitate the automation of the form in MyIBFS and any changes to the form in the future. The FCC Form 310 will continue to be used by the Media Bureau in connection with the authority to construct or make changes to an experimental broadcast license.
The FCC Form 421-IB does not affect individuals and, therefore, is not subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended.
The Commission has authority for this collection pursuant to the rules set forth in Section 325(c) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
2. The information collected pursuant to the rules set forth in Section 325(c) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and in 47 CFR Part 73, Subpart F, is used by the Commission to assign frequencies for use by international broadcast stations, to grant authority to operate such stations and to determine if interference or adverse propagation conditions exist that may impact the operation of such stations. If the Commission did not collect this information, it would not be in a position to effectively coordinate spectrum for international broadcasters or to act for entities in times of frequency interference or adverse propagation conditions. The orderly nature of the provision of international broadcast service would be in jeopardy without the Commission's involvement.
3. The FCC Form 421-IB has not been implemented yet due to a lack of budget resources and technical staff. After it has been implemented, it will be available to applicants in CLS.
The implementation of this new application is contingent upon the availability of budget funds. At present, zero (0) percent of this collection is automated.
4. These information collection requirements are not duplicated elsewhere in the Commission’s rules.
5. These information collection requirements do not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. The total number of entities subject to the Commission’s international broadcast rules is approximately 10 and only a small percentage, if any, of the 10 could be categorized as a small entity. Also, the paperwork burdens accounted for in this collection are minimal.
6. If the Commission did not collect this information, it would not be in a position to effectively coordinate spectrum for international broadcasters or to act for entities in times of frequency interference or adverse propagation conditions. The orderly nature of the provision of international broadcast service would be in jeopardy without the Commission’s involvement.
7. This information collection is not conducted in a manner that is inconsistent with the guidelines in 5 C.F.R 1320.6.
8. A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register (74 FR 53235) to solicit comments from the public on the extension of this collection. The 60-day comment period began on October 16, 2009 and ended on December 15, 2009. No comments were received from the public.
9. The Commission does not provide any payment or gift to respondents.
10. There is no need for confidentiality pertaining to the information collection requirements in this collection.
11. This collection does not contain questions of a sensitive nature.
12. An estimate of the annual burden hours for the 10 respondents to this information collection is as follows:
FCC Form 421-IB |
Number of Responses |
Frequency of Response & Hours |
Number of Responses X Hour/Response = Burden Hours |
Complete Application
|
10 |
6 hours/response On-occasion |
60 hours |
Total:
|
10 Annual Responses
|
6 Hours Per Response |
60 Annual Burden Hours |
13. The estimated costs of $40,500 are summarized in the chart below.
FCC Form 421-IB |
Responses |
Hours |
Costs |
Total |
Application Fees
|
10 |
N/A |
$2,400 per application
|
$24,000 |
Outside Legal Assistance |
10 |
3 Hours |
$300 per hour |
$9,000 |
Outside Engineering Assistance |
10 |
3 Hours
|
$250 per hour |
$7,500 |
Total: |
|
|
|
$40,500 Total Cost |
14. The estimated annualized costs to the Federal government is $21,507.20 and is calculated
as follows:
10 international broadcast license applications X 32 annual hours = 320 annual hours
(legal review 160 hours; engineering review 160 hours)
GS-855-15/Step 5 Electronics Engineer @ $67.21 per hour X 160 annual
hours = $10,753.60
GS-905-15/Step 5 Attorney @ $67.21 per hour X 160 annual
hours = $10,753.60
$10,753.60 + $10,753.60 (Engineer and Attorney) = $21,507.20
15. This Supporting Statement reflects an adjustment of -60 burden hours to this information collection. The annual burden hours decreased from 120 to 60 hours. The Commission accounted for the burden hours more accurately with this submission. In addition, this Supporting Statement reflects an adjustment of +$4,500 to the annual cost burden. This adjustment is due to an increase in the hourly rate for outside legal assistance from $200 to $300 per hour and for outside engineering assistance from $200 to $250 per hour. There are no program changes to this information collection.
16. The results of this information collection requirement will not be published for statistical use.
17. We are seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of this information collection. The Commission will use an edition date in lieu of the OMB expiration date. Additionally, the OMB expiration date and OMB control number are “displayed” in
47 CFR 0.408.
18. The Commission stated in the 60-day notice, 74 FR 53235, that OMB Control No. 3060-1056 included 120 annual burden hours, $36,000 in annual costs, recordkeeping requirement and other reporting requirement. With this submission the Commission is correcting these items. The annual burden hours are 60 hours, the annual costs are $40,500 and recordkeeping requirement and other reporting requirement are not a part of this information collection.
Part B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods:
Not applicable. This information collection does not employ statistical methods.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Draft/jstify |
| Author | PREITZEL |
| Last Modified By | cathy.williams |
| File Modified | 2010-01-12 |
| File Created | 2010-01-12 |