APPENDIX A to Part 64 - Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP) System for National

APPENDIX A to Part 64 - Telecommunications Service
Priority (TSP) System for National
Security Emergency Preparedness (NSEP)
1.

Purpose and Authority.

a. This appendix establishes policies and procedures
and assigns
responsibilities for the National Security Emergency
Preparedness (NSEP)
Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP) System. The NSEP
TSP System
authorizes priority treatment to certain domestic
telecommunications services
(including portions of U.S. international telecommunication
services provided by
U.S. service vendors) for which provisioning or restoration
priority (RP) levels
are requested, assigned, and approved in accordance with
this appendix.
b. This appendix is issued pursuant to Sections 1,
4(i), 201 through 205 and
303(r) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47
U.S.C. §§ 151, 154(i),
201 through 205 and 303(r). These sections grant to the
Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) the authority over the assignment and
approval of priorities
for provisioning and restoration of common carrier-provided
telecommunications
services. Under Section 706 of the Communications Act,
this
authority may be superseded, and expanded to include noncommon carrier
telecommunication services, by the war emergency powers of
the President of the
United States. This appendix provides the Commission's
Order to
telecommunication service vendors and users to comply with
policies and
procedures establishing the NSEP TSP System, until such
policies and procedures

1

are superseded by the President's war emergency powers.
This appendix is
intended to be read in conjunction with regulations and
procedures that the
Executive Office of the President * issues (1) to implement
responsibilities
assigned in Section 6(b) of this appendix, or (2) for use
in the event this
appendix is superseded by the President's war emergency
powers.
c. Together, this appendix and the regulations and
procedures issued by the
Executive Office of the President establish one uniform
system of priorities for
provisioning and restoration of NSEP telecommunication
services both before and
after invocation of the President's war emergency powers.
In order that
government and industry resources may be used effectively
under all conditions,
a single set of rules, regulations, and procedures is
necessary, and
they must be applied on a day-to-day basis to all NSEP
services so that the
priorities they establish can be implemented at once when
the need arises.
* In Sections 2(a)(2) and 2(b)(2) of Executive Order No.
12472, "Assignment
of National Security and Emergency Preparedness
Telecommunications Functions"
April 3, 1984 (49 Fed. Reg. 13471 (1984)), the President
assigned to the
Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, certain
NSEP
telecommunication resource management responsibilities.
The term "Executive
Office of the President" as used in this appendix refers to
the official or
organization designated by the President to act on his
behalf.

2

2.

Applicability and Revocation.

a. This appendix applies to NSEP telecommunications
services:
(1) For which initial or revised priority level
assignments are requested
pursuant to Section 8 of this appendix.
(2) Which were assigned restoration priorities under the
provision of FCC
Order 80-581; 81 FCC 2d 441 (1980); 47 CFR Part 64,
Appendix A, "Priority System
for the Restoration of Common Carrier Provided Intercity
Private Line Services";
and are being resubmitted for priority level assignments
pursuant to
Section 10 of this appendix. (Such services will retain
assigned restoration
priorities until a resubmission for a TSP assignment is
completed or until the
existing RP rules are terminated.)
b. FCC Order 80-581 will continue to apply to all other
intercity, private
line circuits assigned restoration priorities thereunder
until the fully
operating capability date of this appendix, 30 months after
the initial
operating capability date referred to in subsection d of
this Section.
c. In addition, FCC Order, "Precedence System for
Public Correspondence
Services Provided by the Communications Common Carriers"
(34 Fed. Reg. 17292
(1969)); (47 CFR Part 64, Appendix B), is revoked as of the
effective date of
this appendix.
d. The initial operating capability (IOC) date for NSEP
TSP will be nine

3

months after release in the Federal Register of the FCC's
order following review
of procedures submitted by the Executive Office of the
President. On this IOC
date requests for priority assignments generally will be
accepted only by the
Executive Office of the President.
3.

Definitions.

As used in this part:
a. Assignment means the designation of priority
level(s) for a
defined NSEP telecommunications service for a specified
time period.
b. Audit means a quality assurance review in response
to identified
problems.
c. Government refers to the Federal government or any
foreign, state,
county, municipal or other local government agency or
organization. Specific
qualifications will be supplied whenever reference to a
particular level of
government is intended (e.g., "Federal Government", "state
government").
"Foreign government" means any sovereign empire, kingdom,
state, or independent
political community, including foreign diplomatic and
consular establishments
and coalitions or associations of governments (e.g., North
Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO), Southeast Asian Treaty Organization
(SEATO), Organization
of American States (OAS), and government agencies or
organization (e.g., Pan
American Union, International Postal Union, and
International Monetary Fund)).

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d. National Communications System (NCS) refers to that
organization
established by the President in Executive Order No. 12472,
"Assignment of
National Security and Emergency Preparedness
Telecommunications Functions,"
April 3, 1984, 49 Fed. Reg. 13471 (1984).
e. National Coordinating Center (NCC) refers to the
joint telecommunications
industry-Federal government operation established by the
National Communications
System to assist in the initiation, coordination,
restoration, and
reconstitution of NSEP telecommunication services or
facilities.
f. National Security Emergency Preparedness (NSEP)
telecommunications
services," or "NSEP services," means telecommunication
services which are used
to maintain a state of readiness or to respond to and
manage any event or crisis
(local, national, or international), which causes or could
cause injury or
harm to the population, damage to or loss of property, or
degrades or threatens
the NSEP posture of the United States. These services fall
into two specific
categories, Emergency NSEP and Essential NSEP, and are
assigned priority levels
pursuant to Section 9 of this appendix.
g. NSEP Treatment refers to the provisioning of a
telecommunication service
before others based on the provisioning priority level
assigned by the Executive
Office of the President.
h. Priority Action means assignment, revision,
revocation, or revalidation
by the Executive Office of the President of a priority
level associated with an NSEP telecommunications service.

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i. Priority Level means the level that may be assigned
to an NSEP
telecommunications service specifying the order in which
provisioning or
restoration of the service is to occur relative to other
NSEP and/or non-NSEP
telecommunication services. Priority levels authorized by
this appendix are
designated (highest to lowest) "E," "1," "2," "3," "4," and
"5" for provisioning
and "1," "2," "3," "4," and "5" for restoration.
j. Priority Level Assignment means the priority
level(s) designated for the
provisioning and/or restoration of a particular NSEP
telecommunications service
under Section 9 of this appendix.
k. Private NSEP Telecommunications Services include
non-common carrier
telecommunications services including private line, virtual
private line, and
private switched network services.
l. Provisioning means the act of supplying
telecommunications service to a
user, including all associated transmission, wiring and
equipment. As used
herein, "provisioning" and "initiation" are synonymous and
include altering the
state of an existing priority service or capability.
m. Public Switched NSEP Telecommunications Services
include those
NSEP telecommunications services utilizing public switched
networks. Such
services may include both interexchange and intraexchange
network facilities
(e.g., switching systems, interoffice trunks and subscriber
loops).
n. Reconciliation means the comparison of NSEP service
information and the

6

resolution of identified discrepancies.
o. Restoration means the rejustification by a service
user of a priority
level assignment. This may result in extension by the
Executive Office of the
President of the expiration date associated with the
priority level assignment.
p. Revalidation means the rejustification by a service
user of a priority
level assignment. This may result in extension by the
Executive Office of the
President of the expiration date associated with the
priority level assignment.
q. Revision means the change of priority level
assignment for an NSEP
telecommunications service. This includes any extension of
an existing priority
level assignment to an expanded NSEP service.
r. Revocation means the elimination of a priority level
assignment when it
is no longer valid. All priority level assignments for an
NSEP service are
revoked upon service termination.
s. Service Identification refers to the information
uniquely identifying an
NSEP telecommunications service to the service vendor
and/or service user.
t. Service User refers to any individual or
organization (including a
service vendor) supported by a telecommunications service
for which a priority
level has been requested or assigned pursuant to Section 8
or 9 of this
appendix.
u. Service Vendor refers to any person, association,
partnership,

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corporation, organization, or other entity (including
common carriers and
government organizations) that offers to supply any
telecommunications
equipment, facilities, or services (including customer
premises equipment and
wiring) or combination thereof. The term includes resale
carriers, prime
contractors, subcontractors, and interconnecting carriers.
v. Spare Circuits or Services refers to those not being
used or contracted
for by any customer.
w. Telecommunication Services means the transmission,
emission, or reception
of signals, signs, writing, images, sounds or intelligence
of any nature, by
wire, cable, satellite, fiber optics, laser, radio, visual
or other electronic,
electric, electromagnetic, or acoustically coupled means,
or any
combination thereof. The term can include necessary
telecommunication
facilities.
x. Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP) System
User refers to any
individual, organization, or activity that interacts with
the NSEP TSP System.
4.

Scope.

a. Domestic NSEP Services. The NSEP TSP System and
procedures established
by this appendix authorize priority treatment to the
following domestic
telecommunication services (including portions of U.S.
international
telecommunication services provided by U.S. vendors) for
which provisioning or
restoration priority levels are requested, assigned, and
approved in accordance

8

with this appendix:
(1) Common carrier services which are:
(a) Interstate or foreign telecommunications services.
(b) Intrastate telecommunication services inseparable
from interstate or
foreign telecommunications services, and intrastate
telecommunication services
to which priority levels are assigned pursuant to Section 9
of this appendix.
NOTE: Initially, the NSEP TSP System's applicability to
public switched services
is limited to (a) provisioning of such services (e.g.,
business, centrex,
cellular, foreign exchange, Wide Area Telephone Service
(WATS) and
other services that the selected vendor is able to
provision) and (b)
restoration of services that the selected vendor is able to
restore.
(2) services which are provided by government and/or noncommon carriers and
are interconnected to common carrier services assigned a
priority level pursuant
to Section 9 of this appendix.
b. Control services and orderwires. The NSEP TSP
System and procedures
established by this appendix are not applicable to
authorize priority treatment
to control services or orderwires owned by a service vendor
and needed for
provisioning, restoration, or maintenance of other services
owned by that
service vendor. Such control services and orderwires shall
have priority
provisioning and restoration over all other
telecommunication services (including
NSEP services) and shall be exempt from preemption.
However, the NSEP TSP

9

System and procedures established by this appendix are
applicable to control
services or orderwires leased by a service vendor.
c. Other Services. The NSEP TSP System may apply, at
the discretion of and
upon special arrangements by the NSEP TSP System users
involved, to authorize
priority treatment to the following telecommunication
services:
(1) Government or non-common carrier services which are
not connected to
common carrier provided services assigned a priority level
pursuant to Section 9
of this appendix.
(2) Portions of U.S. international services which are
provided by foreign
correspondents. (U.S. telecommunication service vendors
are encouraged to
ensure that relevant operating arrangements are consistent
to the maximum extent
practicable with the NSEP TSP System. If such arrangements
do not exist, U.S.
telecommunication service vendors should handle service
provisioning and/or
restoration in accordance with any system acceptable to
their foreign
correspondents which comes closest to meeting the
procedures established in this
appendix.)
5.

Policy.

The NSEP TSP System is the regulatory, administrative,
and operational system
authorizing and providing for priority treatment, i.e.,
provisioning and
restoration, of NSEP telecommunication services. As such,
it establishes the
framework for telecommunication service vendors to
provision, restore, or

10

otherwise act on a priority basis to ensure effective NSEP
telecommunication
services. The NSEP TSP System allows the assignment of
priority
levels to any NSEP service across three time periods, or
stress conditions:
Peacetime/Crisis/Mobilizations. Attack/War, and PostAttack/Recovery. Although
priority levels normally will be assigned by the Executive
Office of the
President and retained by service vendors only for the
current time period, they
may be preassigned for the other two time periods at the
request of service
users who are able to identify and justify in advance,
their wartime or
post-attack NSEP telecommunication requirements. Absent
such preassigned
priority levels for the Attack/War and Post-Attack/Recovery
periods, priority
level assignments for the Peacetime/Crisis/Mobilization
period will remain in
effect. At all times, priority level assignments will be
subject to revision by
the FCC or (on an interim basis) the Executive Office of
the President, based
upon changing NSEP needs. No other system of
telecommunication service
priorities which conflicts with the NSEP TSP System is
authorized.
6.

Responsibilities.

a.

The FCC will:

(1) Provide regulatory oversight of implementation of
the NSEP TSP System.
(2) Enforce NSEP TSP System rules and regulations,
which are
contained in this appendix.
(3) Act as final authority for approval, revision, or
disapproval of priority

11

actions by the Executive Office of the President and
adjudicate dispute
regarding either priority actions or denials of requests
for priority actions by
the Executive Office of the President, until superseded by
the President's war
emergency powers under Section 706 of the Communications
Act.
(4) Function (on a discretionary basis) as a sponsoring
Federal organization.
(See Section 6(c) below.)
b.

The Executive Office of the President will:

(1) During exercise of the President's war emergency
powers under Section 706
of the Communications Act, act as the final approval
authority for priority
actions or denials of requests for priority actions,
adjudicating any disputes.
(2) Until the exercise of the President's war emergency
powers, administer
the NSEP TSP System which includes:
(a) Receiving, processing, and evaluating requests for
priority actions from
service users, or sponsoring Federal government
organizations on behalf of
service users (e.g., Department of State or Defense on
behalf of foreign
governments, Federal Emergency Management Agency on behalf
of state
and local governments, and any Federal organization on
behalf of private
industry entities). Action on such requests will be
completed within 30 days of
receipt.
(b) Assigning, revising, revalidating, or revoking
priority levels as

12

necessary or upon request of service users concerned, and
denying requests for
priority actions as necessary, using the categories and
criteria specified in
Section 12 of this appendix. Action on such requests will
be completed within
30 days of receipt.
(c) Maintaining data on priority level assignments.
(d) Periodically forwarding to the FCC lists of priority
actions by the
Executive Office of the President for review and approval.
(e) Periodically initiating reconciliation.
(f) Testing and evaluating the NSEP TSP System for
effectiveness.
(g) Conducting audits as necessary. Any
Telecommunications Service Priority
(TSP) System user may request the Executive Office of the
President to conduct
an audit.
(h) Issuing, subject to review by the FCC, regulations
and procedures
supplemental to and consistent with this appendix regarding
operation and use of
the NSEP TSP System.
(i) Serving as a centralized point-of-contact for
collecting and
disseminating to all interested parties (consistent with
requirements for
treatment of classified and proprietary material)
information concerning use and
abuse of the NSEP TSP System.
(j) Establishing and assisting a TSP System Oversight
Committee to identity
and review any problems developing in the system and
recommend actions to

13

correct them or prevent recurrence. In addition to
representatives of the
Executive Office of the President, representatives from
private industry
(including telecommunication service vendors), state and
local governments, the
FCC, and other organizations may be appointed to that
Committee.
(k) Reporting at least quarterly to the FCC and TSP
System Oversight
Committee, together with any recommendations for action,
the operational status
of and trends in the NSEP TSP System, including:
(i) Numbers of requests processed for the various
priority actions, and the
priority levels assigned.
(ii) Relative percentages of services assigned to each
priority level under
each NSEP category and subcategory.
(iii) Any apparent serious misassignment or abuse of
priority level
assignments.
(iv) Any existing or developing problem.
(l) Submitting semi-annually to the FCC and TSP System
Oversight Committee a
summary report identifying the time and event associated
with each invocation of
NSEP treatment under Section 9(c) of this appendix, whether
the NSEP service
requirement was adequately handled, and whether any
additional charges were
incurred. These reports will be due by April 30th for the
preceding July
through December and by October 31st for the preceding
January through June time
periods.

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(m) All reports submitted to the FCC should be directed
to Chief, Domestic
Services Branch, Common Carrier Bureau, Washington, D.C.
20554.
(3) Function (on a discretionary basis) as a sponsoring
Federal organization.
(See Section 6(c) below.)
c.

Sponsoring Federal organizations will:

(1) Review and decide whether to sponsor foreign, state,
and local government
and private industry (including telecommunication service
vendors) requests for
priority actions. Federal organizations will forward
sponsored requests with
recommendations for disposition to the Executive Office of
the President.
Recommendations will be based on the categories and
criteria in Section 12 of
this appendix.
(2) Forward notification of priority actions or denials
of
requests for priority actions from the Executive Office of
the President to the
requesting foreign, state, and local government and private
industry entities.
(3) Cooperate with the Executive Office of the President
during
reconciliation, revalidation, and audits.
(4) Comply with any regulations and procedures
supplemental to and consistent
with this appendix which are issued by the Executive Office
of the President.
d. Service users will:
(1) Identify services requiring priority level
assignments and request and

15

justify priority level assignments in accordance with this
appendix and any
supplemental regulations and procedures issued by the
Executive Office of the
President that are consistent with this appendix.
(2) Request and justify revalidation of all priority
level assignments at
least every three years.
(3) For services assigned priority levels, ensure
(through contractual means
or otherwise) availability of customer premises equipment
and wiring necessary
for end-to-end service operation by the service due date,
and continued
operation; and, for such services in the Emergency NSEP
category, by the time
that vendors are prepared to provide the services.
Additionally,
designate the organization responsible for the service on
an end-to-end basis.
(4) Be prepared to accept services assigned priority
levels by the service
due dates or, for services in the Emergency NSEP category,
when they are
available.
(5) Pay vendors any authorized costs associated with
services that are
assigned priority levels.
(6) Report to vendors any failed or unusable services
that are assigned
priority levels.
(7) Designate a 24-hour point-of-contact for matters
concerning each request
for priority action and apprise the Executive Office of the
President thereof.

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(8) Upon termination of services that are assigned
priority levels, or
circumstances warranting revisions in priority level
assignment (e.g., expansion
of service), request and justify revocation or revision.
(9) When NSEP treatment is invoked under Section 9(c) of
this appendix,
within 90 days following provisioning of the service
involved, forward to the
National Coordinating Center (see Section 3(e) of this
appendix) complete
information identifying the time and event associated with
the invocation and
regarding whether the NSEP service requirement was
adequately handled
and whether any additional charges were incurred.
(10) Cooperate with the Executive Office of the
President during
reconciliation, revalidation, and audits.
(11) Comply with any regulations and procedures
supplemental to and
consistent with this appendix that are issued by the
Executive Office of the
President.
e. Non-federal service users, in addition to
responsibilities prescribed
above in Section 6(d), will obtain a sponsoring Federal
organization for all
requests for priority actions. If unable to find a
sponsoring Federal
organization, a non-federal service user may submit its
request, which must
include documentation of attempts made to obtain a sponsor
and reasons given by
the sponsor for its refusal, directly to the Executive
Office of the President.
f. Service vendors will:

17

(1) When NSEP treatment is invoked by service users,
provision NSEP
telecommunication services before non-NSEP services based
on priority level
assignments made by the Executive Office of the President.
Provisioning will
require service vendors to:
(a) Allocate resources to ensure best efforts to provide
NSEP services by the
time required. When limited resources constrain response
capability,
vendors will address conflicts for resources by:
(i) Providing NSEP services in order of provisioning
priority level
assignment (i.e., "E", "1", "2", "3", "4", or "5");
(ii) Providing Emergency NSEP services (i.e., those
assigned provisioning
priority level "E") in order of receipt of the service
requests;
(iii) Providing Essential NSEP services (i.e. those
assigned priority levels
"1", "2", "3", "4", or "5") that have the same provisioning
priority level in
order of service due dates; and
(iv) Referring any conflicts which cannot be resolved
(to the mutual
satisfaction of service vendors and users) to the Executive
Office of the
President for resolution.
(b) Comply with NSEP service requests by: (i) Allocating
resources necessary
to provide Emergency NSEP services as soon as possible,
dispatching outside
normal business hours when necessary;
(ii) Ensuring best efforts to meet requested service
dates for Essential NSEP

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services, negotiating a mutually (customer and vendor)
acceptable service due
date when the requested service due date cannot be met; and
(iii) Seeking National Coordinating Center (NCC)
assistance as authorized
under the NCC Charter (see Section 1.3, NCC Charter, dated
October 9,
1985).
(2) Restore NSEP telecommunications services which
suffer outage, or are
reported as unusable or otherwise in need of restoration,
before non-NSEP
services, based on restoration priority level assignments.
(NOTE: For broadband
or multiple service facilities, restoration is permitted
even though it might
result in restoration of services assigned no or lower
priority levels along
with, or sometimes ahead of, some higher priority level
services.) Restoration
will require service vendors to restore NSEP services in
order of restoration
priority level assignment (i.e., "1", "2", "3", "4", "5")
by:
(a) Allocating available resources to restore NSEP
services as quickly as
practicable, dispatching outside normal business hours to
restore services
assigned priority levels "1," "2," and "3" when necessary,
and services assigned
priority level "4" and "5" when the next business day is
more than 24 hours
away:
(b) Restoring NSEP services assigned the same
restoration priority level
based upon which can be first restored. (However,
restoration actions in
progress should not normally be interrupted to restore
another NSEP

19

service assigned the same restoration priority level);
(c) Patching and/or rerouting NSEP services assigned
restoration priority
levels from "1" through "5," when use of patching and/or
rerouting will hasten
restoration;
(d) Seeking National Coordinating Center (NCC)
assistance as authorized under
the NCC Charter; and
(e) Referring any conflicts which cannot be resolved (to
the mutual
satisfaction of service vendors and users) to the Executive
Office of the
President for resolution.
(3) Respond to provisioning requests of customers and/or
other service
vendors, and to restoration priority level assignments when
an NSEP service
suffers an outage or is reported as unusable, by:
(a) Ensuring that vendor personnel understand their
responsibilities to
handle NSEP provisioning requests and to restore NSEP
service; and
(b) Providing a 24-hour point-of-contact for receiving
provisioning requests
for Emergency NSEP services and reports of NSEP service
outages or unusability.
(c) Seeking verification from an authorized entity if
legitimacy of a
priority level assignment or provisioning requests for an
NSEP service is in
doubt. However, processing of Emergency NSEP service
requests will
not be delayed for verification purposes.

20

(4) Cooperate with other service vendors involved in
provisioning or
restoring a portion of an NSEP service by honoring
provisioning or restoration
priority level assignments, or requests for assistance to
provision or restore
NSEP services, as detailed in Sections 6(f)(1), (2), and
(3) above.
(5) All service vendors, including resale carriers, are
required to ensure
that service vendors supplying underlying facilities are
provided information
necessary to implement priority treatment of facilities
that support NSEP
services.
(6) Preempt, when necessary, existing services to
provide an NSEP service as
authorized in Section 7 or this appendix.
(7) Assist in ensuring that priority level assignments
of NSEP services are
accurately identified "end-to-end" by
(a) Seeking verification from an authorized Federal
government entity if the
legitimacy of the restoration priority level assignment is
in doubt;
(b) Providing to subcontractors and/or interconnecting
carriers the
restoration priority level assigned to a service;
(c) Supplying, to the Executive Office of the President,
when acting as a
prime contractor to a service user, confirmation
information regarding
NSEP service completion for that portion of the service
they have contracted to
supply;

21

(d) Supplying, to the Executive Office of the President,
NSEP service
information for the purpose of reconciliation.
(e) Cooperating with the Executive Office of the
President during
reconciliation.
(f) Periodically initiating reconciliation with their
subcontractors and
arranging for subsequent subcontractors to cooperate in the
reconciliation
process.
(8) Receive compensation for costs authorized through
tariffs or contracts by
(a) Provisions contained in properly filed state or
federal tariffs; or
(b) Provisions of properly negotiated contracts where
the carrier is not
required to file tariffs.
(9) Provision or restore only the portions of services
for which they have
agreed to be responsible (i.e., have contracted to supply),
unless the
President's war emergency powers under Section 706 of the
Communications Act are
in effect.
(10) Cooperate with the Executive Office of the
President during audits.
(11) Comply with any regulations or procedures
supplemental to and consistent
with this appendix that are issued by the Executive Office
of the
President and reviewed by the FCC.
(12) Insure that at all times a reasonable number of
public switched network

22

services are made available for public use.
(13) Not disclose information concerning NSEP services
they provide to those
not having a need-to-know or might use the information for
competitive
advantage.
7.

Preemption of Existing Services.

When necessary to provision or restore NSEP services,
service vendors may
preempt services they provide as specified below. "User"
as used in this
Section means any user of a telecommunications service,
including both NSE
and non-NSEP services. Prior consent by a preempted user
is not required.
a. The sequence in which existing services may be
preempted to provision
NSEP services assigned a provisioning priority level "E" or
restore NSEP
services assigned a restoration priority level from "1"
through "5":
(1) Non-NSEP services: If suitable spare services are
not available, then,
based on the considerations in this appendix and the
service vendor's best
judgment, non-NSEP services will be preempted. After
ensuring a sufficient
number of public switched services are available for public
use,
based on the service vendor's best judgment, such services
may be used to
satisfy a requirement for provisioning or restoring NSEP
services.
(2) NSEP services: If no suitable spare or non-NSEP
services are available,
then existing NSEP services may be preempted to provision
or restore NSEP

23

services with higher priority level assignments. When this
is necessary, NSEP
services will be selected for preemption in the inverse
order of priority level
assignment.
(3) Service vendors who are preempting services will
ensure their best effort
to notify the service user of the preempted service and
state the reason for and
estimated duration of the preemption.
b. Service vendors may, based on their best judgment,
determine the sequence
in which existing services may be preempted to provision
NSEP services assigned
a provisioning priority of "1" through "5". Preemption is
not subject to the
consent of the user whose service will be preempted.
8.

Requests for Priority Assignments.

All service users are required to submit requests for
priority actions
through the Executive Office of the President in the format
and following the
procedures prescribed by that Office.
9. Assignment, Approval, Use, and Invocation of
Priority Levels.
a. Assignment and Approval of Priority Levels.
Priority level assignments
will be based upon the categories and criteria specified in
Section 12 of this
appendix. A priority level assignment made by the
Executive Office of the
President will serve as that Office's recommendation to the
FCC. Until the
President's war emergency powers are invoked, priority
level assignments must be
approved by the FCC. However, service vendors are ordered
to implement any

24

priority level assignments that are pending FCC approval.
After invocation of
the President's war emergency powers, these requirements
may be superseded by
other procedures issued by the Executive Office of the
President.
b.

Use of Priority Level Assignments.

(1) All provisioning and restoration priority level
assignments for services
in the Emergency NSEP category will be included in initial
service orders to
vendors. Provisioning priority level assignments for
Essential NSEP services,
however, will not usually be included in initial service
orders to vendors.
NSEP treatment for Essential NSEP services will be invoked
and provisioning
priority level assignments will be conveyed to service
vendors
only if the vendors cannot meet needed service dates
through the normal
provisioning process.
(2) Any revision or revocation of either provisioning or
restoration priority
level assignments will also be transmitted to vendors.
(3) Service vendors shall accept priority levels and/or
revisions only after
assignment by the Executive Office of the President.
NOTE: Service vendors acting as prime contractors will
accept assigned NSEP
priority levels only when they are accompanied by the
Executive Office of the
President designated service identification, i.e., TSP
Authorization Code.
However, service vendors are authorized to accept priority
levels and/or
revisions from users and contracting activities before
assignment by the

25

Executive Office of the President when service vendor,
user, and contracting
activities are unable to communicate with either the
Executive Office of the
President or the FCC. Processing of Emergency NSEP service
requests will not be
delayed for verification purposes.
c. Invocation of NSEP Treatment. To invoke NSEP
treatment for the priority
provisioning of an NSEP telecommunications service, an
authorized Federal
official either within, or acting on behalf of, the
service user's
organization must make a written or oral declaration to
concerned service
vendor(s) and the Executive Office of the President that
NSEP treatment is being
invoked. Authorized Federal officials include the head or
director of a Federal
agency, commander of a unified/specified military command,
chief of a military
service, or commander of a major military command; the
delegates of any of the
foregoing; or any other officials as specified in
supplemental regulations or
procedures issued by the Executive Office of the President.
The authority to
invoke NSEP treatment may be delegated only to a general or
flag officer of a
military service, civilian employee of equivalent grade
(e.g., Senior Executive
Service member). Federal Coordinating Officer or Federal
Emergency
Communications Coordinator/Manager, or any other such
officials specified in
supplemental regulations or procedures issued by the
Executive Office of the
President. Delegates must be designated as such in
writing, and written or oral
invocations must be accomplished, in accordance with
supplemental regulations or
procedures issued by the Executive Office of the President.

26

10. Resubmission of Circuits Presently Assigned
Restoration Priorities.
All circuits assigned restoration priorities must be
reviewed for eligibility
for initial restoration priority level assignment under the
provisions of this
appendix. Circuits currently assigned restoration
priorities, and for which
restoration priority level assignments are requested under
Section 8 of this
appendix, will be resubmitted to the Executive Office of
the President. To
resubmit such circuits, service users will comply with
applicable provisions of
Section 6(d) of this appendix.
11.

Appeal.

Service users or sponsoring Federal organizations may
appeal any priority
level assignment, denial, revision, revocation, approval,
or disapproval to the
Executive Office of the President within 30 days of
notification to the service
user. The appellant must use the form of format required
by the Executive
Office of the President and must serve the FCC with a copy
of its appeal. The
Executive Office of the President will act on the appeal
within 90 days of
receipt. Service users and sponsoring Federal
organizations may only then
appeal directly to the FCC. Such FCC appeal must be filed
within 30
days of notification of the Executive Office of the
President's decision on
appeal. Additionally, the Executive Office of the
President may appeal any FCC
revisions, approvals, or disapprovals to the FCC. All
appeals to the FCC must

27

be submitted using the form or format required. The party
filing its appeal
with the FCC must include factual details supporting its
claim and must serve a
copy on the Executive Office of the President and any other
party directly
involved. Such party may file a response within 20 days,
and replies may be
filed within 10 days thereafter. The Commission will not
issue public notices
of such submissions. The Commission will provide notice of
its decision to the
parties of record. Any appeals to the Executive Office of
the President that
include a claim of new information that has not been
presented before for
consideration may be submitted at any time.
12. NSEP TSP System Categories, Criteria, and Priority
Levels.
a. General. NSEP TSP System categories and criteria,
and permissible
priority level assignments, are defined and explained
below.
(1) The Essential NSEP category has four subcategories:
National Security
Leadership; National Security Posture and U.S. Population
Attack
Warning; Public Health, Safety, and Maintenance of Law and
Order; and Public
Welfare and Maintenance of National Economic Posture. Each
subcategory has its
own criteria. Criteria are also shown for the Emergency
NSEP category, which
has no subcategories.
(2) Priority levels of "1," "2," "3," "4," and "5" may
be assigned for
provisioning and/or restoration of Essential NSEP
telecommunication services.

28

However, for Emergency NSEP telecommunications services, a
priority level "E" is
assigned for provisioning. A restoration priority level
from "1" through "5"
may be assigned if an Emergency NSEP service also qualifies
for such a
restoration priority level under the Essential NSEP
category.
(3) The NSEP TSP System allows the assignment of
priority levels to any NSEP
telecommunications service across three time periods, or
stress conditions:
Peacetime/Crisis/Mobilization, Attack/War, and PostAttack/Recovery. Priority
levels will normally be assigned only for the first time
period. These assigned
priority levels will apply through the onset of any attack,
but it is expected
that they would later be revised by surviving authorized
telecommunication resource managers within the Executive
Office of the President based upon specific facts and
circumstances arising during the Attack/War and PostAttack/Recovery time periods.
(4) Service users may, for their own internal use,
assign subpriorities to
their services assigned priority levels. Receipt of and
response to any such
subpriorities is optional for service vendors.
(5) The following paragraphs provide a detailed
explanation of the
categories, subcategories, criteria, and priority level
assignments, beginning
with the Emergency NSEP category.
b. Emergency NSEP. Telecommunications services in the
Emergency NSEP
category are those new services so critical as to be
required to be provisioned
at the earliest possible time, without regard to the costs
of obtaining them.

29

(1) Criteria. To qualify under the Emergency NSEP
category, the service must
meet criteria directly supporting or resulting from at
least one of the
following NSEP functions:
(a) Federal government activity responding to a
Presidentially declared
disaster or emergency as defined in the Disaster Relief Act
(42 U.S.C. § 5122).
(b) State or local government activity responding to a
Presidentially declared disaster or emergency.
(c) Response to a state of crisis declared by the
National Command
Authorities (e.g., exercise of Presidential war emergency
powers under Section
706 of the Communications Act.)
(d) Efforts to protect endangered U.S. personnel or
property.
(e) Response to an enemy or terrorist action, civil
disturbance, natural
disaster, or any other unpredictable occurrence that has
damaged facilities
whose uninterrupted operation is critical to NSEP or the
management of other
ongoing crises.
(f) Certification by the head or director of a Federal
agency, commander of a
unified/specified command, chief of a military service, or
commander of a major
military command, that the telecommunications service is so
critical to
protection of life and property or to NSEP that it must be
provided immediately.
(g) A request from an official authorized pursuant to
the Foreign

30

Intelligence Surveillance Act (50 U.S.C. § 1801 et seq. and
18 U.S.C. §§ 2511,
2518, 2519).
(2) Priority Level Assignment.
(a) Services qualifying under the Emergency NSEP
category are assigned
priority level "E" for provisioning.
(b) After 30 days, assignments of provisioning priority
level "E"
for Emergency NSEP services are automatically revoked
unless extended for
another 30-day period. A notice of any such revocation
will be sent to service
vendors.
(c) For restoration, Emergency NSEP services may be
assigned priority levels
under the provisions applicable to Essential NSEP services
(see Section 12(c)).
Emergency NSEP services not otherwise qualifying for
restoration priority level
assignment as Essential NSEP may be assigned a restoration
priority level "5"
for a 30-day period. Such 30-day restoration priority
level assignments will be
revoked automatically unless extended for another 30-day
period. A notice of
any such revocation will be sent to service vendors.
(c) Essential NSEP. Telecommunication services in the
Essential NSEP
category are those required to be provisioned by due dates
specified by
service users, or restored promptly, normally without
regard to associated
overtime or expediting costs. They may be assigned
priority levels of "1",
"2,", "3", "4," or "5" for both provisioning and
restoration, depending upon the

31

nature and urgency of the supported function, the impact of
lack of service or
of service interruption upon the supported function, and,
for
priority access to public switched services, the user's
level of responsibility.
Priority level assignments will be valid for no more than
three years unless
revalidated. To be categorized as Essential NSEP, a
telecommunications service
must qualify under one of the four following subcategories:
National Security
Leadership; National Security Posture and U.S. Population
Attack Warning; Public
Health, Safety and Maintenance of Law and Order; or Public
Welfare and
Maintenance of National Economic Posture. (Note: Under
emergency circumstances,
Essential NSEP telecommunication services may be
recategorized as Emergency NSEP
and assigned a priority level "E" for provisioning.)
(1) National Security Leadership. This subcategory will
be strictly limited
to only those telecommunication services essential to
national survival if
nuclear attack threatens or occurs, and critical orderwire
and control services
necessary to ensure the rapid and efficient provisioning or
restoration of other
NSEP telecommunication services. Services in this
subcategory are those for
which a service interruption of even a few minutes would
have serious adverse
impact upon the supported NSEP function.
(a) Criteria. To qualify under this subcategory, a
service must be at least
one of the following:
(i) Critical orderwire, or control service, supporting
other NSEP functions.

32

(ii) Presidential communications service critical to
continuity of government
and national leadership during crisis situations.
(iii) National Command Authority communications service
for military command
and control critical to national survival.
(iv) Intelligence communications service critical to
warning of potentially
catastrophic attack.
(v) Communications service supporting the conduct of
diplomatic negotiations
critical to arresting or limiting hostilities.
(b) Priority Level Assignment. Services under this
subcategory will normally
be assigned priority level "1" for provisioning and
restoration during the
Peace/Crisis/Mobilization time period.
(2) National Security Posture and U.S. Population Attack
Warning. This
subcategory covers those minimum additional
telecommunication services essential
to maintaining an optimum defense, diplomatic, or
continuity-of-government
postures before, during, and after crises situations. Such
situations are those
ranging from national emergencies to international crises,
including
nuclear attack. Services in this subcategory are those for
which a service
interruption ranging from a few minutes to one day would
have serious adverse
impact upon the supported NSEP function.
(a) Criteria. To qualify under this subcategory, a
service must support at
least one of the following NSEP functions:
(i) Threat assessment and attack warning.

33

(ii) Conduct of diplomacy.
(iii) Collection, processing, and dissemination of
intelligence.
(iv) Command and control of military forces.
(v) Military mobilization.
(vi) Continuity of Federal government before, during,
and after crises
situations.
(vii) Continuity of state and local government functions
supporting the
Federal government during and after national emergencies.
(viii) Recovery of critical national functions after
crises situations.
(ix) National space operations.
(b) Priority Level Assignment. Services under this
subcategory will normally
be assigned priority levels "2," "3," "4," or "5" for
provisioning and
restoration during Peacetime/Crisis/Mobilization.
(3) Public Health, Safety, and Maintenance of Law and
Order. This
subcategory covers the minimum number of telecommunication
services
necessary for giving civil alert to the U.S. population and
maintaining law and
order and the health and safety of the U.S. population in
times of any national,
regional, or serious local emergency. These services are
those for which a
service interruption ranging from a few minutes to one day
would have serious
adverse impact upon the supported NSEP functions.

34

(a) Criteria. To qualify under this subcategory, a
service must support at
least one of the following NSEP functions:
(i) Population warning (other than attack warning).
(ii) Law enforcement.
(iii) Continuity of critical state and local government
functions (other than
support of the Federal government during and after national
emergencies).
(iv) Hospitals and distributions of medical supplies.
(v) Critical logistic functions and public utility
services.
(vi) Civil air traffic control.
(vii) Military assistance to civil authorities.
(viii) Defense and protection of critical industrial
facilities.
(ix) Critical weather services.
(x) Transportation to accomplish the foregoing NSEP
functions.
(b) Priority Level Assignment. Service under this
subcategory will normally
be assigned priority levels "3," "4," or "5" for
provisioning and
restoration during Peacetime/Crisis/Mobilization.
(4) Public Welfare and Maintenance of National Economic
Posture. This
subcategory covers the minimum number of telecommunications
services necessary
for maintaining the public welfare and national economic
posture during any

35

national or regional emergency. These services are those
for which a service
interruption ranging from a few minutes to one day would
have serious adverse
impact upon the supported NSEP function.
(a) Criteria. To qualify under this subcategory, a
service must support at
least one of the following NSEP functions:
(i) Distribution of food and other essential supplies.
(ii) Maintenance of national monetary, credit, and
financial systems.
(iii) Maintenance of price, wage, rent, and salary
stabilization, and
consumer rationing programs.
(iv) Control of production and distribution of strategic
materials and energy
supplies.
(v) Prevention and control of environmental hazards or
damage.
(vi) Transportation to accomplish the foregoing NSEP
functions.
(b) Priority Level Assignment. Services under this
subcategory will normally
be assigned priority levels "4" or "5" for provisioning and
restoration during Peacetime/Crisis/Mobilization.
d. Limitations. Priority levels will be assigned only
to the minimum number
of telecommunication services required to support an NSEP
function. Priority
levels will not normally be assigned to backup services on
a continuing basis,
absent additional justification, e.g., a service user
specifies a requirement

36

for physically diverse routing or contracts for additional
continuity-of-service
features. The Executive Office of the President may also
establish limitations
upon the relative numbers of services which may be assigned
any restoration
priority level. These limitations will not take precedence
over laws or
executive orders. Such limitations shall not be exceeded
absent waiver by the
Executive Office of the President.
e. Non - NSEP services. Telecommunication services in
the non-NSEP category
will be those which do not meet the criteria for either
Emergency NSEP or
Essential NSEP.
Footnotes
1

Executive Order No. 12472, “Assignment of National
Security and Emergency Preparedness Telecommunications
Functions,” April 3, 1984 (49 Fed. Reg. 13471 (1984)),
established the NCS. Section 1(e) of Executive Order No.
12472 designates the Secretary of Defense as Executive
Agent for the NCS. By direction of the Executive Office of
the President (EOP), the NCS member organizations are:
Department of Agriculture, Central Intelligence Agency,
Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department
of Energy, Federal Emergency Management Agency, General
Services Administration, Department of the Interior,
Department of Justice, National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, National Security Agency, National
Telecommunications & Information Administration,
Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of
State, Department of Transportation, Department of
Treasury, U.S. Information Agency, and the Veterans
Administration. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been
invited by the EOP and has elected to serve as an NCS
member organization. The FCC, Federal Reserve System, and
United States Postal Service also participate in the
activities of the NCS.
2
In its comments to the NPRM, NCS filed a revised proposal
in response to some of the concerns discussed in the NPRM.

37

In this decision references are to the original proposal
that constituted the appendix to the NPRM. References to
NCS’ revised proposal are indicated in brackets where
appropriate.
3
Comments were filed by Aeronautical Radio, Inc. (Arinc),
Alarm Industry Communications Committee (AICC), American
Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), Ameritech Operating
Companies (Ameritech), Association of American Railroads
(AAR), Bell Atlantic Telephone Companies (Bell Atlantic),
Bell CommunicationsResearch, Inc. (Bellcore), BellSouth
Corporation (BellSouth), Cellular Telecommunications
Industry Association (CTIA), Centel Corporation (Centel),
Federal Executive Agencies (DoD or NCS), GTE Service
Corporation (GTE), Nickolaus E. Leggett (Leggett), McCaw
Cellular Communications, Inc. (McCaw), MCI
Telecommunications Corporation (MCI), The Mountain States
Telephone and Telegraph Company, Northwestern Bell Company
and Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company (collectively,
US West), National Association of Regulatory Utility
Commissioners (NARUC), National Telephone Cooperative
Association (NTCA), NYNEX Telephone Companies (NYNEX),
Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell (collectively, Pacific Bell),
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (Southwestern Bell),
Telocator Network of America (Telocator), Teltec Saving
Communications Co. (Teltec), United States Telephone
Association (USTA) and Utilities Telecommunications Council
(UTC). Reply comments were filed by AT&T, Bellcore,
BellSouth, CTIA, Cincinnati Bell Telephone (CBT), GTE,
McCaw, MCI, NCS, Pacific Bell, Southwestern Bell,
Telocator, USTA and US West.
4
A priority System for the Use and Restoration of Leased
Intercity Private Line Services, 6 F.C.C. 2d 344 (1967).
These rules have been amended on three occasions. See 22
F.C.C. 2d 159 (1970); 77 F.C.C. 2d 114 (1980); 81 F.C.C. 2d
441 (1980). See also Declatory Ruling, 104 FCC 2d 945
(1986), recon., FCC 86-592 (Jan. 8, 1987).
5
Section 706, 47 U.S.C. § 706, provides, in part, that
during war the President is authorized “to direct that such
communications as in his judgment may be essential to the
national defense and security shall have preference or
priority with any carrier subject to this Act.” The
Executive Branch has promulgated rules parallel to the
Commission’s to accommodate the transfer of regulatory

38

authority over the RP system to the President in the event
Section 706 is invoked.
6
Under the current rules, federal and foreign government
users’ requests are submitted to the NCS; state and local
government and private industry requests are submitted
directly to the FCC.
7
As used in this proceeding, the word “provisioning”
refers to the initiation of a new service or line as
opposed to the restoration of an existing service or line.
8
NCS noted that as technology is changing it is becoming
infeasible to physically identify specific circuits in a
carrier’s office and associate them with specific
restoration priorities. The TSP system is designed to
alleviate this problem by assigning priorities to services,
and even users, when appropriate.
9
The petition stated that in September of 1984, in light
of these problems and the vast changes that have occurred
in the telecommunications industry over the last five
years, the Manager of NCS directed action to update and
modernize the RP system. NCS asked each industry entity
represented on the National Security Telecommunications
Advisory Committee (NSTAC) to provide advice regarding the
matters that needed to be addressed in provisioning and
restoring NSEP services. The NSTAC Industry Executive
Subcommittee (IES) subsequently established a TSP Task
Force to assist the government in the development of the
TSP system. NCS, in conjunction with the TSP Task Force,
began work on drafting TSP System baseline requirements.
The requirements were distributed to the telecommunications
industry and the NCS Council of Representatives for review
and comment and were approved by NSTAC’s IES and the NCS
Committee of Principals in June 1985. Next, a TSP System
Concept, which was to describe the TSP System in sufficient
detail to permit its subsequent design and implementation,
and was drafted and approved by the NCS Committee of
Principals and NSTAC in the spring of 1986. Subsequently,
work was begun on the petition for Rule Making together
with detailed procedures for implementing and operating the
TSP System.
10
NARUC v. FCC, 746 F.2d 1492, 1498-99 (D.C. Cir. 1984);
California v. FCC, 567 F.2d 84, 86 (D.C. Cir. 1977), cert.
denied, 434 U.S. 1010 (1978); North Carolina Util. Comm’n
v. FCC, 537 F.2d 787 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S.

39

1027 (1976) (NCUC I); North Carolina Util. Comm’n v. FCC
552 F.2d 1036 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 874 (1977)
(NCUC II). See also C&P Tel. Co. of Maryland, 2 FCC Rcd
3528 (1987).
11
In the NPRM, at para. 34, we discussed the argument
raised by Bell Atlantic that the proposed rules would bar
the restoration of any facility not a part of the TSP
system, even if it were an important local service such as
911, prior to the restoration of all TSP services. NCS
noted that Section 5 of the rules bars only conflicting
priority systems. In response to the NPRM, Centel suggests
that 911 and other vital local services be assigned
priority status if they are not otherwise part of TSP, and
NCS recommends that 911 service be given restoration
priority status. We believe that the policy set forth
herein, in conjunction with the language and intent of
Section 5, offers adequate guidance on this matter.
12
In a large scale failure it is possible that portions of
the PSN will be restored before some NSEP priority private
line services. We believe this kind of occurrence may be
occasionally unavoidable and we would not rule now that
such a result is per se not compliant with the TSP rules.
See discussion, infra, on preemption.
13
The term “sufficient number” in Section [7(a)(1)| is
open-ended and may in some cases result in near normal PSN
service or, in other cases, very few available PSN lines.
At this time we will rely on the good faith of carriers to
provide, to the extent possible, a reasonably sufficient
array of PSN circuits.
The change from “will remain” to
“are” in Section [7(a)(1)| assures that consideration is
given to PSN circuits in the event all circuits in an area
are down. (Of course, NSEP priorities will take
precedence).
14
See existing Part 64 rules and Declatory Ruling, 104
F.C.C. 2d 945 (1986).
15
In this order we will delegate authority to the Chief,
Common Carrier Bureau to decide the matter of disposition
of the filing(s) to the Commission and to resolve, in the
first instance, all related substantive and procedural
issues. See para. 133, infra. See also note 41, infra.
16
NCS cites Burdick v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Company,
9 Kan. App. 2d 182, 675 P.2d 922 (1984), reaching an
opposite result on intent.

40

17

In Declatory Ruling, supra, at para. 23, we stated that
The procedures appear reasonable and it is important for national security
reasons that carriers know that actions they take to meet NSEP requirements
should not later be subject to potential liability. Accordingly, we find that
carrier actions in response to requests made in accordance with the Procedures
Manual are prima facie lawful. Any party challenging discriminatory
treatment occasioned by a request made pursuant to the Manual would have a
very heavy burden to demonstrate its unreasonableness.

18

While consent will not be mandated, we would expect
notification as a matter of normal business practice, where
practicable. See Section [7(a)(3)].
19
Our alternative language at para. 29 of the NPRM was:
(7) Receive compensation for costs through
(a) Provisions contained in properly filed tariffs; or
(b) Provisions of properly negotiated contracts where
the carrier is not required to file tariffs.
20

Moreover, in each case of TSP invocation a different set
of general ratepayers may benefit and in many cases persons
or entities that are not general ratepayers may benefit,
such as private line service subscribers or even nontelephone subscribers.
21
Section [3(t)| reads: Service User refers to any
individual or organization (including a service vendor)
supported by a telecommunications service for which a
priority level has been requested or assigned pursuant to
Section 8 or 9 of this appendix.
22
See Section 1(b) of TSP rules. We note, as did UTC in
its comments, that Sections 3(k), 3(t), and 4(c) refer to
services which are not strictly common carrier in nature
and which, therefore, are not subject to Title II of the
Act or the TSP rules. However, Section [4(a)(2), amended|
provides that the scope of TSP includes
Services which are provided by government and/or noncommon carriers and
[which] are interconnected to common carrier services assigned a priority
level pursuant to section 9 of this appendix.
The extent to which non-common carrier services, systems
or facilities are subject to or protected by pre-706 TSP

41

System rules is limited by the degree to which the common
carrier vendor user uses those services, systems or
facilities to provide its common carrier services, systems,
and facilities. This does not preclude NCS from using an
alternative interpretation in discussions or negotiations
with parties not subject to Title II of the Act to
establish analogous provisioning or restoration priorities.
See, e.g., AAR Comments at pp. 3 and 6. This also resolves
the question raised by AT&T concerning the Commission’s
authority over equipment vendors who sell equipment to
others for direct connection to the network.
23
Arinc also urges that the Commission not permit NCS to
downgrade priorities already approved under RP. We reject
this request. A critical reason for NCS proposing TSP is
the skewed distribution of RP priority assignments. With
TSP should come a review of all assignments, some of which
may be upgraded or downgraded.
24
Since NCS recommendations are considered interim
assignments pending FCC review, and assignees (users or
sponsoring agencies) are authorized to proceed on the basis
of receipt of the interim assignments, FCC review time is
not included in the 30 day limit. In other words, the 30
day requirement is solely applicable to NCS’ response to
priority requests.
25
Upon sufficient showing, the 30 day period can be waived.
26
In order to expedite resolution of disputes and other
matters involving TSP that are submitted to the Commission,
we will delegate all necessary authority to the Chief,
Common Carrier Bureau to discharge, among other matters,
the Commission’s responsibilities under Section 6.
27
The FCC Form 915 has been eliminated. Any new form will
be developed in conjunction with NCS and the Office of
Management and Budget.
28
For example, if a service user files an appeal it must
provide a copy to the service provider.
29
Control services and orderwires as used in TSP refer to
internal means used by carriers for network management
purposes. Similar terms, not related to matters associated
with this proceeding, have been used with regard to control
channels for specialized data services such as ISDN.
30
Resellers may secure special circuits, such as control or
orderwire services, in order to manage the services and
facilities they offer users. They are not responsible for

42

the integrity of the underlying physical plant and so would
not benefit from TSP exemption for their leased internal
management facilities or services. Their leased orderwire
and control services could qualify, however, for priority
treatment under the TSP System rules. Accordingly, the
last sentence of Section 4(b) will be adopted as proposed.
31
McCaw’s revised Section 8 would read:
Certain telecommunications service vendors do not own any
or all of the transmission facilities used to provide
telecommunications services. They rely instead, in whole
or in part, on facilities leased from other
telecommunications vendors. These resale or
interconnecting carriers may provide services that
qualify for priority level assignment. In order for the
priority level assignment to have practical value, it
must also apply to the service leased by the resale or
interconnecting carrier from another telecommunications
service vendor, such that the highest priority level
assigned to any service using the underlying facility
will determine that facility’s priority level assignment.
Resale and interconnecting carriers must also ensure that
telecommunications service vendors supplying underlying
facilities are provided information necessary to
implement any priority levels assigned to resale or
interconnecting carrier services.
32

While TSP focuses on services, it is facilities that are
always actually provisioned or restored.
33
“Non-disclosure” as a standard business practice would
serve as a defense against an assertion of abuse.
34
This information includes identification, priority,
contracting activity and contract identification data which
must be received by EOP directly from the prime service
vendor.
35
It has been suggested that charges incurred as a result
of reconciliation and audits be borne by NCS as the cost
causative user. See discussion, supra, concerning costs.
36
It has been informally suggested that a different term
be used, such as investigation, reconciliation procedure,
problem review, etc. In view of our discussion herein, we
believe the term audit is appropriate.

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37

The definition of “revalidation” in Section 3(o)[3(p)| in
conjunction with the clarification of “audit” should
alleviate Ameritech’s concern regarding improper changing
circuit designations through the recordkeeping process.
38
NCS’ changes in Sections 6(c)(3), 6(d)(10) and 6(f)(6)(e)
[6(f)(7)(e)| as well as its addition of Section
[6(f)(7)(f)] to require vendors to track their contractors’
records, respond to suggestions and concerns expressed by
AT&T, GTE, McCaw regarding reconciliation responsibilities.
Further in response to McCaw, we interpret Section
[6(f)(7)(f)| to require contractors, in turn, to be
primarily responsible for their subcontractors’
reconciliation activities. This institutionalized burden
flow-through represents the most expedient means of
assuring that reconciliation is conducted correctly by each
succeeding subcontractor. We will modify the language of
Section [6(f)(7)(f)| accordingly.
39
NCS has indicated that it will maintain its MIS database
of priority level assignments. See Section 6(b)(2)(c).
Hence, the concern expressed by Pacific Bell to assure a
source of information is moot. We are also satisfied that
NCS’ statement that in most cases verification will be
obtained from EOP is responsive to Pacific Bell’s concern
regarding the identity of “authorized entity” in Sections
6(f)(3)(c) and 6(f)(6)(a) [6(f)(7)(a)].
40
Southwestern Bell’s suggestion to include a definition of
“reconciliation” has been adopted by NCS. See Section
3[n].
41
There are several references in the pleadings to the
issuance of procedural guidelines by NCS. The guidelines
are called, variously, vendor operating procedures,
operational procedures, operational guidelines, operations
manual, procedural guidelines, etc. All of these refer to
the procedural guidelines that are currently under
preparation by NCS for government and vendors. Our
analysis applies equally to both, and for purposes of this
discussion there is no decisional significance to any of
the terms used for NCS’ procedural guidelines, since, in
whole or part, they will appear before us for review.
Proposed Directive 3-1 is subsumed in this term as well.
42
NCS apparently based its position in part on its
predicate argument that the Commission should delegate EOP

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authority to develop rules that implement TSP. See paras.
34-35, supra.
43
The difference between the adoption date and Federal
Register date will likely be only a matter of weeks. The
Commission’s decision is effective 30 days following the
Federal Register date. (The Federal Register date also
constitutes the official release date. If there is no
Federal Register publication, the official release date is
the day the order is released to the public at the
Commission’s main offices, 1919 M Street, N.W., Washington,
D.C.). We also note that RP assignments may be issued
until the IOC date, in order to preserve the availability
of a priority procedure until TSP is initiated. This is
codified in Section 2 of the TSP rules. With effectuation
of the TSP rules (IOC date), however, the RP rules and the
precedence rules will be deleted from the Code of Federal
Regulations. Nevertheless, the extent to which RP remains
viable, i.e., until the FOC date, will be by reference
through Section 2 of the rules.
44
Moreover, application of RP to cellular services would
require a Rule Making proceeding, resolution of which would
probably not occur prior to TSP IOC. The TSP NPRM did not
contemplate any interim changes to the existing RP rules.
45
Of course, the common carrier component may be subject to
TSP if the common carrier provider of that component
complies with the TSP procedures.
46
Private system owners may be subject to antitrust action
if they provide priority treatment to certain users.
Collateral compliance by private users with TSP standards
and procedures may not necessarily provide them with a
defense to antitrust allegations.
47
Section 0.314(g) of the Commission’s rules delegates
authority to the Engineer in Charge (EIC) at each
installation to act on and make determinations on behalf of
the Commission regarding requests for reassignment of
restoration priority levels and assignment of new
restoration priorities concerning the restoration in
emergencies of common carrier-provided intercity private
line service pursuant to Appendix A of Part 64 of the
Commission’s rules when, for any reason, the Commission’s
ROP processing staff cannot be contacted. This provision
was predicated on the RP system, which involved assignment
of priorities by either the Commission or NCS. The TSP

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System, however, essentially reserves initial assignment
(or reassignment) of all priorities to NCS. A general
delegation to the EIC to issue priorities under TSP
potentially could conflict with the process established
under TSP. On the other hand, there may be exceptional
circumstances under which an EIC, on-site and with
authority to alter or grant priorities, would serve the
purposes of TSP and the public interest. Those
circumstances should be limited to cases where, in the
judgment of the EIC, after reasonable effort neither NCS
nor the logistics warrant immediate action. In any such
case, the NCS and the Commission must be notified as soon
as possible by the EIC, and the carrier involved must
expeditiously seek priority in accordance with normal TSP
procedures. We will amend Section 0.314(g) accordingly.

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