3060-0917 Form 160_SS_final version 2023

CORES Registration Form, FCC Form 160 3060-0917 June 2023

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

A. Justification:

1. Explain in detail the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. Provide a copy of the appropriate section of each statue and regulation mandating or authorizing the information collection.

Respondents use FCC Form 160 to register in the FCC’s Commission Registration System (CORES). Entities must register in CORES to do regulatory transactions with FCC, including receiving licenses, paying fees, participating in auctions, etc. Without this collection of information, FCC would not have a database of the identity and contact information of the entities it does regulatory business with.¹

Statutory authority for this collection of information is the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA), Public Law 104-134, Chapter 10, Section 31001.

This information collection does affect Individuals or Households. The FCC is updating the Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for CORES that is covered by FCC/OMD-25, Financial Operations Information System (FOIS), Systems of Records Notice (SORN).²

2. Indicate how, by whom and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

(1) to ensure that the applicant receives any refunds due;
(2) to service public inquiries;

(3) to authenticate certain governmental entities (state, local, and Tribal agencies) seeking to submit information in other FCC systems;

(4) to comply with the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996; and

(5) to communicate with applicants for administrative matters related to their CORES account, including the confirmation of the respondent’s initial registration, and confirmation of subsequent changes to account data.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical or other technological techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection.

Most respondents complete Form 160 on line through https://appsint.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do Respondents may instead file the paper form downloaded from https://www.fcc.gov/file/14721/download

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.

This information collection avoids duplication by serving as a central record of identity and contact information for regulated entities. Without it, FCC would need to collect duplicative information regarding the same entity for systems that perform licensing, fee collection, etc.

5. If the collection of information will have significant economic impacts on small businesses, organizations or other small entities, describe any methods used to minimize the burden on these entities.

The collection of information will not have significant economic impacts on small businesses, organizations or other small entities.

6. Describe the consequences to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing the burden.

This is a one-time reporting requirement collection of information. If the collection was not conducted, then FCC would need to collect an entity’s identity and contact information separately for each regulatory interaction, such as license applications and fee payments.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collected in a manner inconsistent with OMB’s guidelines which are stated in 5 C.F.R. § 1320.5(d)(2).

There are no special circumstances associated with this information collection that would make it inconsistent with OMB’s guidelines in 5 C.F.R. § 1320.5(d)(2).

8. Identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency’s Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) 60-day notice, required by 5 C.F.R. § 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on the information collection requirement(s) prior to submission to OMB.

The Commission initiated a 60-day public comment period which appeared in the Federal Register on April 12, 2023 (88 FR 22037) seeking comments from the public on the information collection requirements contained in this collection. The Commission received one comment from Ms. Amethyst O’Connell on April 14, 2023 pursuant to this notice. Her comment does not raise any issues or concerns associated with the information collection requirements contained in this Federal Register Notice. Instead, Ms. O’Connell’s comment focuses more on expanding safe opportunities for women and girls to explore STEM.

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents, other than the remuneration of contractors or grantees.

FCC will not provide any payment or gift to respondents, although the information collection is required to obtain benefits for which the respondent is qualified.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

This information collection includes personally identifiable information on individuals (PII). FCC maintains a system of records notice (SORN), FCC/OMD-25, Financial Operations Information System (FOIS) to cover the collection, purposes(s), storage, safeguards, and disposal of the PII that individual respondents may submit on FCC Form 160. https://www.fcc.gov/file/11760/download

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature.

There are no questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Provide estimates of the burden hours for the collection of information.

The frequency of filing is one-time reporting requirement. There are 145,726 respondents per year and 145,726 responses per year.

The average burden on respondents is approximately ten minutes (0.167 hours) based on FCC staff's knowledge and familiarity with the data that respondents are required to have to file Form 160. The annual hourly burden is calculated as follow:

145,726 responses x 0.167 hours (10 minutes) = 24,336 hours

Total Number of Respondents: 145,726

Total Number of Responses: 145,726

Total Annual Hourly Burden: 24,336

The Commission estimates that respondents will use the equivalent of a senior staff person at the GS-13/Step 5 ($56.31 per hour) to complete and file FCC Form 160:

145,726 responses x 0.167 hours (ten minutes) x $56.31/hour = $1,370,373

Total “In House” Costs: $1,370,373

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to respondents or record keepers resulting from the collection of information. Do not include the cost of any burden hours shown in items 12 and 14.

FCC projects there will be no cost burden to respondents beyond the cost of burden hours reported in Question 12. FCC has designed this information collection to be completed by respondents’ in-house staff without need for external consultants. The respondents will not need any specialized equipment to complete this information collection. The information being collected is information which the respondents already need to maintain in the normal course of their business.

14. Provide estimates of annualized costs to the Federal government.

FCC is required to operate the CORES system and maintain records of the entities it deals with regardless of whether it conducts this information collection. There is no separable annual cost to the Federal government of conducting this information collection.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported.

The Commission is reporting adjustments/increases to this information collection. There are increases to both the total number of respondents/total annual responses from 116,100 to 145,726 (+29,626) and the total annual burden hours from 19,388 to 24,336 (+4,948) from the last submission to OMB. This information is based on the most currently available data to the Commission.

There are no program changes.

16. For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication.

FCC does not plan to publish the results of this information collection.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reason that a display would be inappropriate.

The Commission seeks an exemption from the requirement to display the OMB expiration date on the form related to this information collection. The Commission will use an edition date on the form in lieu of the OMB expiration date. This will prevent the Commission from having to constantly update the expiration date on the form each time this collection is submitted to OMB for review and approval. OMB control numbers and expiration dates for the Commission’s information collection requirements assigned by OMB pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104–13 can be found at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain See 47 CFR § 0.408.

18. Explain any exceptions to the statement certifying compliance with 5 C.F.R. §1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 C.F.R. § 1320.8(b)(3).

When the 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register on April 12, 2023 (88 FR 22037), the Commission inadvertently stated the total burden hours as 24,366 hours rather than 24,336 hours. This correction has been made and is reflected in this submission to OMB.

There are no other exceptions to the Certification Statement.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods:

This information collection does not employ statistical methods.

1 The Commission received OMB approval on June 5, 2023 for a non-substantive change request [ICR Reference No: 202305-3060-020] associated with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) establishing mandatory electronic filing of System Security and Integrity Policies and Procedures (SSI Plans) by covered entities under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA)  through the new CALEA Electronic Filing System (CEFS) under OMB Control Number 3060-0809. The CEFS requires users to register with and use the Commission Registration System, OMB Control Number 3060-0917.

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