Neustar asked the FCC to formally seek public...

Neustar asked the FCC to formally seek public comment before selecting the Local Number Portability Administrator (LNPA) for the contract period scheduled to begin July 2015. “Notice and comment is required,” Neustar said in a letter to the commission Tuesday (http://bit.ly/PNL1s8). “Where the Commission has designated an entity to serve as a neutral numbering administrator ... based on a [North American Numbering Council] recommendation, it has acted after providing notice and seeking public comment,” Neustar said. “Because the selection process at issue will lead to the designation of a neutral LNP administrator, notice and comment is required here as well.” The notice seeking comment on NANC’s proposed recommendation should “specifically request comment on the significant issues that have been framed,” said Neustar. It said that would include whether the extension of the deadline for submission of proposals in April 2013 -- after the original deadline had come and gone -- “was lawful and appropriate.” The agency should also rule on whether the failure to seek further proposals in January was in the public interest, and whether the evaluation carried out pursuant to the request for proposal documents “constituted an ‘apples-to-apples’ comparison of competing bids,” said Neustar, the current LNPA contract holder. Another big question: “Whether the deficiencies in the process to date require that no award be made now and an additional round of bidding be held,” Neustar said. Given the “extraordinary ramifications” of the LNPA selection, the commission should address outstanding issues at the commission level, Neustar said. NANC met last week privately to consider whether to recommend the FCC renew Neustar’s contract or give it to rival bidders (CD March 26 p7).