Wheeler Touts FCC Efficiency, Policy Advances; Annual Report Provides Overview

The FCC improved administrative efficiency and advanced policy goals last year, Chairman Tom Wheeler said in the agency's FY 2015 Annual Performance Report released Thursday. "We are making decisions faster, improving speed of disposal on routine matters, expanding electronic filing and distribution, decreasing backlogs, and improving responsiveness to consumers," Wheeler said. On policy, he said FCC decisions continue to "help American consumers, enhance U.S. competitiveness, and improve our innovation economy." He highlighted FCC actions to make more spectrum available for broadband, uphold net neutrality, revamp USF subsidy mechanisms, approve AT&T's buy of DirecTV with conditions, help the disabled use communications technologies and protect consumers from unwanted phone calls. The report said the commission met its speed of disposal (SOD) goals 98 percent of the time, processing 853,415 applications and complaints in FY 2015. The Office of Engineering and Technology led with a 99.9 percent SOD success rate, followed by the Wireline Bureau at 99.3 percent. Wheeler said the commission adopted an Enforcement Bureau "modernization plan" to concentrate "reduced" resources where they're needed the most, in "areas with the greatest spectrum density." The plan "refocuses field staff on the resolution of public safety and other interference issues. Once implemented, this plan will save millions of dollars annually. We will apply these savings to modernize the equipment used by the field so they can handle the interference issues in the new shared spectrum environment," he said. On the controversial scaling back and closure of Enforcement Bureau field offices, the report said the bureau, Office of Managing Director and "expert outside consultants conducted a thorough, data-driven analysis of the agency’s field operations to maximize the effectiveness of those operations, align them to the overall mission and priorities of the FCC, improve equipment and advanced technologies for field agents, and ensure the most efficient use of the agency’s resources." A Communications Daily Special Report: "Portrait of the FCC in a Partisan Era" said some believe unauthorized "pirate" radio operations are flouting rules because the scaled-back bureau downgraded the importance of such interference enforcement (see 1512150014). As discussed elsewhere in the Special Report (see 1512150040), some bureaus lagged FCC goals by not keeping backlogs low. Last fiscal year, the new report said, the Media Bureau met SOD goals 85 percent of the time, and the International Bureau 76 percent, though the latter's performance was affected by consultations with the executive branch over foreign ownership.