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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 30, 2021 / Proposed Rules
aids in emergency response? Are there additional informational elements that should be added, or should any elements listed be removed or revised?
The Commission notes that the NRSC
Task Forces template recommends the inclusion of a unique identifier associated with the outage. Would this help PSAPs organize and access information related to a particular outage? APCO suggests covered 911
service providers should also offer PSAPs graphical interface data describing the geographic area potentially affected by outages, such as coordinate boundaries for the outage area, GIS files, or text information from the covered 911 service providers internal reporting systems, because such information could help first responders understand which areas could be affected by an outage. To what extent do originating and covered 911
service providers have this information available within the timeframe that they would be required to notify PSAPs? The Commission seeks comment on what steps service providers would need to take to include graphical information in providing actionable information to PSAPs. The Commission asks commenters to describe in detail how PSAPs would use such data to benefit the public, including how such data could be used to reduce first responder response times. Would requiring them to provide this information to PSAPs impose a significant burden or divert resources, thereby delaying service restoration? To the extent service providers are unable to provide data for visualizing outages and disruptions, what are the costs of developing this capability, especially for smaller providers?
21. The Commission notes that, under both the existing and proposed rules, service providers must include any outage information in their PSAP
notifications only to the extent that it is available, both at the time that they transmit the initial notification and at the time that they transmit any subsequent notifications. The Commission seeks comment on how this approach has worked in practice.
The Commission further seeks comment on whether requiring service providers to include additional, specific information elements in their PSAP
notifications would allow PSAP
personnel to comprehend outage information more quickly and whether such information would improve PSAPs ability to respond when the public cannot reach 911 or when 911
services otherwise do not work as intended. Conversely, the Commission
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seeks comment on whether this additional information could have negative consequences for emergency response, such as overburdening PSAPs with too much information, thereby, potentially delaying response times. If so, how could the Commission revise the proposal to minimize the possibility of notification fatigue?
22. The Commission does not propose to require information to be provided in a particular format e.g., by mandating use of the NRSC Task Forces template.
Instead, the Commission proposes an approach that establishes a baseline expectation of shared information while otherwise preserving flexibility for originating service providers and covered 911 service providers. PSHSB
Shares Recommended Practices from September 11, 2017 911 Workshop, DA
186, Public Notice, 33 FCC Rcd 11
PSHSB 2018. The Commission seeks comment on this approach, or on whether the Commission should prescribe such a format, and if so the terms thereof. Considering the diverse, localized nature of 911 networks in the United States, and the extent to which notifications already may be informed by originating service providers and covered 911 service providers agreements with state and local 911
authorities, the Commission specifically seeks comment on whether this approach would allow originating service providers and covered 911
service providers to better meet individual PSAPs distinct needs. The Commission would anticipate that service providers notification processes may go beyond those proposed in this NPRM in some circumstances, such as by mutual agreement of the parties.
23. In March, the Commission adopted a Report and Order that established an outage information sharing framework to provide state and Federal agencies with access to outage information to improve their situational awareness, enhance their ability to respond more quickly to outages impacting their communities, and help save lives, while safeguarding the confidentiality of this data.
Amendments to Part 4 of the Commissions Rules Concerning Disruptions to Communications, PS
Docket No. 1580, Second Report and Order, 86 FR 22796 April 29, 2021, FCC 2134 rel. Mar. 18, 2021 Network Outage Reporting System NORS
Information Sharing Report and Order.
The Commission acknowledges that disclosing specific outage information to PSAPs may make that information available to other parties and therefore seek comment on whether the Commission should supply similar
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safeguards as adopted in the NORS
Information Sharing Report and Order.
The Commission seeks to balance PSAPs need for actionable information with providers need for confidentiality.
The Commission seeks comment on how the Commission might address this balance. For example, is there a subset of information that would prove as useful for PSAPs that could be disclosed without overly burdening the presumption of confidentiality afforded reported outage information? Could PSAPs obtain access to this same outage information from state or other agencies more rapidly and efficiently than directly from service providers?
24. The Commission seeks comment on the cost and benefits of originating service providers and covered 911
service providers to report the same specific, actionable content in their PSAP outage notifications. The Commission anticipates the actual cost may be substantially lower than the estimate below because the estimated number of service providers that would be required to comply is conservatively broad. Further, the Commission expects that the additional information that the Commission proposes to require originating service providers and covered 911 service providers to report to PSAPs already is available to them at the time of notification, and that the example of the NRSC Task Forces template would help to streamline compliance timelines and reduce costs.
The Commission seeks comment on whether standardization and streamlining could reduce the compliance costs for originating service providers that also act as covered 911
service providers in other contexts, or for originating service providers that are already offering notifications to PSAPs, but doing so with limited guidance on what information to provide. The Commission also notes that the NRSC
has already created and shared a tutorial for PSAPs to facilitate the sharing of PSAP contact information with originating service providers and covered 911 service providers. The NRSC stated that it expects that both service providers and PSAPs can benefit from this tutorial. To the extent that commenters advocate a different approach, the Commission asks for costs and benefits of such alternatives.
3. Updating and Maintaining Accurate Contact Information for Officials Designated To Receive Outage Notifications at Each PSAP
25. The Commissions current outage reporting rules require originating service providers and covered 911
service providers to transmit PSAP

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