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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Rules and Regulations Commission adopts a rule to prohibit the use of Federal subsidies made available through a program administered by the Commission to purchase, rent, lease, or otherwise obtain any covered communications equipment or service, or maintain any covered communications equipment or service previously purchased, rented, leased, or otherwise obtained, and identified and published on the Covered List. The Commission establishes, as directed by section 4 of the Secure Networks Act, the Reimbursement Program to reimburse costs reasonably incurred by providers of advanced communications service with two million or fewer customers to permanently remove, replace, and dispose of covered communications equipment and services from their networks. To further administer the Reimbursement Program, the Commission establishes, and will publish on its website, a list of suggested replacements Replacement List for the equipment and services being removed, replaced, and destroyed, and establishes a reporting requirement and new information collection to require providers of advanced communications service to report covered communications equipment and service in their networks.
212. Small entities potentially affected by the rules herein include eligible schools and libraries, eligible rural non-profit and public health care providers, and the eligible service providers offering them services, including telecommunications service providers, internet Service Providers, and vendors of the services and equipment used for telecommunications and broadband networks.
213. Requirement to Remove and Replace Covered Equipment and Services. The Order requires recipients of reimbursement funds under the Reimbursement Program and ETCs receiving USF support to remove and replace from their network operations covered equipment and services included on the Covered List. The Order conditions this obligation to remove and replace covered equipment and services upon a congressional appropriation to fund the Reimbursement Program. The Order limits the scope of the removeand-replace requirement to equipment and services on the Covered List.
Applicants for funds through the Reimbursement Program shall satisfy compliance with the remove-andreplace obligation in accordance with the deadlines and transition periods associated with the Reimbursement Program. Entities required to comply that are not recipients of funding
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through the Reimbursement Program must remove covered equipment and services within one year after WCB
issues a Public Notice announcing the acceptance of applications filed during the initial filing window to participate in the Reimbursement Program. ETC
recipients of USF support must certify that they have complied with our new rule requiring the removal of equipment and services on the Covered List.
214. Covered List. Consistent with the Secure Networks Act, no later than March 12, 2021, the Commission will publish on its website the Covered List of communications equipment or services determined to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons. The Order establishes that the Commission will publish, update, or modify the Covered List without providing notice or opportunity to comment; however, PSHSB will issue a Public Notice every time the Covered List is updated. As directed by the Secure Networks Act, the Order states that the Commission may only accept determinations from the four sources enumerated in the Secure Networks Act, and will incorporate national security determinations into the Covered List automatically, when identifying specific communications equipment or services that pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and the security and safety of United States persons, or to the extent the class or category of equipment or service identified is capable of the 2b2A
C criteria, when listed in general categories or classes of equipment that pose such a risk. The Commission will periodically update or modify the Covered List to reflect changes in determinations and will notify the public for every twelve-month period during which the Commission does not update the Covered List.
215. Restriction on Use of Federal Subsidies. Pursuant to section 3 of the Secure Networks Act, the Order adopts a rule that no Federal subsidy made available through a program administered by the Commission for capital expenditures necessary for the provision of advanced communications service shall be used to purchase, rent, lease, or otherwise obtain any covered communications equipment or service, or maintain any covered communications equipment or service previously purchased, rented, leased, or otherwise obtained, as identified and published on the Covered List. The Commission has interpreted section 3 of the Secure Networks Act as intending to apply to all universal service programs
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but not other Federal subsidy programs to the extent those programs may tangentially or indirectly involve expenditures related to the provision of advanced communications service. In the Order, the Commission declines to grandfather existing contracts for equipment or services on the Covered List under 54.10 of the Commissions rules. The prohibition on the use of Federal subsidies takes effect 60 days after any particular communications equipment or services are placed on the Covered List, consistent with the Secure Networks Act. The Order requires recipients of universal service support from each of the four USF programs to certify that they have complied with the new rule prohibiting the use of Federal subsidies for equipment and services on the Covered List.
216. Reimbursement Program. The Order establishes, as directed by the Secure Networks Act, the Secure and Trusted Communications Reimbursement Program Reimbursement Program to reimburse the costs reasonably incurred by providers of advanced communication services with two million or fewer customers to permanently remove, replace, and dispose of covered communications equipment and services from their networks. In the Order, the Commission allows eligible providers to obtain reimbursement to remove and replace older covered communications equipment with upgraded technology and will reimburse providers for certain transition expenses incurred prior to the creation of this program. Program participants are required to submit estimated costs to receive funding allocations, and recipients can then obtain funding disbursements on a rolling basis upon a showing of actual expenses incurred. If aggregate demand exceeds available funding, the Order prioritizes funding for ETCs and expenses for transitioning core networks over non-ETCs and noncore network transition expenses.
Program recipients will have one year from the initial funding disbursement to complete the permanent removal, replacement, and disposal of covered communications equipment, and the Commission may grant a single, general six-month extension for all recipients and/or individual extensions of time if circumstances warrant.
217. Status Updates. As directed by the Secure Networks Act, the Order requires program recipients to file a status update once every 90 days beginning on the date on which the Commission approves an application for a reimbursement. Recipients should file the first report within 90 days of
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