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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 205 / Wednesday, October 27, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 54
WC Docket No. 1889; DA 211234; FR
ID 54036

Wireline Competition Bureau Announces Best Practices for Equipment Disposal and Revises FCC
Form 5640 Certifications for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final action.
AGENCY:

In this document, the Wireline Competition Bureau Bureau provides guidance and voluntary best practices regarding the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program Reimbursement Program disposal and verification requirements to assist providers of advanced communications services participating in the Reimbursement Program; revises the certification language in the FCC Form 5640, which participants must submit to request funding allocations and disbursements from the Reimbursement Program; and makes minor corrections to the Catalog of Eligible Expenses and Estimated Costs that is used by Reimbursement Program applicants to assist with reporting cost estimates for funding allocation requests.
DATES: The guidance and voluntary best practices provided in this document are applicable beginning October 27, 2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Christopher Koves, Wireline Competition Bureau, 2024187400 or by emailing SupplyChain@fcc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commissions document Public Notice, in WC Docket No. 1889; DA 211234, released on September 30, 2021. The full text of this document is available at the following internet address: https docs.fcc.gov/
public/attachments/DA-21-1234A1.pdf.
Due to the COVID19 pandemic, the Federal Communications Commissions headquarters will be closed to the general public until further notice. See FCC Announces Closure of FCC
Headquarters Open Window and Change in Hand-Delivery Policy, Public Notice, DA 20304 March 19, 2020, https www.fcc.gov/document/
fcccloses-headquarters-open-windowandchanges-hand-delivery-policy.
1. By this document, the Bureau provides guidance and voluntary best practices regarding the Secure
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Reimbursement Program disposal and verification requirements to assist providers of advanced communications services participating in the Reimbursement Program. The Bureau finds that the best practices set forth in this guidance comply with the requirements in 1.50004j of the Commissions rules. Reimbursement Program participants are free to choose alternative approaches to comply with the Reimbursement Programs disposal and verification requirements. In such instances, the Commission will review the specific circumstances to determine whether or not the alternative approach selected by the provider complies with the disposal and verification requirements set forth in 1.50004j of the Commissions rules.
2. Separately, pursuant to 1.108 of the Commissions rules, the Bureau reconsiders and revises, on its own motion, the certifications contained in FCC Form 5640 Application Request for Funding Allocation and the Reimbursement Claim Request that the Bureau adopted in the Finalized Reimbursement Process Public Notification PN, 86 FR 48521, August 31, 2021. These revised certifications will further protect the Reimbursement Program against waste, fraud, and abuse.
The Bureau also makes minor corrections to certain cost estimates incorrectly identified in the Final Catalog of Eligible Expenses and Estimated Costs Cost Catalog adopted in the Finalized Reimbursement Process PN.
3. Disposal and Verification Obligations. In accordance with the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 Secure Networks Act, the Commission adopted a rule requiring Reimbursement Program participants to: 1 dispose of the covered communications equipment and services in a manner to prevent the equipment or service from being used in the networks of other advanced communications service providers; and 2 retain documentation demonstrating compliance with this requirement. The disposal, according to the Commission, must result in the destruction of the covered communications equipment or service, making the covered communications equipment or service inoperable permanently, and participants must retain documentation demonstrating compliance with this requirement. The Commission also specifically prohibited the transfer of covered communications equipment or service to non-U.S. providers in an operable state that would allow for use of the equipment or service in another
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providers network, foreign or domestic. The Commission expected the Bureau to provide participants with additional guidance with the disposal and verification process.
4. Best Practices Overview. Based on comments addressing the disposal process filed in this docket, presentations from entities with disposal experience, and Bureau staffs review of similar disposal processes, it identifies certain voluntary best practices, in the released document, to help guide participants as they fulfill their Reimbursement Program disposal and verification obligations. These best practices include procedures to effectuate equipment removal, data destruction, media sanitization, storage, transportation, physical destruction and recycling, and also cover the selection of certified data sanitization services, equipment destruction services, and electronic waste e-waste recycling services. The best practices further discuss documentation sufficient to demonstrate compliance, including the use of detailed equipment inventories, certificates of media disposition, and certificates of destruction. While the best practices are voluntary, the Bureau finds that these practices will help companies meet their disposal obligations efficiently, while also ensuring the safe and secure removal and disposal of covered communications equipment and services that pose a national security threat consistent with the Secure Networks Act and the Commissions rules.
5. Providers can employ alternative compliance measures, but risk the Commission subsequently finding that such measures are not in compliance with 1.50004j of its rules. Noncompliance can result in the assessment of fines and forfeitures by the Commission and can also result in additional enforcement actions provided for in 1.50005 of the Commissions rules, including the repayment of Reimbursement Program funding. The Commission directed the Office of Managing Director OMD, or a third-party identified by OMD, to prepare a system to conduct audits and field investigations to ensure Reimbursement Program participants are acting in compliance with the Commissions rules. These audits and field investigations will include the inspection of documentation to verify compliance with the disposal and verification requirements in 1.50004j of the Commissions rules.
6. Providers participating in the Reimbursement Program are likely to encounter different categories of
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