Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel's Response to Members of Congress Re: GAO Report on FCC High-Cost Programs

On April 9, 2021, Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote to various Members of Congress regarding the Oct 1, 2020 Government Accountability Office report entitled "FCC Should Enhance Performance Goals and Measures for Its Program to Support Broadband Service in High-Cost Areas". In their Sept 17, 2020 response to the draft report, the Managing Director and Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau noted that the FCC has adopted targeted performance goals and measures for specific high-cost support mechanisms. The response acknowledged, however, that the FCC has not revisited the overarching performance goals and measures that were adopted nearly ten years ago and that they may no longer align with GAO’s leading practices or how the FCC evaluates performance today.

Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel wrote that the FCC has "begun the critical work of implementing long-overdue upgrades to improve our broadband mapping data." She continued, "The best time to start this work would have been several years ago. However, the second-best time to do this is right now. To this end, we are working to improve the data collection efforts at the agency, including the state of deployment in rural communities and on Tribal lands. We are also committed to seeing these efforts through in order to bring the benefits of advanced telecommunications services to all Americans. As part of these efforts, the Commission must ensure that scarce federal resources are being used efficiently and effectively. GAO’s recommendations are intended to do just that—and we will keep them in mind as the Commission implements changes to the high-cost program."