FCC to Close 16 of 24 Field Offices

Field offices are on the chopping block at the Federal Communications Commission. Sixteen of 24 are being targeted for closure, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told members of Congress. Chairman Wheeler appeared before the House Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government to plead the agency’s case for 2016 funding. He said an audit of field offices revealed several with one manager to four employees in “oversized rental facilities, which are draining our resources.” “After analyzing a contractor report on field office use, we have determined that we can more efficiently deploy staff using a ‘tiger team’ approach and make better use of regional offices,” he said in prepared testimony. “This plan, if accepted by my fellow commissioners, will lead to 16 field office closures and annual savings of $9 million without diminished productivity.” Non-auction flat funding has led to staff cuts, he said.

The FCC currently has 1,708 full-time positions, compared to a 20-year average of 1,877. Contractors have been cut as well, from 600 in 2012 to 435 by the end of 2016. Yet the 2016 budget request is the first in 10 years that doesn’t include a request for more bodies, but rather cuts 37 positions -- 30 of them from field offices. Chairman Wheeler said while the staff’s been shrinking, demands have increased and so has the workload for those still standing. At some point, he said, the cuts will have a negative effect. “For example, in the licensing operations area since 2010, our FTE levels have declined by more than 25 across several bureaus, versus steady growth in licensing activity over that same time, so at some point licensing operations could slow,” he said. Licensees ultimately will feel the pain, he said.