GAO: FCC needs more transparency (updated)

The Government Accountability Office said the Federal Communications Commission needs to make its decision-making process more transparent. The GAO said the FCC should make changes to its internal structure and procedures for collecting information and ensuring its seven bureaus all work together.

Rep Ed Markey (D-MA) requested the report last year to address complaints from staffers and commissioners about the lack of access to certain information under former chairman Kevin Martin.

GAO said the FCC's processes have systemic "weaknesses" and "lacks internal policies regarding commissioner access to staff analyses during the decision-making process, and some chairmen have restricted this access." GAO also said the FCC needs to improve its process for collecting public comment on a rule change, and needs to fix the "ex parte" process by which external parties are required to summarize private meetings at the agency for the public record. The "ex parte" process has been criticized for being an incomplete record of lobbyist meetings.

• The FCC's lack of written procedures for aiding the flow of information within the agency has in some cases led to ineffective interbureau coordination and allowed prior chairmen to limit internal communication among staff.
• It is unclear whether the roles of the Office of Engineering and Technology and the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis-two offices established to provide independent expertise on complex, crosscutting issues-are clearly defined or are overly subject to a chairman's preferences. Without written coordination procedures or clearly defined roles and responsibilities, FCC may be limited in its ability to address crosscutting issues.
• At the commission level, the lack of statutory requirements or internal policies on commissioners' rights and responsibilities during the decision-making process, including their right to bureau and office analysis, has let some chairmen control how and when commissioners receive information from the bureaus and offices. Other independent regulatory agencies have varied in how they address this issue. Ultimately, if commissioners do not have adequate access to information, then the benefits of the commission structure-robust group discourse and informed deliberation and decision making-may be hampered.
• While FCC relies heavily on public input to inform its decisions, it tends to do so without giving the public access to the actual text of a given proposal. If parties are able to submit vague summaries that may not fully reflect meetings between FCC officials and outside parties, then stakeholders will continue to question whether commission decisions are being influenced by information that was not subject to public comment or rebuttal and that, in some cases, is submitted just before a commission vote, the GAO stated.

From fiscal year 2003 to 2008, the number of engineers at FCC decreased by 10%, from 310 to 280. Similarly, from fiscal year 2003 to 2008, the overall number of economists decreased by 14%, from 63 to 54. While the number of engineers and economists has decreased from 2003 to 2008, the percentage of the workforce comprised of engineers and economists remained the same. In addition, the FCC estimates that 45 % of supervisory engineers will be eligible for retirement by 2011.

For economists, FCC faces an even higher share of staff eligible for retirement by 2011. FCC reports that, as of April 2009, 67 % of supervisory economists will be eligible to retire. The FCC may face challenges in addressing these impending retirements because 56% of nonsupervisory economists are also eligible to retire, and FCC has not hired any economists in fiscal years 2007 and 2008, the GAO stated.