House Commerce Leaders Request GAO Review of Federal Spectrum Management

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) sent a letter to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) urging the government watchdog to conduct an updated review of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) federal spectrum management processes. They asked GAO to consider as part of its review how federal spectrum users interact with NTIA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), how the NTIA and FCC interact with each other, and the recent federal spectrum management process breakdowns. “[In 2019], it was clear that the federal spectrum management process broke down,” they wrote.  “Rather than working through the NTIA as the central repository and manager of federal spectrum, we are concerned that many of the federal agencies with spectrum allocations may have circumvented this statutory process.”

The bipartisan Committee leaders pointed to the fact that by statute, the NTIA has the “responsibility to ensure that the views of the executive branch on telecommunications matters are effectively presented to the [FCC].”  Chairman Pallone and Ranking Member Walden have continually expressed their support for NTIA to represent relevant agencies at the FCC on telecommunications matters and for NTIA to properly coordinate and oversee the nation’s federal spectrum users.