Telecommunications Service Priority System

AGENCY:

Emergency Communications Division (ECD), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

ACTION:

30-Day notice and request for comments; Extension, 1670-0005.

SUMMARY:

DHS CISA ECD will submit the following Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. DHS previously published this ICR in the Federal Register on Wednesday, October 17, 2018 for a 60-day public comment period. 0 comments were received by DHS. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comments. To provide greater transparency, CISA is making an adjustment from the 60 day notice to show all related costs in the 30 day notice.

DATES:

Comments are encouraged and will be accepted until March 18, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

Interested persons are invited to submit written comments on the proposed information collection to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. Comments should be addressed to OMB Desk Officer, Department of Homeland Security and sent via electronic mail to dhsdeskofficer@omb.eop.gov. All submissions must include the words “Department of Homeland Security” and the OMB Control Number 1670-0005—Telecommunications Service Priority System.

Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made available to the public through relevant websites. For this reason, please do not include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal information or proprietary information. If you send an email comment, your email address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the internet. Please note that responses to this public comment request containing any routine notice about the confidentiality of the communication will be treated as public comments that may be made available to the public notwithstanding the inclusion of the routine notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For specific questions related to collection activities, please contact Deborah Bea at 703.705.6302 or at deborah.bea@HQ.DHS.GOV.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP) is authorized by E.O. 12472, E.O. 13618 and 47 CFR part 64. The DHS Emergency Communications Division (ECD) uses the TSP Program to authorize national security and emergency preparedness organizations to receive priority treatment for vital voice and data circuits or other telecommunications service, under National Security or Emergency Preparedness telecommunications (NS/EP). The TSP Program provides service vendors a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandate to prioritize requests by identifying those services critical to national security and emergency preparedness. A TSP assignment ensures that it will receive priority attention by the service vendor before any non-TSP service.

Four broad categories serve as guidelines for determining whether a circuit or telecommunications service is eligible for priority provisioning or restoration. TSP service user organizations may be in the Federal, State, local, or tribal government, critical infrastructure sectors in industry, non-profit organizations that perform critical NS/EP functions, or foreign governments. Typical TSP service users are responsible for the command and control functions critical to management of and response to NS/EP situations, particularly during the first 24 to 72 hours following an event.

Information to request a priority, to obtain a sponsor for requesting a priority, and for other administrative requirements of the program is required from any person or organization having an NS/EP service for which they wish priority restoration from the vendor providing the service. Information is also required to allow immediate installation of a new service to support NS/EP requirements. Information is required from vendors to allow the ECD to track and identify the telecommunications services that are being provided priority treatment.

The forms used are the SF314 (Revalidation for Service Users), SF315 (TSP Request for Service Users), SF317 (TSP Action Appeal for Service Users), SF318 (TSP Service Confirmation for Service Vendors), and the SF319 (TSP Service Reconciliation for Service Vendors). The SF314 is for users to request that their existing TSP codes be revalidated for three more years. The SF315 is used to request restoration and/or provisioning for an organization's critical circuits. The SF317 is for organizations to appeal the denial of TSP restoration and/or provisioning. The SF318 is for service vendors to provide circuit ID information associated with TSP codes they've been given by their customers. The SF319 is for service vendors to provide data to the program office in order to reconcile their TSP data with the TSP database. Participants request TSP priorities via email in order to reduce the use of the paper forms. The paper forms will also be available for download via the TSP home page.

There have been no changes to the information being collected. The burden for the SF315 Form has increased due to better estimates, and the annual cost burden to respondents and annual government cost has increased due to increased wage rates and compensation factors.

This is a renewal of an information collection.

OMB is particularly interested in comments that:

1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;

3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses.

Title of Collection: Telecommunications Service Priority System.

OMB Control Number: 1670-0005.

Frequency: Annually.

Affected Public: State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Governments and Private Sector.

Number of Annualized Respondents: 38,666.

Estimated Time per Respondent: 0.64 hours.

Total Annualized Burden Hours: 10,354 hours.

Total Annualized Respondent Opportunity Cost: $503,681.

Total Annualized Respondent Out-of-Pocket Cost: $0.

Total Annualized Government Cost: $377,036.