Critical Report About FCC Draws Criticism Itself

A government report that is critical of how the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) collects and analyzes data on local 911 funding has come under fire itself, from the National Emergency Number Association (NENA). The crux of the unusual double critique is that while the FCC collects information on how state 911 surcharges are collected, the information is inconsistent and incomplete, and insufficiently analyzed. The report released today by the General Accountability Office (GAO) acknowledge that 97 percent of public safety answering points (PSAP) in the U.S. have Phase II E911 service. That’s an improvement since 2006, the GAO noted, when just 57 percent of PSAPs had Phase II features. But the GAO said the FCC’s methods for collecting data “limit its usefulness.” Notably, states are not required to participate in the funding survey, and not all report their surcharges in dollar amounts (they only report the percentage figure of the surcharge). Most of the state responses are textual, making analysis and comparison difficult or impossible, the GAO said. As for NENA, the group said the GAO report was “a missed opportunity” to take a detailed look at the state data, and determine where 911 surcharge funds are actually being spent. In a written statement, NENA CEO Brian Fontes said the group was still pleased that the information will be shared with lawmakers. “We call on the Congress to scrutinize the report and continue to seek more illuminating data,” Fontes said. Download (pdf) the 41-page report here.

A total of $2.3 billion was collected by 43 state for the operation of 911 systems during calendar 2011, the GAO determined. Six states reported transferring about $77 million of those funds into other accounts, for other purposes: Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, New York and Rhode Island. Most of the states transferred a portion of their 911 funds into the general account, ranging from $25,000 (Maine) to $45 million (NY). Georgia’s entire 911 surcharge funds were co-opted for other purposes, a legal transfer, state officials told the GAO.

The District of Columbia and Louisiana did not respond to the GAO’s request for information, despite “several attempts” to obtain the data.

The chart below from the GAO report shows which states have completed Phase I and Phase II wireless E911 service as of December 2012.

Click on the diagram for a larger view.

Here is Fontes’ full statement on the GAO report:

On behalf of more than 6,000 9-1-1 call centers across America and our members who lead and staff them, NENA welcomes a new report released today by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), entitled 911 Service: Most States Used Funds for Intended Purposes, but FCC Could Improve Its Reporting on State Use of Funds.

NENA is pleased that another element of the Next Generation 9-1-1 Advancement Act of 2012 has been completed, and that the GAO seems to have devoted much time and effort to preparing its report.

However, the report is in some ways a missed opportunity. NENA had hoped that the Act would prompt a detailed look at primary-source materials on 9-1-1 fee collection by the states, and whether those fees are actually spent to further the deployment, operation, maintenance, and improvement of 9-1-1 services. However, the GAO did not conduct any review of publicly-available state revenue and appropriations data to determine whether the data that is self-reported by the states is accurate.

In light of the existing FCC reporting regime, the fact that Congress ordered a GAO study should have made it apparent that something different was required. Instead, the report dwells on methodological problems with the FCC’s existing data collection regime, while basing almost all of its own findings on that very data set.

Beyond its statutory directive, the GAO focused much of its energies on researching subjects such as E9-1-1 wireless location capabilities that have already been comprehensively studied by NENA and others, and for which data was already publicly available.

Despite our misgivings about the report’s scope and methodology, NENA is pleased that the information assembled by GAO will be made available to lawmakers and the public in a convenient and high-profile format. We call on the Congress to scrutinize the report and continue to seek more illuminating data.

NENA remains committed to ensuring that citizens receive the benefits they deserve from the 9-1-1 fees they are charged, and we look forward to working with GAO on future 9-1-1 studies.