IDT Telecom asked the full FCC to review a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau telecom relay service fund order setting the 2015-16 budget and industry contribution factor (see 1506300063). In a petition for review, IDT, which pays into the fund, said it opposed approval of a proposed budget and contribution factor because both were partially based on funding IP-based relay services "from the interstate and international jurisdictions and not from the intrastate jurisdiction." IDT also opposed the proposed "funding of domestic relay services from the international jurisdiction." In approving the proposed budget and contribution factor in a June 30 order, the bureau rejected IDT's complaints because they challenged commission determinations that the bureau said it had no basis for departing from, IDT said. The full commission should review the bureau order because it conflicts with the Communications Act and "involves a question of policy which has not previously been resolved by the commission," and "involves the application of a policy which should be overturned," IDT said.

IDT Telecom asked the full FCC to review a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau telecom relay service fund order setting the 2015-16 budget and industry contribution factor (see 1506300063). In a petition for review, IDT, which pays into the fund, said it opposed approval of a proposed budget and contribution factor because both were partially based on funding IP-based relay services "from the interstate and international jurisdictions and not from the intrastate jurisdiction." IDT also opposed the proposed "funding of domestic relay services from the international jurisdiction." In approving the proposed budget and contribution factor in a June 30 order, the bureau rejected IDT's complaints because they challenged commission determinations that the bureau said it had no basis for departing from, IDT said. The full commission should review the bureau order because it conflicts with the Communications Act and "involves a question of policy which has not previously been resolved by the commission," and "involves the application of a policy which should be overturned," IDT said.

The FCC has “initiated corrective action plans” responding to the May GAO report on the telecom relay service (TRS) program, Chairman Tom Wheeler reassured lawmakers in a letter dated July 10 and released Friday. “The Commission is drafting a notice of proposed rulemaking that will seek public comment on clearly stated proposed goals for the TRS program,” Wheeler said. “The notice will include specific proposals by which to measure the program’s performance toward meeting those stated goals.” The FCC is using the GAO Green Book, as advised, for the right balance. The GAO Green Book and Office of Management and Budget guidance also are helping the FCC in shaping the risk assessments, Wheeler said. “To ensure better communication with groups that are impacted by the TRS program, such as TRS users and providers, the FCC has entered into a contract with MITRE that will facilitate the FCC’s efforts to directly address some of the GAO’s recommendations and will also further the goal of ensuring the efficient and effective delivery of functionally equivalent communications services for the covered disability populations.” The contract has yielded the creation of a TRS Center of Expertise, Wheeler added.

FCC staff followed through Tuesday on planned cuts to video relay service rates over the coming year, despite warnings from VRS providers that the cuts will harm service to the deaf and hard of hearing. The order, issued by the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, also adopts proposed rates for other telecom relay services, along with a total TRS Fund of $1.048 billion (VRS accounts for almost $600 million of that) and an industry contribution factor of 1.635 percent (of carrier interstate and international telecom revenue) for the funding year running from July 1 to June 30, 2016.

USTelecom voiced concerns about proposed increases in the Telecom Relay Service fund and industry contribution factor, in reply comments posted Friday in docket 10-51, after initial comments were submitted the week before (see 1506090027). The proposals of TRS administrator Rolka Loube Saltzer Associates "would undo much of the good work the Commission has undertaken in recent years to effectively manage the TRS program, promote efficiency, and control costs," USTelecom said. Rolka Loube proposed an "alarming increase of nearly 40% in the TRS contribution factor" for telecom carriers paying into the fund, USTelecom said, saying proposed funding was projected to rise from $793 million to $1.05 billion, a 32 percent increase. "The Commission must be cognizant of the fact that adopting the proposed projection will impose significant and potentially unnecessary costs on consumers," the group said. USTelecom agreed with Comptel's initial comments that the timing of the proposed contribution factor raised problems because both the FCC order announcing the rate increases and its effective date would likely occur on or around July 1, when the new TRS funding year starts. "In addition to providing limited time for a complete assessment and analysis of the significant increase in the contribution factor, carriers will essentially be forced to either substantially increase their customers’ fees, or 'eat the cost of the increase where their contracts or other billing arrangements preclude raising interstate service rates,'" USTelecom said, citing Comptel. USTelecom urged the FCC to move up the adoption of the TRS contribution factor "well in advance" of annual access tariff filings due in mid-June. Ultratec filed replies that supported keeping the multistate average rate structure methodology for IP captioned telephone service. Neither USTelecom nor Ultratec filed initial comments, while other parties that did, such as video relay service providers seeking to head off further rate cuts in their compensation, submitted replies that were consistent with their initial comments, with some elaborating on their arguments.

Video relay service providers and advocates for the deaf and hard of hearing who use VRS and other telecom relay services (TRS) objected to looming cuts in VRS provider compensation rates, saying they would undermine service quality. TRS providers also urged the FCC to stick with its current methodology for determining TRS compensation rates, with advocates for the deaf and hard of hearing urging the commission to freeze all compensation rates for at least six months. Meanwhile, representatives of telcos paying into the TRS fund voiced concern about the fund's proposed growth to over $1 billion and associated industry contribution increases.

GAO recommended the FCC “develop specific TRS [Telecommunications Relay Service] performance goals and measures, conduct a robust program risk assessment, and improve the communication of TRS’s rules and procedures,” GAO said in a 55-page report released Friday. The FCC agreed with the recommendations and said it would work to implement them, GAO said. “The FCC is establishing an ongoing testing program that will assess the quality of the handling of TRS calls, as well as provider compliance with TRS rules,” noted FCC Managing Director Jon Wilkins in an April 17 letter to GAO, anticipating a “robust risk assessment” to come as it addresses recommendations. “Because of the lack of specific TRS performance goals -- and specific performance measures crafted around those goals -- it is difficult to determine in an objective, quantifiable way if TRS is making available functionally equivalent telecommunications services, and it is difficult for FCC to manage the program in a proactive, results-oriented manner,” GAO said. “FCC has designed some internal controls for the TRS program, but lacks a comprehensive internal-control system to manage program risks.” GAO directed the report to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the agency will take steps within the next year to improve the ability of the deaf to make phone calls. But a company that provides Video Relay Services (VRS) to the deaf said Wheeler’s proposal would improve only one way for the deaf to make calls. To bring further improvements, six VRS providers last week urged the agency to accept their joint proposal dealing with the remaining issues of a two-year dispute with the agency.

The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls external systems EFS, TRS, ELLIE, and MARY, as well as DTAS Online, will be unavailable for industry users from Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. to Oct. 7 at 6 a.m., DDTC said in an Oct. 3 announcement. The systems will go off-line for "system upgrades in support of an upcoming Federal Register Notice."

The website for the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) will undergo maintenance from Sept. 26 at 3:00 p.m. to the evening of Sept. 28 EDT. The DTrade system will be unavailable to accept submissions during that time, DDTC said. The external systems EFS, TRS, ELLIE, and MARY will also be offline.