From:         Director, Office of Spectrum Policy
                    and Management, ASR-1, Federal
                    Aviation Administration (FAA)

To:            Milton Brown, Office of the Chief
                    Counsel, National Telecommunications
                    and Information Administration (NTIA),
                 Room 4713, U.S. Department of Commerce,
                 1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20230
 

Below, for your consideration, are FAA’s comments on the NTIA’s notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register/Vol. 66, No. 12 dated January 18,2001.

Section III. Discussion.
Affected Bands, Paragraph 10.

OBRA 93 specifies a date of January 2004 to vacate the 1710-1755 MHz band. In view of these proposed reimbursement rules, if no private entity bids on particular frequencies, should agencies still abide by this date and relocate?
 

Section III. Discussion.
Mandatory Relocation, Paragraph 14.

The FAA believes Federal entities must be reimbursed for relocation costs regardless of the system it is chosen to replace the displaced frequencies. We agree that landline or commercial radio services may provide the most spectrum efficient and cost-effective alternative to a government owned system, however, either of these two alternatives will require testing costs, decommissioning costs, etc. which may not be available to the agency. Also, either of these alternatives may introduce recurring costs above the normal operating costs of the existing radio system.
 

Section III. Discussion.
Availability of a Comparable Facility, Paragraph 14.

We believe Federal entities should be reimbursed for operating costs for a minimum of 5 years, however, the number of years of operating costs over 5 years should be a subject of negotiation between the licensees and the federal entities. By limiting the increased operational expenses to 5 years, Federal entities may not get reimbursed for the full costs.
 

Section III. Discussion.
Notification of Marginal Cost, Paragraph 35.

The Federal entities are required to provide NTIA with an estimate of the cost to "relocate, modify or retune systems" at least 240 days prior to an FCC auction. We believe the Federal entities should be reimbursed for the money spent developing these estimates. We suggest the cost of this activity be clearly allowable and allocated to the follow-on negotiations with successful licensees in a fair and equitable manner.
 

George Sakai

Director, Federal Aviation Administration,
Office of Spectrum Policy and Management, ASR-1