Most FCC employees have a positive view of their workplace, but don't feel they have sufficient resources or that steps are taken to deal with poor performers, said the 2016 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) by the Office of Personnel Management. The survey, released by the commission Friday, was administered to the whole federal government from April 26 to June 14. Six-hundred forty-eight of 1,552 FCC employees surveyed participated, and most agreed or strongly agreed with statements such as “The work I do is important,” and “I like the kind of work I do.” Government-wide, 83 percent of employees said they liked the work they do, while at the FCC, 80 percent said so. Twenty-two percent of FCC employees said they agree pay raises at the commission correlate to performance, and 28 percent said they agree the FCC takes steps to deal with poor performers, but those numbers are consistent with the government-wide results, wherein 22 percent said raises are based on performance, and 29 percent said poor performers are dealt with. The survey shows FCC employees have some concerns with senior management: Forty-three percent said senior leaders “generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce” and 44 percent said they were satisfied with the policies of senior leaders. Government-wide, 42 percent said they were satisfied with their leaders' policies, and 40 percent said their leaders motivated them. Seventy-seven percent of FCC employees said their supervisors were doing a good job, vs. 70 percent government-wide. Sixty-nine percent of FCC employees said the commission is accomplishing its mission successfully, while the government-wide response was 74 percent. The National Treasury Employees Union, which represented some FCC staff, and OPM didn't comment.

NTIA petitioned the FCC to reconsider or clarify parts of a July tech transition order to address special challenges facing federal government agencies as telecom customers (see 1607140066). The commission set out a reasonable approach to facilitating tech transitions while minimizing consumer harms, NTIA said, but federal users are different from other customers, given their procedures and "mission-critical" functions. NTIA said federal agencies are "particularly vulnerable to unanticipated and accelerated network changes," and while the FCC's "adequate replacement" framework helps, it doesn't fully address agency issues. For example, NTIA said carrier applications to discontinue "legacy data services" are eligible for streamlined review and automatic approval, "raising the specter of unexpected or unplanned changes in a large segment of services used by federal agencies." Even if the framework reduces concerns that service changes may hinder service, it doesn't resolve "planning, budgeting, and procurement challenges" in navigating the transition, it said. To address the challenges, an NTIA petition posted Thursday in docket 13-5 asked the FCC to: "(1) clarify whether, if at all, or under what circumstances, services such as T1 and Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) fall within the meaning of 'legacy voice service'; (2) reconsider its interoperability protection requirement to define a list of 'low speed modems' and create a presumption that devices that use such modems are entitled to interoperability protection; (3) prescribe limited testing requirements for small carriers; and (4) use its 'public interest' review of carriers’ section 214 discontinuance applications to promote greater information exchange and more cooperative planning between carriers and their federal customers about network transitions, to reduce the potential impact such transitions may have on critical government operations."

Emergency alert system participants reported some problems after a nationwide EAS test in September, Gregory Cooke, an associate division chief in the FCC Public Safety Bureau, told the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee Friday. The test was the second nationwide of the EAS and, according to the early analysis, it mostly went smoothly (see 1609280074). But problems were detected, Cooke said. One-third of those who provided feedback to the FCC after the test indicated there was no problem, Cooke said. Others reported receiving audio, but not a text crawl and vice versa, he said. “In some cases, participants ran the text crawl too quickly or did not supply sufficient contrast so the text crawl could be read easily," he said. “This is a problem we have been aware of for quite a while. It’s one that is not built into the architecture. This is how individual TV and radio stations set up their system.” The FCC is working on best practices for stations so they can ensure they don't run the crawl too quickly and it's presented with proper contrast, he said. “That’s going to be an ongoing issue.” Another nationwide EAS test is likely, but hasn't been scheduled, Cooke said.

The FTC appealed a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals August decision giving companies that provide any common-carrier service (see 1608290032) "blanket immunity" from commission enforcement, the agency said, as expected (see 1609270033). The decision is "wrong and should be corrected," argued the commission in a Thursday filing, seeking a rehearing en banc. A three-judge panel tossed out an FTC lawsuit accusing AT&T Mobility of inadequately informing customers of its data throttling program (see 1608300055, 1608310010 and 1609020021). The FTC said the ruling creates "an enforcement gap," leaving millions of consumers vulnerable to unfair or deceptive practices and unable to obtain redress. Companies -- including AT&T, Comcast, Google and even ExxonMobil -- provide both common-carrier and non-common-carrier services, the FTC said. "The panel's ruling calls into question the FTC's ability to protect consumers from unlawful practices by such companies in any of their lines of business," said the commission. It argued the FCC is limited in its enforcement authority and only the FTC has broad powers over consumer data privacy and security. The FTC also said the ruling conflicts with decisions by other circuit courts and that the 9th Circuit panel misread the FTC Act.

New York sought an expedited FCC waiver of Connect America Fund rules requiring Phase II subsidy support for broadband-oriented service to be awarded in the state through competitive bidding. New York said it must soon carry out a state auction of subsidies for the same areas covered by the FCC's planned CAF II reverse auction. "Grant of the requested waiver would allow New York to coordinate allocation of the CAF funding with its own broadband auction, resulting in significant benefits to New York consumers," said a filing posted Thursday in docket 10-90 by Empire State Development, which is overseeing the state auction. "New York’s allocation of CAF funds would be undertaken in accordance with key Commission requirements and would not impose any additional financial burdens on the CAF." ESD said the waiver would facilitate federal-state coordination, encourage broadband investment and provide "significant cost efficiencies and financial synergies." The state auction is part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D) $500 million program to expand broadband access, ESD said. Round 1 resulted in $75.8 million in broadband investment, $54.2 million from the state and $21.6 million from private parties. Round 2 would cover the territories where Verizon, as the incumbent telco, declined the FCC's $170.4 million offer of CAF II support. New York wants the waiver to use that funding in its auction.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is to open Friday’s meeting of the commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee. The final meeting of CAC’s current term starts at 9 a.m. EDT, said an FCC public notice. “The Committee is expected to consider a recommendation from its No Surprise Billing Task Force regarding the clarity of charges at point of sale and on bills,” the agency said. “The Committee will also receive briefings from Commission staff on issues of interest to the Committee.” Commissioner Mignon Clyburn also is scheduled to speak to the group.

The FCC Robocall Strike Force is to release a report at a meeting Oct. 26, the agency said Thursday. It's "an industry-led group which has been working for two months to develop comprehensive solutions to prevent, detect, and filter unwanted robocalls,” the FCC said in a Thursday public notice. “Giving consumers meaningful control over the calls and texts they receive requires collective action by the industry.” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler directed the task force to develop an “action plan” within 60 days, at the group's initial meeting in August (see 1608190034). AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, chairing the group, is to speak, as are Wheeler and other commissioners. The meeting is to run 1-2 p.m. EDT in the Commission Meeting Room.

While still monitoring North Carolina flooding from Hurricane Matthew, the FCC Public Safety Bureau deactivated the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) in all counties of Florida, Georgia and Virginia and most of South Carolina, the bureau said in a public notice Thursday. DIRS remains active in North Carolina and Horry County, South Carolina, it said. The North Carolina flooding has challenged telecom companies trying to restore service (see 1610110038). In the 18 counties still reporting to DIRS, 2.1 percent of cell sites were down at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the FCC reported. Nearly 15 percent of cellsites were still down in Robeson County, North Carolina, it said. For wireline and cable, 304 switching centers were out of service, leaving 56,769 customers without service in North Carolina, the FCC said. Six radio stations and one TV station were out of service in the same state. All public safety answering points were fully operational in the disaster area, it said.

Tech spending will grow 3.1 percent to $36.05 billion during this holiday season, lower than the overall retail sales increase of 3.8 percent to $825 billion (excluding gas and restaurant sales), a CTA forecast said Tuesday. CTA estimates total online holiday sales will grow by 16.4 percent to $84.2 billion.

The District of Columbia U.S. District Court lacks jurisdiction to hear FCC employee Sharon Stewart's employment retaliation complaint since she hasn't exhausted all her administrative remedies, the agency said Tuesday in an answer (in Pacer) to Stewart's amended complaint (see 1609300016) filed this month. The FCC also said Stewart's claims she was penalized after complaining of a hostile work environment in the Office of Communications Business Opportunities are barred since they differ from or exceed the scope of a discrimination charge, and any actions it took regarding Stewart "were for legitimate, non-discriminatory, non-retaliatory reasons, were based on good faith and were not in violation of any federal law." Counsel for Stewart said Wednesday they stand by the claims.