On February 22, 2012, the President
signed the Spectrum Act, which, among other things, authorized the
Commission to conduct incentive auctions, and directed that the
Commission use this innovative tool for an incentive auction of
broadcast television spectrum to help meet the Nation’s growing
spectrum needs. See Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of
2012, Pub. L. No. 112-96, sections 6402, 6403, 125 Stat. 156 (2012)
(Spectrum Act). The Commission’s broadcast incentive auction (BIA)
will have three main components: (1) a reverse auction in which
broadcast television licensees will submit bids to voluntarily
relinquish their spectrum usage rights in exchange for defined
shares of proceeds from the forward auction; (2) a repacking of the
broadcast television bands; and (3) a forward auction of initial
licenses for flexible use of the newly available spectrum. The
information collection requirements reported under this new
collection are the result of various Commission actions in which
the Commission adopted general rules to govern the
auction—including various application disclosures and
certifications that must be made by broadcast television licensees
to establish their eligibility to participate in the reverse
auction—in order to implement the new and novel incentive auction
approach for use in the BIA. Under this information collection, the
Commission will collect information that will be used to determine
whether an applicant is legally qualified to participate in a
reverse incentive auction. To aid in collecting this information,
the Commission has created FCC Form 177, which the public will use
to participate in reverse incentive auctions, including the
Commission’s upcoming broadcast incentive reverse auction. The
Commission’s auction rules and related requirements are designed to
ensure that the competitive bidding process is limited to serious
qualified applicants, deter possible abuse of the bidding and
licensing process, and enhance the use of competitive bidding to
assign Commission licenses and permits in furtherance of the public
interest. The information collected on FCC Form 177 will be used by
the Commission to determine if an applicant is legally qualified to
participate in the reverse auction. Commission staff will review
the information collected on FCC Form 177 as part of the
pre-auction process, prior to the start of the reverse auction.
Staff will determine whether each applicant satisfies the
Commission’s requirements to participate in the reverse auction.
Without the information collected on FCC Form 177, the Commission
will not be able to determine if an applicant is legally qualified
to participate in the reverse auction and has complied with the
various applicable regulatory and statutory auction requirements
for such participation.
On February 22, 2012,
the President signed the Spectrum Act, which, among other things,
authorized the Commission to conduct incentive auctions, and
directed that the Commission use this innovative tool for an
incentive auction of broadcast television spectrum to help meet the
Nation’s growing spectrum needs. The information collection
requirements reported under this new collection are the result of
various Commission actions—the latest of which was released on
October 15, 2015— to implement this new and novel approach for use
in the Commission’s broadcast incentive auction (BIA). On June 2,
2014, the Commission released a Report and Order, Expanding the
Economic and Innovation Opportunities of Spectrum Through Incentive
Auctions, GN Docket No. 12-268, FCC 14-50, 29 FCC Rcd 6567 (2014)
(Incentive Auction R&O), in which it adopted general rules to
govern the broadcast incentive auction (BIA), including the
framework for various application disclosure and certification
requirements that must be made by applicants seeking to participate
in reverse and forward components of the BIA. Since the Incentive
Auction R&O was released, the Commission has worked to
determine final auction procedures, develop the electronic FCC Form
177 reverse auction application, and begin integrating FCC Form 177
into the Commission’s Auction System. Over a series of subsequent
orders and public notices—most recently on October 15, 2015—the
Commission modified some of the previously-adopted information
collection requirements for applicants to participate in the
reverse and forward auctions, and adopted additional information
collection requirements for each auction, which required
modifications and refinements to the FCC Form 177. The information
requested as part of this new collection will be used by the
Commission in its review of an applicant’s legal qualifications to
participate in the reverse auction. If the Commission were to wait
120 days to formally notify the public and potential interested
parties of its intent to collect this information on FCC Form 177,
the Commission’s ability to begin accepting applications to
participate in the reverse component of the BIA would be
substantially delayed, and would in turn substantially delay both
the start of the reverse auction and the Commission’s ability to
meet its statutory directive to conduct the BIA. Further, due to
the emergency nature of this request, the Commission is requesting
a waiver of the requirement to publish a 60-day notice in the
Federal Register. However, on October 30, 2015, the Commission
published a 14-day notice in the Federal Register concerning the
new information collection under the emergency processing
procedures to give the public an opportunity to comment on this
emergency submission. The Commission will conduct all the necessary
regular submission requirements under the PRA after approval of
this emergency request.
This is a new information
collection resulting in a program change increases of 600
respondents, 600 annual responses and 900 total estimated annual
burden hours.
$17,484
No
No
No
No
No
Uncollected
Valerie Barrish 202
418-0354
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form FCC Form 177 Application to Participate in a Reverse Auction
Supporting Statement for 3060-XXXX_New FCC Form 177_10292015 (FINAL TO OMB)(1).docx
Emergency Justification Letter for WTB Auction (October 2015).pdf
Application to Participate in a Reverse Auction