WASHINGTON-The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau will reduce the infamous 64,000-
item backlog by this time next year, the WTB chief told a powerful senator on March 10. “The goal I have set for
[WTB] is to reduce the pending backlog so that by March 1, 2000, no matters pending more than a year remain,”
said WTB Chief Thomas J. Sugrue in a letter to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
McCain, who chairs the Senate
Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Federal Communications Commission, has been a constant
critic of the agency, especially the wireless bureau.
It was McCain’s June 24 inquiry that exposed the 64,000-item
backlog. Since then, the wireless bureau has reduced the backlog to 15,000 items while maintaining its current
workload, Sugrue said. McCain’s office expressed cautious support for the Sugrue plan to continue to reduce the
backlog. “We think this is a good first step. However, McCain will continue to watch the situation very
closely,” said Pia Pialorsi, press secretary for the Senate Commerce Committee.
In addition to reducing the
backlog, Sugrue said that “By this time next year, all applications that do not require coordination outside (WTB)
are processed in 90 days or less.”
However, Sugrue gave himself an out. Items that require additional time
“such as complex rule makings or reconsideration proceedings, matters in hearing, or proceedings that require
action by some other agency or government” will not be held to the one-year rule, he said in the letter.
A
McCain aide found it puzzling that it would take more than a year for reconsideration petitions.
Industry also does
not like the proposed delay because until a reconsideration petition is acted upon, parties cannot advance through the
judicial process.
Sugrue defended his plan in a statement to RCR. “Some reconsiderations, like rule makings,
can raise significant issues that require additional time for inspection. I have committed to [FCC] Chairman [William]
Kennard that we will resolve all pending matters as efficiently and timely as possible. I am committed to this effort, and
so is my staff,” he said.
Following are the specifics of Sugrue’s plan to reduce the backlog:
Since
all applications currently are tracked electronically, WTB will inventory all pending “non-application”
matters and record them in a single, up-to-date automated tracking system that can cross-reference the licensing
database for applications;
Each division will develop a plan for reducing the backlog of matters pending more than
one year to zero;
WTB management, led by Deputy WTB Chief Jerry Vaughan, will group like matters together so
the agency can dispose of multiple pending applications as efficiently as possible; and
WTB will assign, track,
monitor and complete all backlog reduction actions through a WTB-wide task force.
