The Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC)

Karl B. Nebbia

Associate Administrator

Office of Spectrum Management

National Telecommunications

and Information Administration

(202)-482-0536

knebbia@ntia.doc.gov

• What is the IRAC?

• Who Participates?

• What are its primary components?

• How does the IRAC operate?

What is the IRAC?• IRAC is an ADVISORY committee that provides to

NTIA the views of the federal agency spectrum managers

• Existed since 1922• Work is considered executive branch pre-decisional

and not releasable• IRAC Subcommittees – general areas• Ad Hoc groups – individual topics• A collegial body - almost all work by consensus• Experienced spectrum management professionals

Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee

U.S.PostalService

Commerce

VABBG

DHS Transportation

StateEnergy

Agriculture

Navy

FCC(Liaison)

AirForce

FAACoastGuard

TreasuryJustice

Interior

NASA

NSF

Chairman(NTIA)

Army

NTIA/FCC MOU• A/S and FCC Chairman to meet

• NTIA/OSM and FCC Office of Engineering & Technology meet

• 15 day turnaround to comment on each other’s actions

• No veto authority over each other’s decisions

IRAC (MAIN COMMITTEE) ACTIVITY

• Most activity has been in response to FCC actions– Rulemakings– Petitions for rule changes or waivers

• Allocations resulting from WRCs

• Changes to the NTIA Manual– Process– Policies

FCC/NTIA Administrative Procedures Document & Input Flow

NOI NPRM

FNPRM

R&OPetitionFor Recon

MO&O

Public Comments (~60-120days)& Reply Comments (~30 days)

Public

D

N T I A

IRAC IRACAgencies

OtherAgencies

*I *I *I *I *I *ID D D D D

D – DraftI - Input

IRAC

NTIA

Chaired By

SPS

SSS

TSCRADIO

CONFERENCESUBCOMMITTEE

TECHNICALSUBCOMMITTEE

SPECTRUMPLANNING

SUBCOMMITTEE

FREQUENCYASSIGNMENT

SUBCOMMITTEE

SPACE SYSTEMS

SUBCOMMITTEE

RCSFAS EPSEMERGENCY

PLANNINGSUBCOMMITTEE

Ad Hoc GROUPS

170 – Mexico181 – Canada

206 – WRC Implementation213 – Management214 – Public Safety

SECRETARIAT

• Main Committee – policy and committee management (Eddie Davison edavison@ntia.doc.gov 482-5526)

• Frequency Assignment Subcommittee (FAS) – coordination of assignments (Tom Woods twoods@ntia.doc.gov 482-2802)

• Spectrum Planning Subcommittee (SPS) – review of new federal systems (Steve Butcher sbutcher@ntia.doc.gov 482-4163)

• Space Systems Subcommittee (SSS) – satellite coordination (Scott Kotler skotler@ntia.doc.gov 482-7983)

• Emergency Planning Subcommittee (EPS) – emergency planning and readiness (Steve Veader sveader@ntia.doc.gov 482-4417)

• Technical Subcommittee (TSC) – standards (Ed Drocella edrocella@ntia.doc.gov 482-2068)

• Radio Conference Subcommittee (RCS) – WRC preparation (Darlene Drazenovich ddrazenovich@ntia.doc.gov 482-3480)

• Ad Hoc Groups

IRAC STRUCTURE

• PURPOSE: To evaluate and mitigate risk in the development and deployment of Federal spectrum-dependent radiocommunications systems

• DIRECTION: Office of Management and Budget Circular A-11 requires NTIA certification of spectrum support for major systems prior to expenditure

of funds

• PROCESS: Spectrum Planning Subcommittee reviews certification requests -- Engineering support provided by Systems Review Branch of NTIAo Systems are evaluated for conformance with frequency allocations, adherence to technical

standards, compliance with policy applicable to Federal systemso Potential electromagnetic compatibility problems are identified and interference mitigation

strategies are developed

• OUTCOME: Certification provides guidance to developers and operators of systems, based upon SPS advice to NTIA regarding technical and

operating constraints needed to mitigate interference risk

• TIMELINE: Typically requires 2-4 months to process routine requests – complex reviews often take longer

• Similar in some ways to FCC “Equipment Authorization” process • FCC participates in the review process through a liaison representative that attends

monthly meetings of the subcommittee

SPS and SPECTRUM CERTIFICATION

• PURPOSE: Assign frequencies to, and amend, modify, and revoke frequency assignments for radio stations belonging to and operated by United States, establish

policies concerning spectrum assignment and provide agencies with guidance.

• PROCESS: Frequency Assignment Subcommittee reviews radio frequency requests for both federal agencies and shared bands with the FCC.o Performs Interference analysis, evaluates for conformance with frequency allocations, and

compliance with policy o Process 350-400 applications per day of which about 8500 are FCC in a year.

• TIMELINE: Typically records are approved by the NTIA in 9 workdays Special Temporary Assignments are approved in 5 workdays

• WEBSITES: NTIA posts status of FCC request during processing on http://ntiacsd.ntia.doc.gov/webcoord/status.cfm NTIA post status of FAA coordination of FCC request on http://ntiacsd.ntia.doc.gov/webcoord/fcc_faa.cfm

• FCC participates in the review process as a representative that attends monthly

meetings of the subcommittee. The FAS process is similar to the FCC ULS and OET process.

FAS and Frequency Assignment