DA 17-752
Released: August 9, 2017
PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELAND SECURITY BUREAU ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF 911 RELIABILITY CERTIFICATION SYSTEM FOR ANNUAL RELIABILITY CERTIFICATION
PS Docket Nos. 13-75, 11-60
By this Public Notice, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) announces that the Federal Communications Commission’s (Commission) 911 Reliability Certification System is open for filing of annual reliability certifications, which are due on October 15, 2017. Covered 911 Service Providers should file certifications using the Commission’s online portal at https://apps2.fcc.gov/rcs911/. Under section 12.4(c) of the Commission’s rules, Covered 911 Service Providers are required to take reasonable measures to provide reliable 911 service with respect to three substantive certification requirements: (i) 911 circuit diversity; (ii) central office backup power; and (iii) diverse network monitoring. Covered 911 Service Providers must annually certify compliance with each of the three substantive certification requirements or alternative measures.
Covered 911 Service Providers may register new users on the login page at https://apps2.fcc.gov/rcs911/. As with the Commission’s Network Outage Reporting System (NORS), there are two types of users for the 911 Reliability Certification System: inputters and coordinators. Inputters only have access to information that they submit, while coordinators have access to all information submitted by their company. Users responsible for limited portions of a company’s certification (e.g., particular service areas or topics such as circuit diversity, backup power, or network monitoring) should register as inputters, while users responsible for overseeing each company’s certification as a whole should send a request to receive coordinator status. For security purposes, these requests are handled on a case-by-case basis.
Companies that serve numerous Public Safety Answering Points or service areas may choose to enter their responses in an Excel spreadsheet, which is available for download on the main menu page. Once users enter all certification information into the 911 Reliability Certification System, the system provides a link to upload a signed attestation from a company’s Certifying Official that such information is true and correct.
More information on how to complete the certification is available as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at https://apps2.fcc.gov/rcs911/911RCS_FAQ.html and in a User Manual posted on the main menu of the 911 Reliability Certification System. For further information about the 911 Reliability Certification System and/or the filing process, please contact John Healy at (202) 418-2448 or john.healy@fcc.gov; for individuals seeking to obtain coordinator user status for the 911 Reliability Certification System, please contact John Healy or David Ahn at (202) 418-0853 or david.ahn@fcc.gov; and for further information about the 911 reliability rules, please contact Megan Henry at (202) 418-0829 or megan.henry@fcc.gov.