Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee: IRAC Representatives Effectively Coordinate Federal Spectrum but Lack Seniority to Advise on Contentious Policy Issues

A request for information has been made concerning the status of this recommendation. Commerce is working to determine what actions have been taken and will provide the status and supporting documentation as soon as possible. "Human capital continues to be an issue within the IRAC membership. Some of the situations stem from reorganization within individual agencies. More often human capital issues relate to difficulty attracting good candidates for government positions. Human capital was assigned to one of the working level groups under the Presidential Reform Initiative and the group continues to develop a management plan for spectrum management training. We expect this plan to be completed in the next year. Many of the agencies have been successful in attracting former military communications and spectrum management personnel into frequency assignment positions. These are usually lower level, non-degree positions. The greater challenge continues to be to attract engineers and policy experts (with technical knowledge) to deal with the policy challenges that face government and industry as spectrum demand grows." NTIA 8/29/08 email.

GAO found that, when it comes to dealing with contentious policy issues requiring negotiation between government and commercial users, Interagency Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) representatives questioned the effectiveness of IRAC's current structure and membership. There is a strong consensus that more senior-level agency officials need to become involved in providing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) with advice on contentious spectrum policy issues. While NTIA officials seek out such senior-level advice as needed, this is an ad hoc process that occurs outside the current framework of IRAC. GAO recommended that the Secretary of Commerce establish a special committee within IRAC comprised of senior-level agency officials to provide policy advice on contentious spectrum policy issues. In response, in May 2010, NTIA created the Policy and Plans Steering Group to pull together executive level input on critical issues. According to the NTIA, this has enabled NTIA to engage the agencies at the political and career SES levels and decreased the demand to change the agencies' structure and placement of their spectrum management professionals. GAO believes that NTIA's creation of the policy and plans steering group satisfies the spirit of our recommendation. It will help the federal government deal with contentious policy issues related to its spectrum use.