Telecommunications: Additional Coordination and Performance Measurement Needed for High-Speed Internet Access Programs on Tribal Lands
Highlights
What GAO Found
Although all 21 tribes GAO interviewed have some access to high-speed Internet, tribes and providers GAO interviewed cited barriers to increasing access. For example, high poverty rates and the high costs of connecting remote tribal villages to core Internet networks—called middle-mile infrastructure—limit high-speed Internet availability and adoption on tribal lands (see fig.). About half of the tribes GAO interviewed also said that the lack of sufficient administrative and technical expertise among tribal members limits their efforts to increase high-speed Internet access.
Types of Middle-Mile Internet Service Delivery Infrastructure
The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Universal Service Fund subsidy programs and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Utilities Service grant programs are interrelated in that they seek to increase high-speed Internet access in underserved areas, including tribal lands. GAO's previous work on overlap, duplication, and fragmentation has shown that interagency coordination on interrelated programs can help ensure efficient use of resources and effective programs. However, FCC and USDA do not coordinate to develop joint outreach and training. This could result in an inefficient use of federal resources and missed opportunities for resource leveraging between FCC and USDA.
FCC has placed special emphasis on improving Internet access on tribal lands following the issuance of the National Broadband Plan, which called for greater efforts to make broadband available on tribal lands. However, FCC has not developed performance goals and measures for improving high-speed Internet availability to households on tribal lands. Without these goals and measures FCC cannot assess the impact of its efforts. The National Broadband Map includes data on Internet availability on tribal lands that could allow FCC to establish baseline measures for Internet availability on tribal lands. Further, FCC also lacks performance goals and measures for tribal institutions—such as schools and libraries. Specifically, FCC's E-rate program provides funds to ensure that schools and libraries have affordable access to modern broadband technologies, but FCC has not set any performance goals for the program's impact on tribal institutions. Nor has FCC defined “tribal” on the E-rate application. Without such information, it will be difficult to accurately track progress in making broadband available in tribal institutions.
Why GAO Did This Study
High-speed Internet service is viewed as a critical component of the nation's infrastructure and an economic driver, particularly to remote tribal communities. However, in 2015, FCC reported that the lack of service in tribal areas presents impediments. GAO was asked to review the status of high-speed Internet on tribal lands. The report examines (1) perspectives of tribes and providers on high-speed Internet access and barriers to increasing this access; (2) the level of interrelation and coordination between federal programs that promote high-speed Internet access on tribal lands; and (3) existing data and performance measures related to high-speed Internet on tribal lands. GAO visited or interviewed officials from a non-generalizable sample of 21 tribal entities and 6 service providers selected to provide diversity in size, location, and poverty levels. GAO also reviewed FCC and USDA fiscal year 2010 through 2014 program data, funding, and materials and interviewed federal officials.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that FCC (1) develop joint training and outreach with USDA; (2) develop performance goals and measures for tribal areas for improving broadband availability to households; (3) develop performance goals and measures for improving broadband availability to tribal schools and libraries; and (4) improve the reliability of FCC data related to institutions that receive E-rate funding by defining “tribal” on the program application. FCC agreed with the recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Communications Commission | To help improve and measure the availability and adoption of high-speed Internet on tribal lands, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission should develop joint outreach and training efforts with USDA whenever feasible to help improve Internet availability and adoption on tribal lands. |
High-speed Internet service is viewed as a critical component of the nation's physical infrastructure and a driver of economic growth. The Internet is particularly useful to tribal communities--which are generally located in remote, rural locations--as access to it offers new opportunities for growth, productivity, and innovation. However, in 2012, the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) reported that the lack of service in rural and tribal lands presents impediments to efforts of tribal nations to build their internal structures for self-governance, economic opportunity, education, public safety, and cultural preservation. In 2016, GAO reported that about half of the 21 tribes GAO interviewed said that the lack of sufficient administrative and technical expertise among tribal members limits their efforts to increase high-speed Internet access. FCC's Universal Service Fund subsidy programs and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Utilities Service grant programs are interrelated in that they seek to increase high-speed Internet access in underserved areas, including tribal lands. GAO's previous work on overlap, duplication, and fragmentation has shown that interagency coordination on interrelated programs can help ensure efficient use of resources and effective programs. One area lacking coordination between FCC and USDA is their outreach and technical assistance efforts when planning visits to tribes or conference attendance. Synchronizing these activities could be a resource-saving mechanism. However, both FCC and USDA independently conduct outreach and training efforts for related programs promoting Internet access. This could result in an inefficient use of federal resources and missed opportunities for resource leveraging between FCC and USDA. Therefore, GAO recommended that FCC develop joint outreach and training efforts with USDA whenever feasible to help improve Internet availability and adoption on tribal lands. In 2017, GAO confirmed that FCC developed and presented six large regional Tribal training workshops jointly with USDA, and our partnership produced excellent business results. For example, in 2017, FCC held a joint conference in Salamanca, NY for tribes to learn about both FCC and USDA broadband assistance programs. The workshops focused on broadband and other Tribal telecommunications. This joint training and outreach event to build tribal administrative and technical capacity allowed FCC and USDA to better ensure that their programs are efficient and remain mutually supportive and accessible to tribal governments.
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| Federal Communications Commission | To help improve and measure the availability and adoption of high-speed Internet on tribal lands, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission should develop performance goals and measures using, for example, data supporting the National Broadband Map, to track progress on achieving its strategic objective of making broadband Internet available to households on tribal lands. |
High-speed Internet service is viewed as a critical component of the nation's infrastructure and an economic driver, particularly to remote tribal communities. However, in 2015, FCC reported that the lack of service in tribal areas presents impediments. In 2016, GAO reported that FCC has placed special emphasis on improving Internet access on tribal lands following the issuance of the National Broadband Plan, which called for greater efforts to make broadband available on tribal lands. However, FCC had not developed performance goals and measures for improving high-speed Internet availability to households on tribal lands. Without these goals and measures FCC cannot assess the impact of its efforts. The National Broadband Map includes data on Internet availability on tribal lands that could allow FCC to establish baseline measures for Internet availability on tribal lands. Therefore, GAO recommended that FCC develop performance goals and measures using, for example, data supporting the National Broadband Map, to track progress on achieving its strategic objective of making broadband Internet available to households on tribal lands. In 2016, FCC issued its 2016 Broadband Progress Report that specifically applied performance goals and measures for availability and adoption of high-speed internet on Tribal lands, which are the same as FCC's performance goals and measures for non-Tribal lands. The report also contained data showing the rates of availability and adoption by Tribal households on Tribal lands using National Broadband Map data. For example, the report stated regarding availability that 41 percent of Americans living on Tribal lands lack access to fixed 25 Mbps/3 Mbps internet service and that that more than 68 percent of Americans living on Tribal lands in rural areas lack access, compared to 14 percent living on Tribal lands in urban areas. With these new performance goals, FCC is in a better position to measure and improve high-speed internet availability to households on tribal lands.
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| Federal Communications Commission | To help improve and measure the availability and adoption of high-speed Internet on tribal lands, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission should improve the reliability of FCC data related institutions that receive E-Rate funding by defining "tribal" on the program application. |
High-speed Internet service is viewed as a critical component of the nation's physical infrastructure and a driver of economic growth. The Internet is particularly useful to tribal communities-which are generally located in remote, rural locations-as access to it offers new opportunities for growth, productivity, and innovation. However, in 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reported that the lack of service in rural and tribal lands presents impediments to efforts of tribal nations to build their internal structures for self-governance, economic opportunity, education, public safety, and cultural preservation. Further, FCC's strategic plan sets forth an objective for the E-rate program to ensure that all schools and libraries have affordable access to modern broadband technologies. Communicating what an agency intends to achieve and its programs for doing so are fundamental aims of performance management. In 2016, GAO reported that FCC lacked information to measure the outcomes of its E-rate program at tribal schools and libraries. FCC collects information on E-rate recipients nationwide through questions on its application for E-rate assistance, including the type of organization requesting funding and the types of institutions served. FCC's E-rate application provides for applicants to self-identify whether recipients of service on the application are tribal, but in this instance, provides no definition of "tribal." GAO found that not all schools and libraries on tribal lands identify themselves as such during the application process. Specifically, GAO identified more than 60 additional school districts, private schools, and public libraries on the lands of the 21 tribes GAO studied that received E-rate assistance but were not included in FCC's information on tribal recipients. FCC officials stated that they do not provide a definition because the increased formality might give applicants the incorrect impression that being a "tribal" institution has an effect on funding decisions. However, because FCC did not provide a definition for tribal in its E-rate application, it was unclear what level of tribal involvement or participation in an institution would cause it to be considered "tribal" on an application. Consequently, FCC did not have accurate information on the number of federally recognized tribes or Alaska Native Villages receiving E-rate support, or the amount being provided to them. GAO recommended that FCC improve the reliability of FCC data related institutions that receive E-rate funding by defining "tribal" on the program application. In 2018, GAO confirmed that FCC developed and distributed instructions for when a school or library should identify itself as Tribal on its E-rate application. This guidance appears as hover text when an applicant scrolls over the Tribal check box in its entity profile within the E-Rate Productivity Center on the Universal Service Administrative Company's online portal for the E-Rate program. The new tribal designation instructions will provide FCC with more precise information on the extent to which E-rate assistance is provided to tribal institutions..
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| Federal Communications Commission | To help improve and measure the availability and adoption of high-speed Internet on tribal lands, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission should develop performance goals and measures to track progress on achieving its strategic objective of ensuring that all tribal schools and libraries have affordable access to modern broadband technologies. |
Increasingly, high-speed Internet service is viewed as a critical component of the nation's physical infrastructure and a driver of economic growth. High-speed Internet access provides a number of social and economic benefits including essential communications service for e-commerce, telemedicine, online courses, and other educational tools. The Internet is particularly useful to tribal communities-which are generally located in remote, rural locations-as access to it offers new opportunities for growth, productivity, and innovation. However, Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Office of Native Affairs and Policy reported that the lack of service in rural and tribal lands presents impediments to efforts of tribal nations to build their internal structures for self-governance, economic opportunity, education, public safety, and cultural preservation. In 2016, GAO reported that the federal government has recognized the difficulties of providing services on tribal lands, and has maintained several ongoing programs through FCC to increase Internet availability and access in unserved areas. Although FCC had placed special emphasis on improving Internet access on tribal lands, it had not developed performance goals and measures for improving high-speed Internet availability to households on tribal lands. Without these goals and measures, FCC cannot assess the impact of its efforts. Further, FCC also lacked performance goals and measures for tribal institutions-such as schools and libraries. Specifically, FCC's E-rate program provides funds to ensure that schools and libraries have affordable access to modern broadband technologies. E-rate did not specifically target tribal schools and libraries, although some are eligible and receive benefits. Additionally, FCC had not set any performance goals and measures for the program's impact on tribal institutions. Nor had FCC defined "tribal" on the E-rate application, which made it difficult to measure the program's impact on tribal lands as not all E-rate recipients serving these areas self-identify as tribal. Absent such information, it would be difficult to accurately track progress in making broadband available in tribal institutions. Therefore, GAO recommended that FCC develop performance goals and measures for tribal areas for improving broadband availability. In 2020, GAO confirmed that FCC had taken sufficient action to address the intent of this recommendation. An important first step was FCC defining "tribal" on the program application. This enabled an institution-school or library-to indicate it is a tribal recipient on an application. Tribes are not required to mark themselves as tribal but FCC staff encourages them to mark it and most do. With this information, FCC has started tracking the number of tribal schools and libraries that participate in the program. FCC officials said that these data over time will indicate the extent to which E-rate assistance is reaching tribal schools and libraries. As a result, FCC better positioned to track progress towards improving high-speed Internet access in tribal schools or libraries.
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