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FCC Orders Sharing NORS Outage Data 3/17/21 Open Meeting

Updated: Mar 19, 2021

State and Federal Agencies would have read-only access to confidential data

March 17, 2021


FCC TO SHARE COMMUNICATIONS OUTAGE INFORMATION WITH STATE, FEDERAL, AND TRIBAL NATION AGENCIES Action Will Support Faster Service Restoration During Disasters --



WASHINGTON, March 17, 2021—The Federal Communications Commission today (3/17/21) adopted a framework for sharing communications outage information with state, federal and Tribal nation agencies to improve their situational awareness, enhance their ability to respond more quickly to outages affecting their communities, and to help save lives, while safeguarding the confidentiality of this data.


The Commission supports the nation's incident preparedness and emergency response efforts by collecting and providing accurate and timely information on the status of communications services and infrastructure through its Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) and Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). During disasters, the Commission makes this information available to the Department of Homeland Security, which uses it to assess the needs of affected areas and to coordinate emergency response efforts with state and local first responders. The Commission’s experience with recent major outages—including hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, and, most recently, severe winter storms—underscores the value of reliable and timely outage information to the rapid restoration of communications and the crucial role that state and other government authorities play in this restoration.


In a Second Report and Order adopted today, the Commission therefore adopted a framework to provide direct, read only access to NORS and DIRS filings to agencies of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Tribal nations, territories, and federal government that have official duties that make them directly responsible for emergency management and first responder support functions. The Commission’s rules will allow participating agencies to share NORS and DIRS information with first responders and other government officials who play a vital public safety role during crises and have a need to know this information. Participating agencies will also be allowed to publicly disclose information that is aggregated and anonymized. To protect sensitive communications status data, participating agencies must preserve the confidentiality of NORS and DIRS filings. The Commission adopted an application process that will grant agencies access to this information only after certifying to requirements for maintaining the confidentiality of the data and the security of the databases.


March 18, 2021


For Immediate Release Contact: Regina L. Davis, rdavis@naruc.org

NARUC Praises FCC Order Granting States Access to Communications Outage Data during Emergencies

WASHINGTON (March 18, 2021) — The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners supports the decision by the Federal Communications Commission to adopt a second report and order that provide states access to the agency’s outage reporting data. This move helps NARUC members’ and other state officials’ emergency response efforts through accurate and timely communications outage and infrastructure status information via the FCC’s Network Outage Reporting System and Disaster Information Reporting System.


This Second Report and Order will adopt a framework to provide state and other federal agencies with access to outage information that improves their situational awareness, enhances their ability to respond more quickly to outages affecting their communities — potentially saving lives — while safeguarding the confidentiality of this data.


“Although long overdue, the FCC deserves praise for taking action on this issue,” said NARUC Telecommunications Committee Chair Karen Charles Peterson of Massachusetts. “NARUC and a number of our members have supported this idea since the California Commission petitioned the FCC for access 10 years ago. When a disaster or weather emergency strikes, providing rapid access to company reportage outage data can only improve disaster response and recovery efforts across all levels of government. This order provides that access.”


To read the FCC’s Promoting Public Safety Through Information Sharing document, see bit.ly/FCCPublicSafety.


February 24, 2021



Amendments to Part 4 of the Commission’s Rules Concerning Disruptions to Communications Second Report and Order - PS Docket No. 15-80


Background: The Commission supports the Nation’s incident preparedness and emergency response efforts by collecting and providing accurate and timely communications outage and infrastructure status information via its Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) and Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). The Commission’s experience with recent major outages—from the 2017 hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding, to power shutdowns in California and the latest earthquakes in Puerto Rico—underscore the value of reliable and timely outage information to the rapid restoration of communications and the crucial role that state and other government authorities play in this restoration.


This Second Report and Order would adopt a framework to provide state and federal agencies with access to outage information to improve their situational awareness, enhance their ability to respond more quickly to outages impacting their communities, and help save lives, while safeguarding the confidentiality of this data.


What the Second Report and Order Would Do:

  1. Provide direct, read-only access to NORS and DIRS filings to agencies of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, tribal nations, territories, and federal government that have official duties that make them directly responsible for emergency management and first responder support functions.

  2. Allow these agencies to share NORS and DIRS information with agency officials, first responders, and other individuals with a “need to know” who cannot directly access NORS and DIRS and yet play a vital role in preparing for, or responding to, events that threaten public safety.

  3. Allow participating agencies to publicly disclose aggregated and anonymized information derived from NORS or DIRS filings.

  4. Condition a participating agency’s direct access to NORS and DIRS filings on their agreement and ability to preserve the confidentiality of the filings and not disclose them absent a finding by the Commission allowing the disclosure.

  5. Establish an application process that would grant eligible agencies access to NORS and DIRS after those agencies certify to certain requirements related to maintaining the confidentiality of the data and the security of the databases.

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February 7, 2020


Background: The Commission supports our country’s incident preparedness and emergency response efforts by, inter alia, collecting and providing accurate and timely communications outage and infrastructure status information via its Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) and Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). The Commission’s experience with recent major outages—from the 2017 hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding, to power shutdowns in California and the latest earthquakes in Puerto Rico—underscores the value of reliable and timely outage information to the rapid restoration of disrupted communications and the crucial role that state and other government authorities play in that restoration.


This Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would propose a framework to provide state and federal agencies with access to outage information to improve their situational awareness, enhance their ability to respond more quickly to outages impacting their communities, and help save lives, while also preserving the confidentiality of this data.


What the Second Further Notice Would Do:

• Propose to provide direct, read-only access to NORS and DIRS filings to qualified agencies of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Tribal nations, territories, and federal government. • Propose to allow these agencies to share NORS and DIRS information with other public safety officials that reasonably require NORS and DIRS information to prepare for and respond to disasters.

• Propose to allow participating agencies to publicly disclose NORS or DIRS filing information that is aggregated and anonymized across at least four service providers.

• Propose to condition a participating agency’s direct access to NORS and DIRS filings on their agreement to treat the filings as confidential and not disclose them absent a finding by the Commission that allows them to do so.

• Propose to establish an application process that would grant agencies access to NORS and DIRS after those agencies certify to certain requirements related to maintaining confidentiality of the data and the security of the databases. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-362365A1.pdf


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