The Federal Communications Commission aims to transition to an updated Electronic Comment Filing System by late June to boost public engagement with the commission.Alison Kutler, FCC consumer and governmental affairs bureau chief, and David Bray, FCC chief information officer, wrote in a blog post published Wednesday that the move supports the agency’s efforts to update its information technology systems.
Kutler and Bray said public comment and feedback from other stakeholders helped drive the modernization effort.
“[The] public expects to be able to easily submit comments in digital form and to have convenient access to all the other input received by the Commission, and the Commission needs a robust system capable of meeting the public’s expectations,” they said.
ECFS has evolved to provide a public interface for litigation on formal complaints, submission of rulemaking petitions and transfer-of-control applications and other filings, Kutler and Bray wrote.
FCC has used a beta version of the updated ECFS and engaged with stakeholders to receive input on how legacy systems can be altered to meet current requirements.
The new cloud-based ECFS design provides the same features as the previous model along with updated usability, reliability, process, efficiency and accessibility functions, the FCC officials added.
