What have others said or recommended, as their part of “Participating in the Process?”

1. What have others said or recommended, as their part of “Participating in the Process?” A NPSTC Tutorial on Searching Comments, Replies and Other Documents in FCC Proceedings

2. I want to know what others think about a particular issue, and what they have told the FCC. Can I determine what others are telling the FCC (at least what they are officially telling the FCC) on a given issue?

3. Determining what others have said or recommended often becomes a key part of participation in the FCC process. At times (e.g.,when preparing for a meeting with FCC officials, or when determining if reply comments should be submitted, etc.) one needs to quickly determine what others have said to the FCC on particular issues. This may be especially true when the period for submission of Replies is short and there have been comments made that one could particularly agree with or disagree with. The FCC Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) provides a simple and effective way to determine what others have said or recommended to the FCC in a rulemaking. “Finding what others have said.”

4. “Finding what others have said.” There are two alternative ways for getting to the ECFS template to search for documents filed with the FCC. • First, one can get to the “Search” template • By going to the ECFS Home Page http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/ • on the FCC site, and then clicking on the Search for Filed Comments • link under “ECFS Main Links” at the top of the column on the right • hand side of the ECFS Home Page. • OR • Alternatively, one can get to the “Search” template • By typing the template URL http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.cgi • or http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.cgiinto your web browser. Either method shown above will get you to the “Search” template in ECFS The template is illustrated in the next slide. Instructions and tips for completing the “Search” template follow the illustration.

5. ECFS “Search” Template http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.cgi

6. “Search” Template CompletionInstructions/Tips • This is the only info you need to complete on the ECFS “Search” template to search for documents filed in a particular proceeding. • Maybe you know the correct Proceeding number, but, if not, where do you get the Proceeding number? Some suggestions: • On the FCC “Public Notice” announcing the • Proceeding, or • In the FCC Daily Digest, where the “Notice” was • published, or • Ask a Public Safety communications colleague, or • Ask a Radio Manufacturer contact you know, or • Ask a NPSTC contact you know, or • Contact the NPSTC support office. NOTE: FCC proceeding numbers appear in the format similar to WT96-86, WT99- 87, WT 02-55, PS 06-229. When entering the Docket number into the search template DO NOT include the two-letter identifier. Simply enter the numbers and the “-” associated with the two letter identifier, e.g. “06-229.”

7. “Search” Template CompletionInstructions/Tips You can also obtain the Proceeding number by clicking on the Proceeding link on the ECFS “Search” template. Clicking on the Proceeding link will take you to an additional search tool that may be helpful in identifying the appropriate Proceeding number for the ECFS “Search” template. The Proceeding number search tool is illustrated on the next slide.

8. Proceeding Number “Search” Template 06 http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.cgi?ws_mode=proc_name A small part of the Proceeding Number search results when “06” entered into the tool Follow the “Directions:” to search for proceeding numbers. NOTE: To successfully search you should have some prior knowledge, for example, the year the particular proceeding was started by the FCC so you can enter the last two digits of the year to initiate a search. Entering an asterisk (*) and starting a search will provide a listing several thousand items in length. Even entering the last two digits of the CORRECT year will result in a listing several hundred items in length that must then be manually searched to identify the correct Proceeding number. If you do not know the Proceeding number, asking somebody what number is correct will probably be less cumbersome than using the Proceeding number search tool.

9. “Search” Template CompletionInstructions/Tips • Regardless of the method used to enter a proceeding number, you can narrow down the results of your search by entering additional search criteria. • Clicking on this menu button will provide a listing of two letter identifiers for different types of documents filed. Common identifiers of interest are: • CO – Comments • LT – Letter • NO – Notice (e.g. Ex Parte Notice) • RC – Reply to Comments • If you know the exact name of the person/organization filing the comments, and/or the exact name of the Law Firm doing the filing, and/or the Attorney’s exact name, you can enter that information here. • If you are only interested in documents filed during a certain part of a proceeding, e.g., after the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was released and the present date you can enter those dates on one of the lines here. 06-229 Be wary about entering additional search criteria, except maybe dates, because the “Search” results will only include EXACT matches with the criteria entered. All document filers may not characterize their documents the way you think they should be characterized, etc. When all required/desired criteria have been entered, click on the Retrieve Document List button to obtain the ECFS documents.

10. ECFS “Search” Results Format This is a part of a representative “Search” results listing. The listing from a search can consist of a few documents or many hundreds of documents depending on the criteria entered on the “Search” template before the Retrieve Document List was activated. Simply scroll through the listing reviewing each entry to identify documents that are of interest. When documents of interest are identified click on the link at the end of the listing entry to download the document. Then read and/or save the document to a location of your choosing. NPSTC recommends frequent ECFS documents searches, particularly when deciding to submit or when preparing Reply Comments in a proceeding. Reply Comments should address issues and proposals raised during the Comment phase(s) of a proceeding. There is no more efficient way to determine what is being said/proposed other than by conducting good ECFS document searches

11. RECAP Gosh, searching the FCC Document Filing system may be more trouble that it is worth. Not True!!

12. The ECFS “Search” tool is easily located and easy to use. The only thing you actually need to know going in is the proceeding number and that shouldn’t be hard to determine. ECFS “Searching” RECAP Knowing what others are saying to the FCC enables you to completely and clearly focus your ideas and recommendations to the FCC to those areas that are MOST important to you. Your inputs will rise above “the noise level” assuring you will be heard by the FCC and you will definitely be “Part of the Solution.”