A bill to clarify the rights and responsibilities of Federal entities in the spectrum relocation process, and for other purposes.

Summary: Spectrum Relocation Improvement Act of 2011 - Amends the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act to require the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to post on its website (while taking appropriate measures to safeguard classified or sensitive information) detailed transition plans from each federal entity that is eligible for payments from the Spectrum Relocation Fund for costs related to the reallocation of frequencies from federal to nonfederal use.

Requires each federal entity's transition plan to provide certain public information about its spectrum relocation requirements including its: (1) current spectrum use; (2) geographic location of federal facilities or systems, including frequency bands used; (3) steps to be taken to relocate current spectrum uses from eligible frequencies; (4) necessary NTIA interactions; (5) authorized commercial licensee negotiator; (6) plans and timelines for equipment procurement, field-testing, and additional personnel; and (7) relocation process risk factors.

Directs the FCC and the NTIA to jointly establish any necessary applicable conditions to define the term "shared access," including methods of sharing spectrum resources and coordination between federal and nonfederal entities (commercial licensees, and/or sharing network infrastructure or other resources).

Requires the federal entities, to the fullest extent possible, to provide for sharing and coordination of eligible frequencies with commercial licensees.

Requires federal entities to complete spectrum relocation within one year of receiving relocation payments. Sets forth a process for a federal entity to complete such relocation according to an approved alternative time period.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Spectrum Relocation Improvement Act 
of 2011''.

SEC. 2. RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF FEDERAL ENTITIES IN THE SPECTRUM 
              RELOCATION PROCESS.

    (a) Eligible Federal Entities.--Section 113(g)(1) of the National 
Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act (47 
U.S.C. 923(g)(1)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) Eligible federal entities.--Any Federal entity, as 
        defined in subsection (i), that operates a Federal Government 
        station assigned to a band of eligible frequencies, as 
        described in paragraph (2), and that incurs relocation costs 
        because of the reallocation of frequencies from Federal use to 
        non-Federal use shall receive payment for such costs from the 
        Spectrum Relocation Fund if the Federal entity is found by the 
        Office of Management and Budget (in this section referred to as 
        `OMB') to comply with the requirements of this section and 
        section 118. For purposes of this paragraph, Federal power 
        agencies exempted under subsection (c)(4) that choose to 
        relocate from the frequencies identified for reallocation 
        pursuant to subsection (a) are eligible to receive payment 
        under this paragraph.''.
    (b) Public Information on Relocation Process.--Section 113(g) of 
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(g)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph (7); and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(6) Public notice of relocation plans.--
                    ``(A) Not later than 90 days after the date on 
                which the NTIA, on behalf of eligible Federal entities 
                and after review by OMB, notifies the Commission of 
                estimated relocation costs and timelines for such 
                relocation as required by paragraph (4)(A), NTIA shall 
                post on its Web site detailed transition plans from 
                each of the eligible Federal entities, taking 
                appropriate measures to safeguard classified or 
                sensitive information as detailed in this section. Each 
                Federal entity's transition plan shall provide the 
                public with the following information about its 
                spectrum relocation requirements:
                            ``(i) Current use of the spectrum.
                            ``(ii) Geographic location of the Federal 
                        entities' facilities or systems, including 
                        frequency bands used by such systems.
                            ``(iii) The steps to be taken by the 
                        Federal entity to relocate its current spectrum 
                        uses from the eligible frequencies, including 
                        timelines for specific geographic locations in 
                        sufficient detail to indicate when use of such 
                        frequencies at specific locations will be 
                        shared between the Federal entity and the 
                        commercial licensee.
                            ``(iv) The specific interactions between 
                        eligible Federal entities and NTIA needed to 
                        implement the transition plan.
                            ``(v) The name of the director, officer, or 
                        employee responsible for the Federal entity's 
                        relocation efforts and who is authorized to 
                        meet and negotiate with commercial licensees 
                        regarding the relocation process.
                            ``(vi) The Federal entity's plans and 
                        timeline for using relocation funds received 
                        from the Spectrum Relocation Fund, procuring 
                        new equipment and additional personnel needed 
                        for the relocation, and field-testing and 
                        deploying new equipment needed in the 
                        relocation.
                            ``(vii) Risk factors in the relocation 
                        process that could affect the Federal entity's 
                        fulfillment of its transition plan.
                    ``(B) To be eligible to receive payment for 
                relocation costs from the Spectrum Relocation Fund--
                            ``(i) Federal entities shall make the 
                        transition plans described in this subsection 
                        available to NTIA at least 90 days prior to the 
                        date that NTIA shall make such plans publicly 
                        available on its Web site pursuant to 
                        subparagraph (A), in a common format to be 
                        specified by NTIA after public input; and
                            ``(ii) each transition plan shall be 
                        evaluated by a standing 3-member technical 
                        panel (in this section referred to as the 
                        `Technical Panel'), which shall report to NTIA 
                        and to the Federal entity, within 30 days after 
                        the plan's submission to NTIA, on the 
                        sufficiency of the plan under this paragraph, 
                        including whether the required public 
                        information is included and whether proposed 
                        timelines and estimated relocation costs, 
                        including costs proposed for expanding the 
                        capabilities of a Federal system in connection 
                        with relocation, are reasonable.
                    ``(C) The Director of OMB, the Administrator of 
                NTIA, in consultation with the affected Federal 
                entities, and the Chairman of the Commission shall each 
                appoint one member to the Technical Panel, and each 
                such member shall be a radio engineer or technical 
                expert, or have equivalent qualifications. NTIA shall 
                adopt regulations to govern the workings of the 
                Technical Panel after public notice and comment, 
                subject to OMB approval, and the members of the 
                Technical Panel shall be appointed, within 180 days of 
                the date of enactment of the Spectrum Relocation 
                Improvement Act of 2011. No person shall serve as a 
                member of the Technical Panel for more than 3 years.
                    ``(D) If any of the information otherwise required 
                by this paragraph is `classified information,' as that 
                term is defined in section 798(b) of title 18, United 
                States Code, the Federal entity's transition plan shall 
                explain the exclusion of any such information as 
                specifically as possible, shall make all relevant non-
                classified information available in its transition 
                plan, and shall discuss as a risk factor the extent of 
                the classified information and the effect on the 
                relocation process of the classified information.
                    ``(E) NTIA, in consultation with OMB and the 
                Department of Defense, shall adopt regulations within 
                180 days of the date of enactment the Spectrum 
                Relocation Improvement Act of 2011 to ensure 
                information released publicly for the purpose of this 
                paragraph contains no sensitive or classified 
                information.''.
    (c) Sharing and Coordination of Spectrum Between Commercial 
Licensees and Federal Entities During Relocation Transition.--
            (1) Evaluation of shared access.--Section 111 of the 
        National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
        Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 921) is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``As used'' and inserting the 
                following:
    ``(a) In General.--As used''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Evaluation of Shared Access.--The Commission and the NTIA 
shall jointly establish any applicable conditions as are determined 
necessary to define the term shared access to include such 
considerations as methods of sharing spectrum resources, coordination 
between Federal and non-Federal entities, such as commercial licensees, 
and/or sharing network infrastructure or other resources.''.
            (2) Eligibility for payment of relocation costs.--Section 
        118 of the National Telecommunications and Information 
        Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 928) is amended by 
        adding at the end the following new subsections:
    ``(f) Eligibility for Payment of Relocation Costs.--
            ``(1) Spectrum sharing.--To be eligible to receive payment 
        for relocation costs from the Spectrum Relocation Fund, a 
        Federal entity shall--
                    ``(A) in its transition plan for relocating its 
                current spectrum uses, provide--
                            ``(i) to the fullest extent possible, for 
                        sharing and coordination of eligible 
                        frequencies with commercial licensees, 
                        including reasonable accommodation by the 
                        Federal entity for the use of eligible 
                        frequencies by the commercial licensee during 
                        the period that the Federal entity is 
                        relocating its spectrum uses (in this 
                        subsection referred to as the `transition 
                        period'); and
                            ``(ii) a presumption that commercial 
                        licensees shall be able to use eligible 
                        frequencies during the transition period in 
                        geographic areas where the Federal entity does 
                        not utilize those frequencies;
                    ``(B) during the transition period, make itself 
                available, within 30 days after a written request, for 
                negotiation and discussion with commercial licensees; 
                and
                    ``(C) during the transition period, make available 
                to a commercial licensee with appropriate security 
                clearances any `classified information' as that term is 
                defined in section 798(b) of title 18, United States 
                Code, regarding the relocation process, which will 
                assist the commercial licensee in the relocation 
                process with that Federal entity or other Federal 
                entities.
            ``(2) Timely and successful completion of relocation.--In 
        addition to the conditions of paragraph (1), to be eligible to 
        receive payment for relocation costs from the Spectrum 
        Relocation Fund, a Federal entity--
                    ``(A) shall complete the relocation of its current 
                spectrum uses not later than 1 year after the date upon 
                which funds are transferred to the entity to fund the 
                relocation;
                    ``(B) may complete the relocation of its current 
                spectrum use at a time period different that required 
                under subparagraph (A), if prior to the date the 
                Technical Panel (as described in section 113(g)(6)(C)) 
                is required to post publicly the Federal entity's 
                transition plan, the Federal entity receives written 
                approval from the Office of Management and Budget (in 
                this section referred to as `OMB'), with the advice of 
                the Technical Panel; and
                    ``(C) shall make available to NTIA, not later than 
                15 days prior to the date that is the halfway point of 
                the time period described in subparagraph (A), a 
                complete update of its transition plan, provided that 
                NTIA shall post such update publicly on its Web site 
                not later than the date that is the halfway point of 
                the time period described in subparagraph (A).
            ``(3) Nothing in paragraphs (1) or (2) shall be construed 
        to adversely affect critical communications related to the 
        mission of any Federal entity.
            ``(4) Subject to subsection (d), payments for relocation 
        costs from the Spectrum Relocation Fund shall be made to an 
        eligible Federal entity not later than 30 days after the grant 
        of the first license following the close of the auction.
    ``(g) Dispute Resolution Process.--
            ``(1) If, during the spectrum relocation process, a dispute 
        arises over the execution, timing, or cost of the Federal 
        entity's transition plan, either the Federal entity or the 
        affected commercial licensee may seek resolution of the dispute 
        from a 3-member dispute resolution board, consisting of a 
        representative of OMB, NTIA, and the Commission, and chaired by 
        the representative of OMB.
            ``(2) The dispute resolution board shall meet with 
        representatives of the Federal entity involved in the dispute 
        and the commercial licensee together to discuss the dispute. 
        The dispute resolution board may require the parties to make 
        written submissions to it. The dispute resolution board shall 
        rule on any dispute within 30 days after the date that the 
        dispute was brought before it.
            ``(3) The dispute resolution board shall be assisted by the 
        Technical Panel described in section 113(g)(6)(C).
            ``(4) Subject to OMB approval, NTIA shall adopt regulations 
        to govern the working of the dispute resolution board and the 
        role of the Technical Panel after public notice and comment 
        within 180 days after the date of enactment of the Spectrum 
        Relocation Improvement Act of 2011.
            ``(5) Appeals may be taken from decisions of the dispute 
        resolution board to the United States Court of Appeals for the 
        District of Columbia Circuit by filing a notice of appeal with 
        that court within 30 days after the date of such decision. Each 
        party shall bear its own costs and expenses, including 
        attorneys' fees, for any litigation to enforce this subsection 
        or any decision rendered under it.''.

SEC. 3. GAO STUDY.

    (a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall 
conduct a study regarding the National Telecommunications and 
Information Administration and other Federal agencies' spectrum 
management capabilities, including related staff, mission, and current 
budget for the annual spectrum-related efforts of the NTIA and such 
other Federal agencies. The study required under this subsection shall 
include an analysis of expected funding needs and coordination of 
existing resources of the Federal Government, by agency, to prepare for 
any future relocation or sharing of currently utilized spectrum.
    (b) Submission of Report.--Not later than December 31, 2011, the 
Comptroller General of the United States shall submit report on the 
study required under subsection (a) to the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation of the Senate.