Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 8 / Thursday, January 11, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 1833 

containing this rule and other required 

information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. 

House of Representatives, and the 

Comptroller General of the United 

States. 

VI. Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) 

requires an agency to prepare a 

regulatory flexibility analysis for rules 

unless the agency certifies that the rule 

will not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. The RFA applies only to rules 

for which an agency is required to first 

publish a proposed rule. See 5 U.S.C. 

603(a) and 604(a). As explained above, 

GSA is not required to first publish a 

proposed rule here. Thus, the RFA does 

not apply to this final rule. 

VII. Paperwork Reduction Act 

This final rule imposes no new 

reporting or recordkeeping requirements 

necessitating clearance by OMB. 

List of Subjects in 41 CFR Part 105–70 

Administrative hearing, Claims, 

Program fraud. 

Robin Carnahan, 

Administrator. 

Accordingly, 41 CFR part 105–70 is 

amended as set forth below: 

PART 105–70—IMPLEMENTATION OF 

THE PROGRAM FRAUD CIVIL 

REMEDIES ACT OF 1986 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 105– 

70 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 40 U.S.C. 121(c); 31 U.S.C. 

3809. 

§ 105–70.003 [Amended] 

■ 2. Amend § 105–70.003 by— 

■ a. Removing from paragraph (a)(1)(iv) 

the amount ‘‘13,000’’ and adding 

‘‘13,400’’ in its place; and 

■ b. Removing from paragraph (b)(1)(ii) 

the amount ‘‘13,000’’ and adding 

‘‘13,400’’ in its place. 

[FR Doc. 2024–00446 Filed 1–10–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–81–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Part 54 

[WC Docket Nos. 10–90, 14–58, 09–197, 16– 

271; RM 11868; FCC 23–60; FR ID 196019] 

Connect America Fund 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule; announcement of 

effective date. 

SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal 

Communications Commission 

(Commission) announces that the Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB) has 

approved, for a period of three years, an 

information collection associated with 

the rules for Enhanced Alternative 

Connect America Cost Model (A–CAM) 

contained in the Commission’s 

Enhanced A–CAM Order (Order), WC 

Docket No. 10–90 et al., FCC 23–60. 

This document is consistent with the 

Order, which stated that the 

Commission would publish a document 

in the Federal Register announcing the 

effective date of the revised information 

collection requirements. 

DATES: The amendments to 

§ 54.308(e)(2) and (6) published at 88 FR 

55918, August 17, 2023, are effective 

January 11, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jesse Jachman, Wireline Competition 

Bureau at (202) 418–7400. For 

additional information concerning the 

Paperwork Reduction Act information 

collection requirements contact Nicole 

Ongele at (202) 418–2991 or via email 

at Nicole.Ongele@fcc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Commission submitted new information 

collection requirements for review and 

approval by OMB, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 

1995, on November 22, 2023. OMB 

approved the new information 

collection requirements on January 2, 

2024. The information collection 

requirements are contained in the 

Commission’s Enhanced A–CAM Order, 

FCC 23–60, published at 88 FR 55918, 

August 17, 2023. The OMB Control 

Number is 3060–1319. The Commission 

publishes this document as an 

announcement of the effective date of 

the rules published on August 17, 2023. 

If you have any comments on the 

burden estimates listed in the following, 

or how the Commission can improve the 

collections and reduce any burdens 

caused thereby, please contact Nicole 

Ongele, Federal Communications 

Commission, 45 L Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20554. Please include 

the OMB Control Number, 3060–1319, 

in your correspondence. The 

Commission will also accept your 

comments via email at PRA@fcc.gov. To 

request materials in accessible formats 

for people with disabilities (Braille, 

large print, electronic files, audio 

format), send an email to fcc504@fcc.gov 

or call the Consumer and Governmental 

Affairs Bureau at (202) 418–0530. 

Synopsis 

As required by the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507), 

the Commission is notifying the public 

that it received OMB approval on 

January 2, 2024, for the amendments to 

47 CFR 54.308(e)(2) and (6) published at 

88 FR 55918, August 17, 2023. 

Under 5 CFR part 1320, an agency 

may not conduct or sponsor a collection 

of information unless it displays a 

current, valid OMB Control Number. No 

person shall be subject to any penalty 

for failing to comply with a collection 

of information subject to the Paperwork 

Reduction Act that does not display a 

current, valid OMB Control Number. 

The OMB Control Number is 3060– 

1319. The foregoing notification is 

required by the Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995, Public Law 104–13, 

October 1, 1995, and 44 U.S.C. 3507. 

The total annual reporting burdens 

and costs for the respondents are as 

follows: 

OMB Control Number: 3060–1319. 

OMB Approval Date: January 2, 2024. 

OMB Expiration Date: January 31, 

2027. 

Title: Enhanced A–CAM 

Cybersecurity and Supply Chain Risk 

Management Plan Requirements. 

Form Number: N/A. 

Type of Review: New collection. 

Respondents: Business or other forprofit entities, and State, Local or Tribal 

governments. 

Number of Respondents and 

Responses: 450 respondents; 900 

responses. 

Estimated Time per Response: 10–50 

hours. 

Frequency of Response: One-time and 

on occasion reporting requirements. 

Obligation to Respond: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. Statutory 

authority for this information collection 

is contained in 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 214, 

218–220, 254, 303(r), and 403. 

Total Annual Burden: 27,000 hours. 

Total Annual Cost: No Cost. 

Needs and Uses: On July 24, 2023, the 

Commission released the Enhanced A– 

CAM Order (Order), 88 FR 55918, 

August 17, 2023, WC Docket No. 10–90 

et al., FCC 23–60, which adopted a 

voluntary path for supporting the 

widespread deployment of 100/20 Mbps 

broadband service throughout the rural 

areas served by carriers currently 

receiving Alternative Connect America 

Cost Model (A–CAM) support and in 

areas served by rate-of-return carriers 

eligible to receive legacy support by the 

end of 2028. The Commission extended 

by 10 years beyond the remaining five 

years, for a total of 15 years, the term of 

support for electing carriers and set a 

methodology for determining support 

amounts for locations without 100/20 

Mbps broadband service within a 

potential budget of no more than $1.27 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
1834 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 8 / Thursday, January 11, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

billion annually, or no more than $1.33 

billion annually if certain conditions are 

met, using an updated version of the A– 

CAM. By adopting this program, the 

Commission furthered its long-standing 

goals by promoting the universal 

availability of voice and broadband 

networks, while also taking measures to 

minimize the burden on the nation’s 

ratepayers. The Commission also 

adopted requirements for the Enhanced 

A–CAM program to complement 

existing Federal, state, and local funding 

programs, so that broadband funding 

can be used efficiently to maximize the 

deployment of high-quality broadband 

service across the United States. 

To ensure that the Enhanced A–CAM 

program does not deprive rural 

consumers in high-cost areas of 

broadband service that is as secure as 

the service deployed pursuant to other 

Federal funding initiatives, the 

Commission required Enhanced A– 

CAM carriers to implement operational 

cybersecurity and supply chain risk 

management plans by January 1, 2024— 

the start of the Enhanced A–CAM 

support term. Enhanced A–CAM 

carriers must submit such plans to the 

Universal Service Administrative 

Company (USAC) and certify they have 

done so, by January 2, 2024, or within 

30 days of approval under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, whichever is 

later. Failure to submit the plans and 

make the certification shall result in 

25% of monthly support being withheld 

until the carrier comes into compliance. 

If a carrier makes a substantive 

modification to its cybersecurity or 

supply chain risk management plan, the 

Commission requires that the carrier 

submit its updated plan to USAC within 

30 days of making that modification. 

The purpose of this information 

collection is to collect the operational 

cybersecurity and supply chain risk 

management plans required of the 

Enhanced A–CAM carriers by the start 

of the Enhanced A–CAM support term 

and address the burdens associated with 

that requirement. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Marlene Dortch, 

Secretary, Office of the Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2024–00417 Filed 1–10–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Part 54 

[WC Docket No. 17–310; FCC No. 23–110; 

FR ID 195910] 

Promoting Telehealth in Rural America 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal 

Communications Commission 

(Commission) seeks to provide vital 

support to assist rural health care 

providers with the costs of broadband 

and other eligible services. By offering 

discounted rates for these services, the 

Rural Health Care (RHC) Program 

enables health care providers to better 

treat patients in rural areas that often 

have fewer medical resources and 

higher service rates than in urban areas. 

DATES: Effective February 12, 2024, 

except for §§ 54.601(b) and (c) 

(amendatory instruction 2) and 

54.622(e)(1)(i) through (ii) and (i)(3)(iv) 

(amendatory instruction 4), which are 

delayed indefinitely. The Commission 

will publish a document in the Federal 

Register announcing the effective date 

for those rule sections. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Philip A. Bonomo, Philip.Bonomo@

fcc.gov, Wireline Competition Bureau, 

202–418–7400 or TTY: 202–418–0484. 

Requests for accommodations should be 

made as soon as possible in order to 

allow the agency to satisfy such requests 

whenever possible. Send an email to 

fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer 

and Governmental Affairs Bureau at 

(202) 418–0530 (voice), 202–418–0432 

(TTY). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

synopsis of the Commission’s Third 

Report and (Third R&O) in WC Docket 

No. 17–310; FCC No. 23–110, adopted 

on December 13, 2023, and released on 

December 14, 2023.The full text of this 

document is available for public 

inspection during regular business 

hours at Commission’s headquarters 45 

L Street NE, Washington, DC 20554 or 

at the following internet address: 

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/ 

attachments/FCC-23-110A1.pdf. 

I. Introduction 

1. In the Third R&O, the Commission 

continues its efforts to improve the 

effectiveness and efficiency of the Rural 

Health Care (RHC) Program. The RHC 

Program offers discounted rates for 

broadband and other communications 

services to health care providers who 

use these increasingly essential services 

to better treat patients in rural areas that 

may have limited resources, fewer 

medical professionals, and higher rates 

for these services than in urban areas. 

Broadband-enabled telehealth and 

telemedicine services in particular have 

proven to be critical tools for the 

effective delivery of health care to 

millions of patients in rural areas, as 

demonstrated by the heightened 

dependency on these services during 

the COVID–19 pandemic. Telemedicine 

and telehealth make the provision of 

high-quality health care a reality for 

patients regardless of location or ability 

to travel. The measures adopted will 

enhance the provision of these vital 

services through the RHC Program. 

2. The Commission adopts four 

revisions to the RHC Program as 

proposed in the Second Further Notice 

of Proposed Rulemaking, 88 FR 17495, 

March 23, 2023 (Second FNPRM) (FCC 

23–6), aimed at facilitating participation 

in and improving the administration of 

the Program. First, the Commission 

revises the RHC Program rules to permit 

conditional approval of eligibility for 

health care providers that expect to be 

eligible in the near future to allow them 

to initiate competitive bidding and 

request funding. Second, to give 

participants more flexibility with 

deadlines, the Commission revises its 

rules to move back the RHC Program’s 

Service Provider Identification Number 

(SPIN) change deadline to align with the 

invoice deadline. Third, the 

Commission simplifies the rules for 

determining urban rates by eliminating 

the seldom-used ‘‘standard urban 

distance’’ component of the urban rate 

rules. Fourth, in a separate action to 

provide more flexibility with deadlines, 

the Commission revises the RHC 

Program rules to permit health care 

providers to request changes to the dates 

of their evergreen contracts following a 

funding commitment. 

3. In addition to these revisions, the 

Commission also on its own motion 

makes two programmatic improvements 

to the administration of the RHC 

Program and Universal Service Fund. 

To reduce burdens and promote 

efficiency, the Commission harmonizes 

the RHC Program eligibility 

determination process by shifting to the 

use of a single universal eligibility form 

for all program participants. Finally, to 

free up for other uses unclaimed RHC 

Program support, the Commission 

establishes a deadline by which health 

care providers must submit invoices for 

any undisbursed funding commitments 

from funding year 2019 and prior that 

do not currently have an applicable 

invoice deadline. 


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