On January 21, 2025, the FCC issued a Public Notice announcing new reporting requirements for the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). The new requirements are effective February 20, 2025. As of this date, subject carriers must report their infrastructure status each day in DIRS when the Commission activates DIRS in a geographic area where they provide service. Subject carriers include cable communications, wireline, wireless, and interconnected VoIP providers. The new requirements are contained in Section 4.18 of the FCC’s rules as follows:
* Subject providers are required to report their infrastructure status information each day in DIRS when the Commission activates DIRS in geographic areas in which they provide service, even when their reportable infrastructure has not changed compared to the prior day. Daily reports are required from the start of DIRS activation until DIRS is deactivated.
* Subject providers must provide a single, final report to the Commission within 24 hours of the Commission’s deactivation of DIRS and the termination of daily reporting, detailing the state of their infrastructure at the time of DIRS deactivation and an estimated date of resolution of any remaining outages.
The Commission adopted the new reporting requirement rules in the January 25, 2024 Resilient Networks Second Report and Order (Order). Prior to the new rules participation in DIRS was voluntary for subject providers. The Order set the compliance deadline as the later of 30 days after the Commission issues a Public Notice announcing that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has completed their review of any new information collection requirements associated with the Order or November 30, 2024. On January 21, 2025, OMB’s approval of the information collection associated with Section 4.18 was published in the Federal Register and the FCC Public Notice referenced above was also issued on that date. The new rules are effective 30 days from this Public Notice or February 20, 2025.
The new reporting requirements described above will apply to subject providers in cases where the areas they serve are involved in a specific incident, like a hurricane or other disaster like the recent wildfires in California. The FCC’s website provides information regarding DIRS interaction and reporting. Since disaster situations are unpredictable and can occur at any time, providers should become familiar with the DIRS to ensure their ability to respond as required. ICORE is prepared to assist your Company in complying with these new reporting requirements. If interested please contact Chris Ulmer at 610-928-3903 or at culmer@icorellc.com.
