Chairman’s Statement on Process Reform Presentation
January 30, 2014 Open Meeting
The information and communications technology sector is both fast-moving and constantly 
evolving. Our challenge at the FCC is to be as nimble as the innovators and businesses we 
oversee. That’s why improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the agency, especially the 
timeliness of our decision-making, is one of my highest priorities.   
On my second day on the job, I asked Diane Cornell to prepare a comprehensive set of
recommendations on what the FCC could do to make this agency as agile, efficient and 
transparent as possible.  Her task was to cast a wide net in soliciting suggestions for process 
reform, seeking input from FCC staff and Commissioners, as well as external stakeholders who 
do business with the FCC.  
Diane has certainly met her goal.  The number and quality of the suggestions from our internal 
staff and from external commenters has helped ensure that this report is thorough and wide-
ranging.
The recommendations in the report will help provide a roadmap for an ongoing process of 
innovative reforms here at the FCC.  They include recommendations that will: 
? Focus the accountability of the decision-making process at the FCC, relying on 
rigorous internal deadlines and 21
st
century tracking capability to enable us to better 
monitor and report on the status of open items; 
? Help speed and streamline the licensing process, and shorten the timeline for the 
processing of applications for review and other Commission-level decisions, 
? Modernize the consumer complaint process and create a searchable database; 
? Reduce the backlog of matters pending at the FCC, and take steps to ensure that 
backlogs don’t build up in the future; and
? Eliminate or streamline regulations that are outdated, and update our data collection 
capability so it is less burdensome and more focused both for our stakeholders and for 
FCC staff.    
Some of these recommendations will require additional resources, particularly those involving 
upgrades to our aging IT infrastructure and tracking databases.  But the benefits we would gain 
from these additional investments would be paid back many times over in increases in the 
efficiency of the FCC workforce. Some of the recommendations have their origin in suggestions 
made by my fellow Commissioners. I appreciate their ideas and look forward to working with 
them on these important issues.
Similarly, many in Congress have expressed a strong interest in process reform at the FCC as 
well, and I likewise look forward to working on a bipartisan basis with Members of Congress on 
this initiative.
Finally, thank you to Diane and the working group team who helped pull together such a 
significant set of recommendations in such a short timeframe. Obviously, our work to modernize 
the agency is far from over, but your work on this report is an important first step. Together, we 
will build on this foundation to improve the Commission in a manner that the times demand and 
the American people deserve.