Question: How are responsibilities for the Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP) System divided between the FCC and the National Communications System (NCS)?

Answer: The Federal Communications Commission (1) provides regulatory oversight of implementation of the TSP System; (2) enforces the TSP System rules and regulations, which are contained in appendix A of Part 64 of the Commission’s rules (47 CFR Section 64, Appendix A); (3) acts as final appellate authority for approval, revision, or disapproval of priority actions by the NCS; and adjudicates disputes regarding either priority actions or denials of requests for priority actions by the NCS, until superseded by the President's war emergency powers under section 706 of the Communications Act.

The NCS, acting on behalf of the Executive Office of the President, administers the TSP System which includes (a) receiving, processing, and evaluating requests for priority actions from service users; (b) assigning, revising, revalidating, or revoking priority levels as necessary or upon request of service users concerned, and denying requests for priority actions as necessary; (c) maintaining data on priority level assignments; (d) Periodically forwarding to the FCC lists of priority actions for review and approval; (e) testing and evaluating the NSEP TSP System for effectiveness; (f) conducting audits as necessary; (g) Issuing, subject to review by the FCC, regulations and procedures supplemental to and consistent with this appendix regarding operation and use of the TSP System; (h) Serving as a centralized point-of-contact for collecting and disseminating to all interested parties information concerning use and abuse of the NSEP TSP System; (i) establishing and assisting a TSP System Oversight Committee to identify and review any problems developing in the system and recommend actions to correct them or prevent recurrence; (j) reporting at least quarterly to the FCC and TSP System Oversight Committee, together with any recommendations for action, the operational status of and trends in the TSP System; (l) submitting periodic reports to the FCC identifying the time and event associated with each invocation of priority treatment.
47CFR64A.pdf

Visit www.ncs.gov for additional information.
Visit tsp.ncs.gov for details to request the TSP service.