The FCC solicited nominations for its Intergovernmental Advisory Committee, whose membership was recently doubled from 15 to 30 local, state and tribal government officials (see 1712200063). The FCC seeks to fill 18 seats, including three additional vacancies to replace Florida Public Service Commissioner Ronald Brisé, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Edwin Lee, mayor of the city and county of San Francisco; Brisé and Reed leave office this month and Lee "unfortunately passed away in December," said a public notice Thursday. Applications are due within 60 days.

An FCC plan to create an Office of Economics and Analytics received endorsements from Tech Policy Institute Senior Fellow Thomas Lenard and American Enterprise Institute Visiting Fellow Roslyn Layton. Wayne Leighton, chief of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, and his team "produced an excellent report" on creating an OEA that's "everything Chairman [Ajit] Pai could have hoped for," blogged Lenard Thursday. "The report contains a thoughtful and carefully researched analysis of how to better incorporate economics into the agency’s policy making, drawing on lessons from other agencies and adapting them to the needs and culture of the FCC," Lenard wrote. "Among its most important recommendations, the report proposes that the 'OEA should produce a separate, non-public memorandum on economic issues to accompany documents circulated to the Commission.' The commissioners will undoubtedly not always accept the recommendations of the economists, but their analysis, whether or not it supports the Commission’s ultimate position, should be available to the commissioners unfiltered." Pai's OEA draft order on the Jan. 30 tentative agenda is his "most important accomplishment for those who believe that policy should be informed by the best available evidence," wrote Layton, whose Forbes opinion piece was titled: "Making Government Work Again: New Office to Strengthen Role of Data at FCC."

The FCC Enforcement Bureau’s Office of the Field Director created an email address for the public to use when responding to an enforcement action from one of the bureau field offices, the bureau said in a public notice Wednesday. The new address, field@fcc.gov, is intended to streamline the operation of the field offices, the PN said. “New enforcement actions will instruct recipients to send responses to field@fcc.gov rather than to email addresses that are associated with the Bureau’s three Regions,” the PN said.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s three fellow commissioners released statements Tuesday and Wednesday congratulating him on his renomination to the agency. Carr and Chairman Ajit Pai also released statements on the renomination (see 1801090044). Fellow Republican Mike O’Rielly extended “congratulations and appreciation to the President” for Carr’s renomination, praising Carr’s leadership on infrastructure deployment. Carr “has deep knowledge of the legal and policy issues facing the communications sector,” said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. “I wish him all the best in the confirmation process.” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said she shares Carr’s commitment “to growing our economy and building smart infrastructure so that all Americans are connected.” Rosenworcel said she looks forward to working with Carr “on these critical issues.”

The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee will meet Jan. 23 and 24, starting at 9 a.m. both days, in the commission meeting room. At the group's fourth meeting, "the BDAC will consider reports and recommendations from its working groups, which include Model Code for Municipalities, Model Code for States, Competitive Access to Broadband Infrastructure, Removing State and Local Regulatory Barriers, and Streamlining Federal Siting," said a public notice Wednesday in docket 17-83. "In addition, the BDAC will continue its discussions on how to accelerate the deployment of broadband by reducing and/or removing regulatory barriers to infrastructure investment. This agenda may be modified at the discretion of the BDAC Chair and the Designated Federal Officer."

The FCC Incentive Auction Task Force and Wireless Bureau approved the long-form applications for 600 MHz licenses bought in the broadcast incentive auction, said a public notice Tuesday. Licensees of the 75 new licenses included Spectrum Financial Partners, with 23 licenses, and Tstar 600, with 12. The agency approved the first grants of licenses bought in the auction in June (see 1706140048).

Commissioner Brendan Carr was renominated to a second term on the FCC Tuesday (see 1801080062) by President Donald Trump. “If reconfirmed, I look forward to many more years of working with my colleagues at the FCC on policies that will create jobs, spur investment, and grow the economy for the benefit of all Americans,” Carr said in a statement thanking Trump. Chairman Ajit Pai praised Carr for leading FCC efforts to expedite wireless infrastructure deployment and called him a “distinguished public servant who has hit the ground running during his first months as a Commissioner.” Carr has “demonstrated great interest in tackling and overcoming difficult infrastructure deployment issues during his tenure on the commission,” NTCA said in a release. Carr's current term expires in June (see 1801040058).

A court case holding up planning for the FCC’ s move to new headquarters may be close to being complete, as all parties involved asked (in Pacer) that the case be dismissed, according to a stipulation of dismissal filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Friday. FCC landlord Parcel 49C, the U.S. government and new headquarters developer Trammell Crow all “stipulate to voluntary dismissal of this appeal with prejudice,” the filing said. The parties are asking for the case’s dismissal because congressional funding has now been authorized that would allow another federal tenant -- the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. -- to replace the FCC in the Portals building, according to another filing in the case. The FCC’s lease in the Portals building expired in October, but its new home at Sentinel Square III in Washington, D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood won’t be complete until 2019. Negotiations over an interim lease in the Portals had stalled while Parcel 49C waited for confirmation it would get a new tenant. Parcel 49C took the General Services Administration to court for awarding the contract for the FCC’s new home to Trammell Crow (see 1701120044), but the parties mutually agreed to a hold when the GSA began moving toward installing the PBGC in the Portals. The FCC didn’t comment on the status of the planned move.

Among the wave of nominations that President Donald Trump said he will send to the Senate is that of Brendan Carr, renominated to the FCC for a five-year term beginning July 1.

FCC expansion of its Intergovernmental Advisory Committee will be effective upon Federal Register publication Monday, says a notice. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn dissented from December's decision to double membership of the body that advises on telecom issues affecting local, state and tribal interests (see 1712200063).