GOP House Members Seek FCC Server Move Info

House Energy & Commerce Committee Republican leaders want the FCC to better explain why it is moving servers off-site to a multi-agency facility in West Virginia.

In a March 4 hearing, FCC managing director Jon Wilkins explained in a graphic accompanying his written testimony that the commission was moving "over 200 on-premise, antiquated servers occupying expensive downtown real estate to a 100% off-premise, cloud-based deployment in a secure multi-agency facility" and told the legislators that the FCC had just signed a contract to start moving the servers.

In the letter to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler dated March 27, the legislators asked for a copy of that contract, information on how the contract was awarded, what steps the FCC had taken to make sure it did not lose any info in the move and more.

They want the answers and information by April 10.

"Given the committee's strong interest in the manner in which the commission is managing its own information technologies, we are writing to seek information to better understand the facts and circumstances surrounding the planned relocation of these servers and the impact, if any, such relocation may have on the FCC's document management practices."

Signing the letter were Committee chairman Fred Upton (Mich.), Communications subcommittee chair Greg Walden (Ore.) and Oversight and Investigations chair Tim Murphy (Pa.).

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.