FCC Should Improve Lifeline Outreach, GAO Says

The FCC should “educate eligible consumers" about Lifeline and national verifier program requirements to align “with key practices for consumer education planning,” GAO reported Thursday. It said the FCC “coordinated with state and federal stakeholders" on the NV, but “many eligible consumers are not aware” of Lifeline. Eight House Commerce Committee Democrats sought the probe in 2018, and the auditor agreed last year (see 2006100041). “Consumers may lack” awareness “because FCC’s consumer education planning did not always align with key practices, such as developing consistent, clear messages and researching target audiences,” GAO said. “While FCC originally envisioned tribal governments and organizations assisting residents of tribal lands with the Verifier, it has not provided them with quality information.” The report recommended the FCC “provide tribal organizations with targeted information and tools.” The FCC should “identify and use performance measures to track the Verifier’s progress in delivering value to consumers” and “ensure that it has quality information on consumers’ experience with the Verifier’s manual review process,” the audit recommended. “Ensure that the Verifier’s online application and support website align with characteristics for leading federal website design, including that they are accurate, clear, understandable, easy to use, and contain a mechanism for users to provide feedback.” GAO suggested the FCC “convert the Verifier’s online application, checklifeline.org, to a ‘.gov’ domain.” The current website includes the FCC’s logo, but “we found that it may not be easily recognizable by an average user, and we found no other indicator that USAC is working on behalf of the U.S. government." The FCC responded that Universal Service Administrative Co. is acting, including developing a “more comprehensive communications plan” in Q1. USAC plans improved tribal outreach this year, including a “Tribal-specific Lifeline webinar each quarter,” the FCC said: The General Services Administration agreed to convert the Lifeline application to a .gov domain “if we simply make the National Verifier a subdomain” of fcc.gov, “which is the path we intend to take.”