FCC Defends Swift ACP Setup After IG Criticism

The FCC continues “to welcome opportunities to improve” the affordable connectivity program (ACP) “and meet our shared goal of connecting 100% of us,” a spokesperson emailed us in response to commission acting Inspector General Sharon Diskin’s letter earlier this week to GOP leaders on the House and Senate Commerce committees that she “shares” some of their concerns with the program’s administration. Diskin criticized the FCC for not applying “lessons learned from prior program experience” when it wrote ACP’s rules (see 2305310080). The FCC set up ACP “in record time because Congress required it” via the 2021 Infrastructure investment and Jobs Act “and because we recognize affordable broadband is essential for modern life,” the spokesperson said: “We remain committed to protecting the success and integrity" of ACP "so it operates as Congress envisioned. As such, we’ve independently launched our own program audits, including asking providers to share additional information about their alternative verification programs.” Any “reviews by the inspector general” like Office of Inspector General’s ACP audit “are met with swift response by the agency so we can maintain the ACP’s program integrity,” the spokesperson said.