Appendix A Statement of Need.pdf

Enterprise Services - Acquisition

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

(NTIA) for

Federal Spectrum Data Systems Modernization (FSDS)

Appendix A – Statement of Need

Appendix A: Statement of Need

1. Background

A key mission of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), within the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), is to manage the use of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum by all federal agencies. The federal agencies rely on the radio spectrum to execute their congressionally mandated missions, ranging from national defense, homeland security, and law enforcement to ensuring aeronautical and marine safety of life communications, conducting space travel and scientific research, forecasting the weather accurately, and responding to national disasters. Federal agencies rely on NTIA Spectrum IT systems to conduct the SM processes that manage federal RF-spectrum use.

NTIA’s associated information technology (IT) systems for performing this critical task are outdated, relying on equipment and software that is in some cases over three decades old. There is a need to modernize these systems, especially as NTIA endeavors to make the spectrum more accessible for government and commercial users alike.

The Federal Spectrum Data Systems (FSDS) project modernizes NTIA spectrum IT systems. The goals for the modernization are provided in the table below.

# Goal Title Goal Description

1 Strengthen Security Enhance the security of NTIA Spectrum IT Systems to ensure their continued availability for essential federal missions, and to protect spectrum data from unauthorized release and improper modification

2 Modernize IT Platform Including Application Stack

Improve the enhance-ability and scalability of NTIA Spectrum Information Technology (IT) Systems, and provide the IT foundation for future spectrum capabilities

3 Enhance Spectrum Analysis Provide capabilities that execute more accurate, trusted, and repeatable spectrum analyses to improve Federal spectrum use efficiencies

4 Improve and Streamline Spectrum Process

Improve timeliness, reduce level of effort, and increase transparency of Federal spectrum processes

5 Improve Spectrum Data Improve accessibility, interoperability, and comprehensiveness of spectrum data

NTIA’s legacy spectrum IT systems will remain operational and will be supported outside the scope of the FSDS effort until the capabilities supported by the legacy systems are re-architected, re-factored, replaced or retired by the FSDS modernized solutions. The modernization strategy for each legacy system has not yet been specified. FA table of NTIA’s current spectrum IT systems is included in See ee GAO-22-105221, Spectrum Management: Information Technologies for Managing Federal Use.

Enclosure I (https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-105221.pdf).

NTIA began moving the legacy spectrum IT systems to the Microsoft Azure Cloud in fiscal year (FY) 2023 and plans to complete the move of unclassified systems in FY 24.

Regulations and procedures relative to the capabilities supported by FSDS statement of need are described in the NTIA Manual of Regulations and Procedures for Federal Radio Frequency Management, U.S. Department of Commerce, January 2021 (known as “The Redbook”) at https://www.ntia.gov/publications/redbook-manual. The manual will be enhanced in conjunction with the information technology (IT) enhancements, when needed to address the capability gaps.

2. Statement of Need

NTIA requires a modernized solution for their IT systems that provide RF spectrum management. The following mission needs support NTIA spectrum responsibilities. Each need includes a brief description.

a. Manage Radio Frequency (RF) Assignments & Authorizations. NTIA authorizes use of radio frequencies through issuance of frequency assignments and special temporary authorizations

(STAs). NTIA approves over 70,000 frequency assignments and hundreds of STAs per year.

Core capabilities supporting this mission need include:

- Author, submit, and approve frequency proposals to NTIA

- Receive and process frequency proposals at NTIA on the classified network, resulting in Government Master File (GMF) frequency assignments

- Receive and process frequency proposals at NTIA on the unclassified network, in preparation for proposal processing

- Conduct microwave link analyses

b. Certify RF-Dependent Systems. NTIA certifies RF dependent spectrum systems through the Spectrum Certification process, which federal agencies rely on to ensure radio frequencies will be available for RF-dependent systems and that the systems comply with spectrum regulations before federal agencies commit to system development or procurement.

Core capabilities supporting this mission need include:

- Author and submit spectrum certification requests to NTIA

- Receive, validate, and approve spectrum certification requests at NTIA

c. Manage RF Reallocations and Transitions. NTIA supports reallocation and transition of Federal radio frequencies, to promote efficient use of the spectrum (Reference U.S. Code Title 47, Chapter 8, Subchapter II).

Core capabilities supporting this mission need include:

- Author and submit spectrum reallocation plan to NTIA

- Receive, validate, and approve reallocation plans at NTIA

- Facilitate the Federal planning, monitoring, tracking, and reporting of radio frequency transition activities (i.e., Federal transition out of certain frequency bands or transition to spectrum sharing arrangements)

d. Provide IRAC Records Management and Workflow Support. The Interdepartmental Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) advises the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information on spectrum- related matters. The IRAC assists the Assistant Secretary in assigning frequencies to U.S. Government radio stations and in developing and executing policies, programs, procedures, and technical criteria pertaining to the allocation, management, and use of the electromagnetic spectrum. NTIA chairs IRAC committees/subcommittees, facilitates IRAC operations, and conducts IRAC recordkeeping.

Core capabilities supporting this mission need include:

- Facilitate meetings and collaboration for IRAC and its subcommittees

- Manage IRAC data, business processes, and workflow

e. Visualize and Share RF Information. NTIA must visualize and share spectrum data throughout the course of fulfilling NTIA responsibilities.

Core capabilities supporting this mission need include:

- Integration of data across multiple sources to facilitate seamless accessibility, sharing, and visualization of spectrum data

- Tools to provide enhanced meaning and context to spectrum data through maps, charts, dashboards, or other methods

• FSDS Modernization Characteristics

The modernized FSDS solution is enabled and simplified by shared services and components that replace the stove-piped, conservative, and inefficient engineering functionality with new standards and reusable engineering, data, and workflow services for all supported business processes. The future services will streamline repeatable spectrum analyses and on-demand workflows through automation to allow spectrum use efficiencies These include:

• Engineering services that modernize and standardize outdated engineering capabilities, to provide more accurate, trusted, and repeatable analyses.

• Data and workflow services that provide authorized agencies, users, and the FCC with direct access to NTIA data and workflows (within policy and security constraints), which enables Federal SM tools to work more effectively and efficiently as a large system of systems in lieu of current manual processes.

• Commercial components to speed modernization development and reduce corresponding costs and risks.

• Modernized, authoritative data repository that provides a single, common virtual location to access integrated spectrum data, replacing currently siloed databases. New spectrum data standards will improve the interoperability, accessibility, and quality of spectrum data, replace outdated and punch card-era technologies, and enable future automation goals.

Data will be synchronized between classified and unclassified environments automatically multiple times a day to speed SM processes and reduce manual effort.

The modernized solution will include an FSDS Project Platform that provides a foundational enabling suite of capabilities, services, processes, and technologies including a DevSecOps environment, a security architecture, and a common data framework, to provide required capabilities and to ensure support of evolving federal SM needs going forward. This platform will:

• Implement role-based access control and least privileged access.

• Comply with FIPS, FISMA, FOIA, NTIA security policies for operation in environments up to and including Secret.

• Provide integration of governmentwide approved cyber frameworks into the FSDS effort.

• Implement FedRAMP baseline controls and ensure cloud security providers maintain an ongoing FedRAMP approved operational infrastructure.

• Implement a bi-directional Cross-Domain Solution (CDS) to allow data transfer between security domains.

• Focus on a Zero Trust (ZT) strategy. Zero Trust will focus on users, assets, and resources ensuring FSDS data systems do not focus on a static network-based perimeter but rather on cybersecurity.

• Remove implicit trust from users simply based upon their physical or network location.

• Follow an Agile Software Development process, commercial or .gov cloud hosted, continuous security, controlled technologies, required system information, and NTIA & DOC processes with collaboration.

• Improve Section 508 product accessibility and compliance . Information and templates concerning the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template and the Accessibility Conformance Report are provided on https://www.section508.gov/sell/.

Additional Key Themes reflected in the modernized FSDS include the following:

• Overall modernization of engineering capabilities, including flexible architecture and “futureproofing” solution to implement enhancements more efficiently

• Increased automation and reduced human activity "in the loop"

• Leveraging technologies in an innovative way, such as artificial intelligence, robotic process automation (RPA), and machine learning

• Visualization and dashboard capabilities that enable users to better manage their functions and perform enhanced modeling and analytics

• Improve the accuracy and completeness of data for visualization and analysis

• Evolve data to enable advanced frequency assignment, SM analysis capabilities and improved interoperability in collaboration with stakeholders

• Clutter Analysis – urban, suburban, and rural

• Collaboration mechanisms for users, including the IRAC

• STA automation that provides workflow automation evolving the manual email-based STA process

• Shared capabilities/data within the FSDS solution (e.g. compliance rules, table of allocations)

• Cross-agency interfaces, including continued interfaces to EL-CID Online

• Broader system of systems replacing stove-piped systems

• Maturing CI/CD and DevSecOps

• Government responsibility for supporting agile software development and O&M (e.g. product owner, business owner, maintaining environments, access control, separation of duties).

https://www.section508.gov/sell/