FCC Proposes Sweeping Equipment Security Reforms; Census Bureau Eyes SIPP Redesign

FCC: Third Further Notice on Communications Supply Chain Security

The Federal Communications Commission has issued a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking — adopted July 22, 2026 and released July 23, 2026, in ET Docket No. 21-232 (FCC 26-50) — seeking comment on a broad set of measures to strengthen the security and integrity of its equipment authorization program. Comments are due on or before September 8, 2026, and reply comments are due on or before September 21, 2026.

The notice proposes, among other things, bifurcating the Covered List into producer/provider-based and production location-based categories, and addressing the "white labeling" of covered equipment. The Commission is also seeking comment on hardware and software bill of materials (HBOM/SBOM) disclosure requirements; further prohibitions or presumptions against authorizing equipment containing Covered List components or software; and certification requirements for devices in Covered List sectors.

Additional measures under consideration include reforms to equipment importation, marketing, and pre-authorization operation rules; restrictions on use of the FCC logo; streamlined revocation procedures; and codification of permissive-change waivers for software, firmware, and hardware updates to covered equipment. The notice also proposes codified definitions for UAS, UAS critical components, and routers; term limits on equipment authorizations; registration of Supplier's Declaration of Conformity (SDoC) devices; modernization of the Commission's equipment authorization database; updates to submarine cable Covered List rules; and a requirement for a U.S.-based liable party for FCC-certified equipment. The affected regulations span 47 CFR parts 1, 2, and 15.

The proceeding is designated a "permit-but-disclose" proceeding under the Commission's ex parte rules. The Commission has prepared an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis concerning the potential impact on small entities, and specifically invites comment from small businesses with fewer than 25 employees on how to reduce information collection burdens, consistent with the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002.

Census Bureau: SIPP Modernization Field Test

The Department of Commerce's Census Bureau is inviting public comment on a proposed revision of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), with comments due on or before October 6, 2026. The Bureau plans to request clearance from OMB for a field test of the redesigned SIPP in calendar year 2027 — a collection that would be in lieu of a national collection using the questionnaires, systems, and processes in place since 2014.

According to the notice, since 1983 SIPP has been the primary source of information about annual and sub-annual dynamics of income, families and households, movement into and out of government programs, and interactions of these topics in a single, unified dataset. The notice states that government domestic policy formulators and evaluators depend heavily on SIPP data in their analyses of the distribution of income and the effect of tax and transfer programs on that distribution.

The Census Bureau explains that in recent years SIPP has been researching new methods to address increasing costs for interviewer-administered surveys, declining response rates among sampled addresses, and increasing attrition of responding households in subsequent panels. At the forefront of SIPP modernization efforts, the notice states, is the adoption of a self-administered internet survey as the primary mode for data collection, with targeted in-person interviewing of a select number of non-responding households. This effort is described as one element of a larger, bureau-wide initiative to modernize data collection systems.

The 2027 field test is designed to build upon a 2026 internet self-response field test (OMB number 0607-0978) currently underway, by adding content to the questionnaire; introducing a multi-mode survey incorporating both self-response and non-response computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI); introducing alternative sample and weighting methodologies; and using the Census Bureau's Business Ecosystem entities for all aspects of the survey process. The Bureau states the test will be used to evaluate the frame, sample, weighting, and non-response bias; demonstrate the application of new systems and processes to the SIPP design; research opportunities to reduce respondent burden through administrative data systems; and assess the quality of key estimates under the new methodologies. Under the proposed design, all sampled households would receive mail invitations to complete the survey online, with field representatives sent to a small number of non-responding cases to administer the survey in person.

What to Watch

• September 8, 2026 — Initial comments due to the FCC on the Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on communications supply chain security (ET Docket No. 21-232).
• September 21, 2026 — Reply comments due to the FCC in the same proceeding.
• October 6, 2026 — Deadline for public comments to the Census Bureau on the proposed revision of the SIPP information collection, prior to submission to OMB for approval.
• Calendar year 2027 — Census Bureau plans to conduct the SIPP multi-mode field test, pending OMB clearance.

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