ISSUE
FCC.today has not displayed any new pleadings since 1-6-23.
FCCdata has not shown any engineering application activity for TV facilities since 1-8-23.
ROOT CAUSE
The daily LMS bulk data file provided by the FCC has not been updated at the FCC since 1-8-23.
This issue is impacting all REC systems that directly depend on LMS raw data. This will not have a direct impact on FM engineering and FM/AM/TV non-engineering applications received through eLMS.
STATUS
1-13-23 @ 8:45AM ET - REC has reported this issue to the FCC. The Media Bureau has advised that they are aware of the issue and had reported it to the appropriate team for resolution. There is no ETU. Depending on resources, REC may attempt a workaround as individual data files with more current data are being made available.
1-13-23 @ 10:30AM ET - The issue with the FCC download is the single bulk zip file that the FCC normally provides every day. They also provide individual zip files for each database table. We believe these individual files are more up to date. We are now doing a manual update that downloads each individual zip file and then build our own daily file for the system to process. If successful, ETU is 12:30PM ET. This manual process will need to be repeated each day while the FCC does not provide the proper file for download. This issue remains open.
1-13-23 @ 10:40AM ET - All of the needed individual files were not available at the FCC. We have started the standard manual update to fix any issues that the other manual update may have messed up. ETU with stale data is 12:40 PM. There is still no ETU on the overall fresh data fix.
1-13-23 @ 12:00PM ET - Manual update completed. REC systems running on 1-8-23 LMS stale data until FCC resolves the issue on their end.
1-14-23 @ 8:00AM ET - Saturday's LMS update was also missing many critical files. Please note that our systems will update the files that are received, however since LMS is a relational database, it does require all of the files to fully function correctly. Therefore, while this outage is taking place, users may experience issues with "broken" information as well as outdated information. We do note that the key files that drive the other tables (application, facility and pleading) are not being updated. This may limit the instances of broken data but still have old data. REC has cancelled a holiday weekend mass run in order to obtain TV contour maps to cache for a future expansion of eLMS to support TV engineering due to this issue. We are not sure whether the FCC or their outsourced IT staff is going to work this issue over the holiday weekend, but we will continue to monitor this situation through this long weekend and will provide updates. There will be updates on Sunday and possibly Monday morning to document the status of the system. This issue clearly shows the issues at the Commission where it comes to transparency with application developers. While to the mainstream, FCC data may not be as "sexy" as census and USGS data, it is still important to the people they serve. The FCC needs to step up in this department.
1-18-23 @ 655AM ET - REC had received what appears to be a full LMS raw data update based on close of business 1-17-23.
RESOLUTION
For a period of over one week, the daily FCC LMS raw data download was missing various files which work together as a relational database. This was solely an FCC issue and they have resolved it.
