Neustar Asks FCC to Nix Bureau Letter Favoring NAPM on Nondisclosure Provisions

Wireline and Public Safety bureau chiefs sought to "compel resolution" of its contract talks with NAPM by demanding the company enter into one of two nondisclosure agreements (NDAs). "The Commission should instruct the Bureaus not to interfere in any future disputes between Neustar and the NAPM until the parties have first attempted to resolve their dispute through negotiation or arbitration according to the terms of the MSA" (master services agreement), said the LNPA incumbent's application for review Thursday in docket 09-109. Neustar said the bureaus violated the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) by abrogating an arbitration clause in Neustar's contract with NAPM. "Instead of arbitrating its confidentiality dispute with Neustar, the NAPM apparently sought the Bureaus’ assistance in getting Neustar to agree to the NAPM’s preferred NDA," the company said. "By favoring the NAPM’s position and seeking to compel Neustar to concede, the Bureaus resolved the dispute in the NAPM’s favor, and thereby neutered the MSA’s arbitration clause in violation of the FAA." Neustar also said the bureau intervention "improperly interfered with private contractual negotiations" in conflict with "longstanding" commission policy. With the transition scheduled to last into 2018, the company said, "a Commission ruling is necessary to define the scope of the Bureaus’ delegated authority and to confirm they possess no power to abrogate arbitration clauses and interfere with matters of private contract." Neustar Wednesday said it had delivered a revised draft NDA to NAPM but it said it reserved the right to seek review of the bureau action and blamed iconectiv for any delay in the transition (see 1701180049). An iconectiv spokeswoman said the transition is on track to be completed in May 2018. "Any suggestion to the contrary is false. We have been onboarding vendors, service providers, service bureaus, and providers of telecom-related services for several months," she emailed. "As to Neustar's challenge to the Bureau's letter, Neustar today serves as the Local Number Portability Administrator based on an appointment by the FCC. As such, Neustar is subject to the FCC's regulatory jurisdiction. The FCC, in its order designating Telcordia dba iconectiv as the next LNPA, directed Neustar to cooperate with the transition and certainly has the right to take actions to ensure that Neustar does so." FCC officials and NAPM didn't comment.