(a) The Office of Communications Business Opportunities (OCBO), as a staff office to the Commission, develops, coordinates, evaluates, and recommends to the Commission, policies, programs, and practices that promote participation by small entities, women, and minorities in the communications industry. A principal function of the Office is to lead, advise, and assist the Commission, including all of its component Bureau/Office managers, supervisors, and staff, at all levels, on ways to ensure that the competitive concerns of small entities, women, and minorities, are fully considered by the agency in notice and comment rulemakings. In accordance with this function, the Office:

(1) Conducts independent analyses of the Commission's policies and practices to ensure that those policies and practices fully consider the interests of small entities, women, and minorities.

(2) Advises the Commission, Bureaus, and Offices of their responsibilities under the Congressional Review Act provisions regarding small businesses; the Report to Congress regarding Market Entry Barriers for Small Telecommunications Businesses (47 U.S.C. 257); and the Telecommunications Development Fund (47 U.S.C. 614).

(b) The Office has the following duties and responsibilities:

(1) Through its director, serves as the principal small business policy advisor to the Commission;

(2) Develops, implements, and evaluates programs and policies that promote participation by small entities, women and minorities in the communications industry;

(3) Manages the Regulatory Flexibility Analysis process pursuant to the Regulatory Flexibility Act and the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act to ensure that small business interests are fully considered in agency actions;

(4) Develops and recommends Commission-wide goals and objectives for addressing the concerns of small entities, women, and minorities and reports of achievement;

(5) Acts as the principal channel for disseminating information regarding the Commission's activities and programs affecting small entities, women, and minorities;

(6) Develops, recommends, coordinates, and administers objectives, plans and programs to encourage participation by small entities, women, and minorities in the decision-making process;

(7) Promotes increased awareness within the Commission of the impact of policies on small entities, women, and minorities;

(8) Acts as the Commission's liaison to other federal agencies on matters relating to small business.

[69 FR 7376, Feb. 17, 2003]