Description:
H.R. 4500 would require the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to coordinate executive branch efforts and offer technical expertise to encourage trusted companies and stakeholders to participate in setting standards for 5G and future generations of wireless communications networks. For this estimate, CBO assumes that the bill will be enacted in fiscal year 2020. Under that assumption, the agency could incur some costs in 2020, but CBO expects that most of the costs would be incurred in 2021 and later. Any spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Based on information from NTIA, CBO estimates that the agency would require seven employees each year (at an annual average cost of about $160,000 each) to meet the bill’s requirements. In total, CBO estimates that salaries and other expenses would cost about $1.5 million a year. CBO expects that the cost for the National Institute of Standards and Technology to provide assistance and facilitate industry participation in the international standard-setting process would not be significant in any year.
