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Telecom - Staff Letter addressed to the Deaf Wireless Canada Committee

Ottawa, 26 February 2024

Reference(s): 1011-NOC2021-0102

BY EMAIL

Deaf Wireless Canada Committee
251 Bank Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K2P 1X2
Lisa Anderson regulatory@deafwireless.ca

Subject: Call for comments – Review of Video Relay Services, Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2021-102 (Ottawa, March 11, 2021) – Request for Information to complete Cost Application

Introduction

The Deaf Wireless Canada Committee (DWCC) applied for recovery of costs with respect to its participation in the proceeding initiated by Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2021-102. The DWCC  requested that the Commission fix its costs at $92,470.00, consisting of consultant and analyst fees.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) sent by Commission staff pursuant to Rule 28(1) of the CRTC Rules of Practice and Procedure, SOR/2010-277, and paragraph 12 of Telecom Regulatory Policy 2010-963. The purpose of this letter is to request additional information from your organization regarding its application for costs.

Commission staff sends Requests for Information such as this one in an effort to assist interested parties, and to gather all information required to process cost applications. Please note that other cost applicants also received an RFI, but each RFI sent by Commission staff has been personalized for each recipient to highlight the specific information and clarifications required by the Commission to process their cost application file.Footnote1

Important Information

To facilitate the treatment of all interested parties’ submissions and a fulsome review of all relevant document, Commission Staff suspends the deadline by which Cost Applicants can file a Reply to the Answer filed by Telecommunications Service Providers (TSP’s) on 25 January 2024. In other words, the deadline to reply, which had previously been extended by Commission Staff to 1 March 2024, will now be postponed to 15 March 2024. As such, the deadline to Reply to the TSPs’ Answer will fall on the same day as the deadline to respond to this RFI.

Cost Applicants will be able to submit a Reply to the TSPs’ Answer and to file a Response to this RFI, by no later than 15 March 2024.

Upon receipt of the new information provided in response to this RFI, the Cost Respondents will be given the opportunity to file an Answer with regard to the new information provided in Response to the RFI, only. This Answer must be filed by no later than 22 March 2024.

Cost Applicants will subsequently have the opportunity to produce a final Reply to the new information contained in the Cost Respondents’ Answer. This Reply, if applicable, will need to be filed by Cost Applicants by no later than 1 April 2024.

When filing your response to this RFI with the Commission (via GC Key portal), please also send a copy of your reply (or its partially redacted version, if you designate information as confidential) by email to the following addresses :

Telus Regulatory kaitlin.mackenzie@telus.com
Rogers Regulatory regulatory@rci.rogers.com
Bell Regulatory bell.regulatory@bell.ca
Québecor Regulatory regaffairs@quebecor.com
Ursula Grant, CTA ugrant@cwta.ca

Requests for Information

  1. Signature of Form III – Consultant / Analyst Fees
    • Please note that the Commission requires a signed copy of each Form III submitted. We note that you only submitted a version of these forms with the typed names of the consultant or analyst instead of a signature.
      1. Please provide an unredacted v ersion of these signed forms, for the Commission’s review. Please note that electronic signatures, or personal marks used in lieu of a signature, are also accepted.
  1. Possible duplication of work claimed for three (3) consultants and one (1) analyst
    • Commission staff noticed a potential duplication of work hours claimed by the Deaf Wireless Canada Committee (DWCC), by the Canadian National Society of the Deaf-Blind (CNSDB), and by the Deaf-Blind Planning Committee (DBPC), who are each claiming costs for time spent by the same consultants and analyst on the proceeding initiated by Notice of Consultation (NOC) CRTC 2021-102. After a review of the time sheets provided, Commission staff noticed that certain meeting/training sessions overlap.
      1. Please provide clarifications for the below-noted hours claimed by your organization, and amend the corresponding timesheets and Forms III, as required. The signatures of the consultants/analysts concerned by such amendments must also be filed with the Commission, to confirm that they endorse the clarifications, information, and/or explanations provided by your organization in response to this RFI.

A. Consultant: Paula Wesley

Meeting/ Training
DWCC CNSDB
2 hours on 29 May 2022 “CRTC 2021-102 group meeting for prep” 2 hours on 29 May 2022 “CRTC 2021-102 group meeting for prep”
2 hours on 5 June 2022 “CRTC 2021-102 group meeting for prep” 2 hours on 5 June 2022 “CRTC 2021-102 group meeting for prep”
1 hour on 20 July 2022 “Meeting with Jeffrey Beatty – progress report” 1 hour on 20 July 2022 “Meeting with Jeffrey and Jessica – discussion on intervention”
1 hour on 24 July 2022 “Meeting with Jeffrey Beatty – progress report” 1 hour on 24 July 2022 “Meeting with Jeffrey and Paula – progress report”

B. Consultant: Jessica Sergeant

Respond to Interrogatories
DBPC DWCC
1 hour on 15 July 2022 “Writing for category 6 – QoS Standards and Metrics” 1 hour on 15 July 2022 “Responding to category 6 – QoS Standards and Metrics”
1 hour on 17 July 2022 “Writing for category 6 – QoS Standards and Metrics” 1 hour on 17 July 2022 “Responding to category 6 – QoS Standards and Metrics (overall category)”
Meeting/Training
DBPC DWCC

2 hours on 5 June 2022

“CRTC 2021-102 group meeting for prep”

1 hour on 5 June 2022 “Meeting – task clarification”

C. Analyst: Michael J. Stewart

Meeting/ Training
DWCC CNSDB
2 hours on 29 May 2022 “CRTC 2021-102 group meeting” 2 hours on 29 May 2022 “CRTC 2021-102 group meeting for prep”
2 hours on 5 June 2022 “CRTC 2021-102 group meeting” 3 hours on 5 June 2022 “CRTC 2021-102 group meeting for prep”

D. Consultant: Jeffrey Beatty

Meeting/Training
DBPC DWCC CNSDB
1 hour on 27 June 2021 “Meeting with Jeffrey Beatty and Meghan McHugh to prep for the CAD-ASC townhall”   1 hour on 27 June 2021 “Meeting with Leanor Vlug and Meghan McHugh to prep for the CAD-ASC townhall”
2 hours on 29 May 2022 “ Meeting/Training “CRTC 2021-102 group meeting for prep” 2 hours on 29 May 2022 Meeting/Training “Meeting – TNC 2021-102 Team Meeting” 2 hours on 29 May 2022 Meeting/Training “CRTC 2021-102 group meeting for prep”
2 hours on 5 June 2022 “CRTC 2021-102 group meeting for prep” 1 hour on 5 June 2022 “Meeting – task clarifications” (1hr) and “Meeting – TNC 2021-102 Team Meeting”

2 hours on 5 June 2022
“CRTC 2021-102 group meeting for prep”
2 hours on 30 June 2022 “Meeting with Jessica – progress report” 2 hours on 30 June 2022 “Meeting – delegations, task clarifications”  
1 hour on 6 July 2022 “Meeting with Jeffrey and Jessica – progress report”   1 hour on 6 July 2022 “Meeting with Jeffrey and Jessica – progress report”
1 hour on 19 July 2022 “Meeting with Jessica – progress report” 1 hour on 19 July 2022 “Meeting – task clarifications”  
1 hour on 20 July 2022 “Meeting with Jessica and Paula – discussion on intervention” 1 hour on 20 July 2022 “Meeting – task clarifications and delegations” 1 hour on 20 July 2022 “Meeting with Jessica and Paula – discussion on intervention”
1 hour on 23 July 2022 “Meeting with Jessica – progress report” 1 hour on 23 July 2022 “Meeting – task clarifications”  
1 hour on 24 July 2022 “Meeting with Jessica and Paula – progress report” 2 hours on 24 July 2022 “Meeting – team meeting, delegations and clarifications” 1 hour on 24 July 2022 “Meeting with Jessica and Paula – progress report”
Review File
DBPC DWCC CNSDB
3 hours on 13 July 2022 “Reviewing CDBC.VRS’s Intervention (27 pages)”   3 hours on 10 July 2022 “Reviewing CDBC.VRS’s Intervention (27 pages)”
Case Management
DBPC DWCC CNSDB
 

9 hours between 10 July 2022 and 17 July 2022
“Building Document Tracking Library, Setting up folders & file management”
and
10 hours on 13 July 2022 “Building Document Tracking Library, Setting up folders & file management”

******Please confirm any overlap or explain the distinction between the 10 hours claimed for work performed for the DWCC on 13 July 2022, and the 9 hours claimed for work performed for the DWCC between 10 July and 17 July 2022.

3 hours on 14 July 2022 “Fix/fiddle links and document locations in MASTER Document Library Spreadsheet”
and
4 hours on 17 July 2022 “Fix/fiddle links and document locations in MASTER Document Library Spreadsheet”
and

3 hours on 18 July 2022 “Fix/fiddle links and document locations in MASTER Document Library Spreadsheet”
  4 hours some time between 23 July and 24 July 2022, and from 1 August to 8 August 2022 “Building Document Tracking Library, Setting up folders & file management”

2 hours on 22 July 2022 “Fix/fiddle links and document locations in MASTER Document Library Spreadsheet”
and
2 hours on 25 July 2022

“Fix/fiddle links and document locations in MASTER Document Library Spreadsheet”

Conclusion

If you have any questions regarding this Request for Information or the submission of your response to it, please contact me at stefanie.bedard@crtc.gc.ca.

Regards,

Stéfanie Bédard
Legal Counsel
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

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