Multiple press reports yesterday said that the FCC has circulated a memo to its employees announcing that the FCC will not be resuming in-person operations at least until August 27 – and if work resumes then, it will be from the FCC’s new headquarters building.  The FCC has been planning for several years a move from its current headquarters at “the Portals,” where it has resided for over 20 years.  According to press reports, employees will continue to telework at least until the new building is ready in late August.  Employees will be returning to the current building only with individual appointments to clear their current offices. Starting in mid-August, the FCC will pack up and move furniture, equipment and other items from the Portals to the new building which is supposed to be ready for work by August 27.  The reports also note that the FCC will likely continue to allow telework to some extent even once the new building is ready.

The FCC sent all its employees home to telework in mid-March due to the pandemic (see our article here), and has been remarkably efficient in adapting to the new work environment – continuing to routinely process applications and to also work on the big policy decisions with which the agency must grapple.  We have written about many of the issues that the FCC has tackled on this blog and, from the list of regulatory dates in July about which we wrote yesterday, that pace of work does not appear to be slowing down at all.  While we outsiders won’t get our last visit to the Portals to bid it farewell, we look forward to when the time comes that we can visit the new building at 45 L St NE, just a few blocks from Washington’s Union Station and near to NPR’s current headquarters.