The Automated Auction System (AAS), developed by the Federal Communications Commission and Computech, facilitates the auctioning of electromagnetic spectrum licenses to a diverse community of bidders. From individuals to the nation's largest telecommunications firms, AAS allows bid participants to skillfully compete for one of the Nation's scarcest and most valuable resources.

The Challenge Recognizing that the processes of hearings, lotteries, and reshuffling of licenses between telecommunication companies proved unwieldy and unfair to the American public, Congress in 1993 directed the FCC to assign electromagnetic spectrum through competitive auctions. Through auctions, the FCC allowed spectrum to be publicly acquired in a fair and accessible manner while simultaneously generating revenue for the Treasury.

Immediately after receiving Congressional authority, the FCC retained Computech to lead the design and development of the first automated auction solution, and we have continuously refined, enhanced, and maintained the FCC's auction systems. To keep up with the rapid growth and evolution of the telecommunications industry, Computech has faced a number of challenges:

• Internet accessibility became a requirement for the bidder community. Accordingly, Computech reengineered AAS to allow bidders to participate in auctions from their own work space.
• Combinatorial bidding emerged as a new goal for AAS. Essentially, bidders wanted more expressive ways to bid and meet changing business needs and increasing demand for spectrum.

Consequently, Computech built an innovative new system based on combinational theory, allowing bidders to tailor bids to their specific business plans. This revolutionary system allowed the FCC to hold the nation's first combinational spectrum auction in 2005.

Looking to the future, the FCC and Computech anticipate a requirement for spectrum exchanges, auctions where bidders may buy and sell. Therefore, Computech works off of the latest theories in exchanges to build simulation tools and explore various design alternatives for the FCC's consideration.

As the FCC continues to predict and participate in the evolution of spectrum auctions and management, Computech will be there to conceptualize and build the innovative, sophisticated auction systems of the future.

The Solution
Computech's partnership with the FCC has resulted in a solid, reliable business solution that the government has and will continue to depend on for spectrum auctions and exchanges for years to come. Despite the constraints posed by Congressional oversight, a highly litigious telecommunications industry, and the blistering pace of the auctions program, the AAS has proven to be a reliable and dynamic system.

Using the AAS, the FCC has:

• Conducted 3,568 rounds of bidding
• Auctioned 55,457 licenses
• Returned gross revenues of approximately $50 billion to the U.S. Treasury
• Handled 456 bidders in Auction 37, and 15,514 licenses in Auction 40
• Won, in 1995, the Hammer Award for Re-inventing Government
• Received, in 1998, the International Sybase User Group Award for Best Application of the year.

The Payoff
The FCC and Computech have created a system whose performance is nothing short of historical. As of June, 2005, AAS has been used to sell more than 55,000 spectrum licenses, or over $50 billion in winning bids. Foreign markets benefit from AAS as well; in fact, the Government of Mexico has collected more than $1 billion in bids so far.

Today, Congress presides over an FCC that processes more spectrum licenses, with greater efficiency, than ever before. AAS handles significantly larger and more complex auctions, enhancing the FCC's flexibility in band planning and auction scheduling. The telecommunications industry enjoys an accessible, intuitive bidding experience, and the economy benefits from the continued generation of revenue, realizing market value for one of the nation's most important resources.

Nothing communicates the success of the Automated Auction System better than Computech's performance with the Federal Communications Commission.