One-call centers say they do not currently host planning/design files; route contact info instead

Representatives of regional notification centers told the Underground Safety Board on Friday that current 811 systems typically route contact information to design engineers but do not host or exchange full planning and design files.

"Right now, the system only is designed to provide contact information for the design engineer," said James Windgate of USA North 811, describing the existing planning-design workflow as a one-way notification: engineers draw a project area, receive a list of utility contacts and then carry out file exchanges outside the 811 system. "We're not storing any information at this point," he said, adding that the systems were built for shovel-ready locate tickets rather than pre-planning exchanges.

A representative of Underground Service Southern California echoed that description, saying their center likewise supplies contact information but has no mechanism today to upload PDFs or images: "That would be a major system change for us." Several speakers said the centers that do retain a record keep only a basic planning-design request PDF (for example, an engineer’s polygon and contact list), not the plans or exchanged documents.

Board members and participants also discussed how quickly systems can route a design request. Windgate said the routing is essentially immediate—"sometimes it's within a matter of seconds"—because centers perform a live spatial query to determine which operators overlap the engineer’s drawn area.

Participants agreed that if regulators require centers to host or retain submitted plans, RNCs would face large new responsibilities. Lawrence (GIS supervisor) and representatives from telecommunications and electric companies warned the volume of data (terabytes) and attendant cybersecurity protections and retention policies would drive significant infrastructure and staffing costs.

The board asked whether centers already retain planning-design records. Windgate said USA North keeps the record of a planning-design request for six years (matching Nevada’s retention requirement), while California law currently requires three years for ticket records; Windgate said the centers do not retain the exchanged plans that designers and operators send outside the RNC system.

The workshop did not produce regulatory conclusions. Staff said the feedback will inform draft regulations the board will consider as it moves toward the July 1, 2027 statutory adoption deadline.