Four broad categories serve as guidelines for determining whether a circuit or telecommunications service is eligible for priority
provisioning or restoration. TSP service user organizations may be in the Federal, State, local, or tribal government, critical
infrastructure sectors in industry, non-profit organizations that perform critical
National Security and Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) functions, or foreign governments. Typical TSP service users are responsible for the
command and control functions critical to management of and response to NS/EP situations, particularly during the first 24 to 72 hours following an event Federal, state, tribal, and local
police departments,
fire departments, EMS units, and similar entities qualify for Level 3 under communication services necessary for the public health, safety, and maintenance of law and order. The higher priority levels, Levels 1 and 2, include
National Security leadership and certain
military communications lines. Very few circuits receive a TSP priority Level 1 or Level 2 assignment. If an organization does not enroll its circuits in the TSP program, its telecommunications service provider cannot restore those lines until it has restored all TSP lines in priority levels 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Enrollment and monthly fees for the TSP program are generally set at the state level by public utility or
public service commissions. Typically, one-time enrollment fees are approximately $100, and monthly fees per line average $3. TSP Authorization Codes are only valid for three years. The FCC requires that all users revalidate their requirement for TSP every three years before expiration of the user's TSP Authorization Code(s). ==Priority level==