April 19, 2016–Governance, coordination, and funding are among the key ingredients to the successful deployment of next-generation 911 (NG-911) technology, experts said at an event today. Meanwhile, the chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau reiterated the agency’s call for Congress to step in to help facilitate NG-911 deployment, including by setting a nationwide transition deadline and funding grants.
911 and other issues were discussed today at the Emergency Response Technology Forum, which was held in Silver Spring, Md., outside Washington. The event was organized by the Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies (iCERT) and the IJIS Institute, an organization that focuses on information sharing and the safeguard of the justice, public safety, and homeland security sectors.
Evelyn Bailey, executive director of the National Association of State 911 Administrators (NASNA), said sometimes there can be “tension” between state and local 911 officials and state and federal 911 officials worried about their “turf.” “There really is a need with next-generation 911 to kind of start talking more together and just get rid of that stuff,” she said. “That stuff is counterproductive. It’s not going to get us to where we want to go.”
She noted that public safety answering points (PSAPs) were traditionally built and run in a decentralized fashion and they did not need to interact. In an IP-based world, they do need to, she said. Ms. Bailey emphasized the need for strong state governance, including “the scope of authority” and rules, as well as funding. “It’s going to cost more if it happens on a haphazard basis, region by region, local by local,” she said.
National Emergency Number Association Chief Executive Officer Brian Fontes also stressed the importance of governance, cooperation, and funding, saying that Congress should provide additional money to help states and localities deploy NG-911. “Funding is what’s going to make or break the deployment,” he added. He also said that allowing PSAPs to purchase gear at state-schedules prices can save them money.
In February, he noted, NENA, NASNA, and iCERT announced the formation of a new coalition to push for nationwide NG-911 deployment by the end of 2020 (TRDaily, Feb. 23). The NG911 NOW Coalition is getting support from the National 911 Program, which convened the stakeholders as they planned the coalition, and the NG911 Institute. Mr. Fontes said today that the 2020 goal is “very aggressive,” but he said it is “important for consumers.” Mr. Fontes said since the 911 coalition was announced, there have been meetings with several groups “that have certainly agreed to the notion that what we are trying to achieve is a worthy goal.” However, it does not have additional members, according to George Rice, executive director of iCERT.
Maria Jacques, director of the Maine Emergency Services Communication Bureau, which is responsible for managing the state’s 911 program and oversaw the deployment of an NG-911 system, said that “funding is going to be a struggle.” But she said that it costs the state less to run the NG-911 network than it did the legacy system. Although discussions about deploying NG-911 technology often involve PSAP consolidation, Ms. Bailey said that is not necessary. “I don’t think consolidation has to happen,” she said. “One does not depend upon the other.”
Earlier today, David Simpson, chief of the Public Safety Bureau, emphasized the importance of taking a number of actions to help facilitate the deployment of NG-911 services, namely the establishment by Congress of a firm NG-911 transition deadline, the creation by Congress of a grant program, the integration of PSAPs into the national cybersecurity framework, the establishment of a national mapping database, and the auditing by the federal government of 911 surcharges.
Mr. Simpson also stressed the need for an effective data architecture for all public safety communications, not just portions where architectures have already been developed or are being developed, including NG-911, the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), or the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). There is “significant variation” among PSAPs and local emergency management centers on how various data is fit together and used, he said.
Mr. Simpson also mentioned a policy statement on circulation among FCC Commissioners regarding voluntary, confidential meetings between FCC officials and telecom sector companies aimed at discussing cybersecurity practices being used by companies and providing security best practices to companies in the sector (TRDaily, Feb. 19). “We think that’s a great idea,” Mr. Simpson said. He said that FCC staffers spent six months discussing how to protect the data that companies share with the agency from enforcement action by the Enforcement Bureau. “We’ve put those controls together,” he said. Mr. Simpson also said that while the Commission’s Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) is vital in assessing outages and disruptions, it is dated in what it collects. “We need to evolve NORS to better account for the actual outages and disruptions … in the IP environment,” he said, adding that it is doing that.
He also noted that the FCC’s Task Force on Optimal Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) Architecture (TFOPA) voted in January to give final approval to its consolidated report with recommendations on actions that PSAPs should take on cybersecurity, architecture, and resources as they transition to NG-911 systems (TRDaily, Jan. 29). And he emphasized the need for interoperability between NG-911 networks and the network being overseen by FirstNet.
In subsequent remarks, FirstNet President TJ Kennedy said the authority is on track for an award to a partner “around [the] November timeframe.” When FirstNet recently announced that it was extending the deadline for proposals until May 31 (TRDaily, April 11), it said that it was still track on make an award by its Nov. 1 goal. “We know there are a few things out of our control,” Mr. Kennedy said today. But he added that “our team is working diligently to stay on that time schedule.”
Mr. Kennedy also stressed that while FirstNet’s request for proposals (RFP) envisions a partner will deploy the initial network over five years and five phases, FirstNet is not restricting construction on a faster schedule. After his remarks, Mr. Kennedy was asked by TRDaily about why FirstNet CEO Mike Poth stressed in a blog posting yesterday that FirstNet is obligated under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 to continue to use funds to reinvest in the nationwide public safety network and support public safety communications advancements (TRDaily, April 18).
Under FirstNet’s RFP, at least $5.625 billion in payments would have to be made to FirstNet by its partner over the 25-year contract. Multiple questions submitted to FirstNet in response to the RFP asked about FirstNet’s use of those funds. Some questions tried to elicit information about what FirstNet plans to do with the money. The answers to how the money would be spent were not very specific. “I think there is an important role for FirstNet going forward, post-award,” Mr. Kennedy told TRDaily. He added that FirstNet must ensure “that public safety continues to have a network that’s upgraded, that takes advantage of technological advancement, and that allows us to really drive innovation.”
While FirstNet’s partner will be responsible for network upgrades, Mr. Kennedy noted that the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program and FirstNet’s technical team plan to leverage research and development funding provided by Congress in the Act for future innovations.
In opening remarks this morning, Thomas Manger, chief of the Montgomery County, Md., Police Department and president of the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association, said new technologies will allow first responders to do their jobs better, although he noted that paying for these solutions can be difficult for government agencies. “Police chiefs are now looking for technology to be that force multiplier,” he said. But he also acknowledged, “The dollars remain very tight.” Mr. Manger said his department, like others, is in the process of planning for NG-911 technology, and he stressed that IP-based systems enable synergies among PSAPs. “The days of these siloed systems are … long, long gone,” he said. However, he also stressed the need to protect new systems from cyber attacks. – Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com
Courtesy TRDaily