David Simpson, chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, said today that he is optimistic about the forthcoming recommendations of the FCC’s Task Force on Optimal Public Safety Answering Point Architecture (TFOPA).

“I am optimistic that the TFOPA’s work will further the goal – shared by Chairman [Tom] Wheeler, his fellow Commissioners, and our state and local public safety partners – of timely NG911 implementation throughout the nation. But the challenges are real,” he said. “As public safety authorities are well aware, adopting new technology for public safety can be a double-edged sword; as state and local authorities leverage more advanced technologies, they also must maintain legacy communications capabilities during a transitional period as the larger commercial communications ecosystem migrates to IP technologies. Maintaining two infrastructures increases cost and the potential for life-threatening outages. The longer the transition takes, the more difficult this challenge becomes as the rest of the commercial communications ecosystem moves on.

“Striking the appropriate balance between maintaining the old and implementing the new in PSAP operations is no easy task,” Mr. Simpson added. “We recognize state and local authorities’ leadership in this area. To that end, the TFOPA is playing an important role by helping to facilitate development of better options for 911 decision makers – options that will decrease the amount of technical variation between PSAPs, facilitate the development of 911 platform capabilities that take full advantage of cloud-based and other state-of-the-art technologies, and help cost effectively address equipment and cyber requirements so that 911 workforce development and other NG911 implementation challenges do not get left behind. The group is also tackling the tough job of identifying funding options to provide sustainable support.”

Mr. Simpson added, “Some states are leading the charge on this front by coordinating the NG911 implementation efforts of PSAPs within their jurisdictions, implementing programs that will improve PSAP efficiency and effectiveness, and even reaching across borders to coordinate with neighboring states. In other states, however, timely, efficient NG911 implementation is hindered by restrictions on state 911 administrators’ power to implement new policies and by governance mechanisms that discourage rather than incentivize coordinated action by individual PSAPs. And of course, all states face challenges in the timely transition to and long-term sustainment of NG911, given limitations on funding and the rapidly changing technological and communications landscape.

“To meet these challenges, states and localities must have the tools – financial, operational, and technical – to realize NG911 capabilities in a manner that minimizes cost and risk,” the blog posting said. “For example, investing in a well-executed and timely NG911 transition may reduce the duration and expense of running parallel legacy and NG911 architectures – not to mention the risk of 911 outages caused by multiple interdependent systems.”

At a meeting last week, the TFOPA indicated that it would likely postpone a vote on its final report beyond its Sept. 29 meeting, but that it would aim to finalize its report before year-end (TRDaily, July 27). – Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com