FCC Task Force Adopts NG-911 Transition Reports in Final Meeting
The FCC Task Force on Optimal PSAP Architecture adopted final reports of three working groups Friday at TFOPA's ninth meeting. The reports covered cybersecurity, readiness and funding for next-generation 911. “This will strengthen PSAPs [public safety answering points] deeply,” said Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson, praising TFOPA’s accomplishments since it launched in early 2015. Simpson urged a faster transition to NG-911 and said next year will be critical for NG-911 as several additional states and jurisdictions build upon the successes of early adopters.
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Simpson hopes TFOPA’s work helps policymakers understand how the federal government can help speed the transition to NG-911, the bureau chief said. “The relatively plodding nature of next-gen 911 development does a disservice to the public safety community,” he said. “It puts us in this extended transition period for years” of uncertainty and requires PSAPs “to continue to rely on legacy, end-of-life technology and 911 systems at the same time that commercial and consumer services wholly adopt IP-based platforms. It threatens the overall integrity and effectiveness of the nation’s emergency response capabilities.” Retaining “legacy infrastructure only used for this one purpose is a recipe for disaster and we need to get folks to wake up about the transition,” he said.
“All efforts have to be made to compress the timeline,” said David Hool, chair of Working Group 2-Optimal Approach to NG911 Architecture Implementation by PSAPs. At the current rate, it could take one to two decades, he said. "There will be a point where industry will be pounding on the door saying, 'Are you ready yet?'" To help push the transition along, Hool’s working group developed a NG-911 readiness scorecard and a framework for NG-911 planning. It also focused on workforce staffing and training and lessons learned from early adopters of emergency services internet protocol networks (ESInets).
With a focus on how to pay for NG-911, Working Group 3-Optimal Approach to Next-Generation 911 Resource Allocation for PSAPs identified current and potential revenue sources for NG-911 and broke down common costs for PSAPs, including for business, data, infrastructure, security and operations. The report argues for increased federal funding for NG-911, said the working group’s chair Jim Goerke. While discussing strengths and weaknesses of various network connection fee options, the report doesn’t get into the legality of charging such fees, he said.
Nothing can be 100 percent secure, but “risk mitigation is what it’s about” and EC3s will be critical to protecting NG-911 from threats, said Jay English, chair of Working Group 1-Optimal Approach to Cybersecurity for PSAPs. The working group estimated the operational expenses of a small to medium EC3, supporting multiple small- or medium-sized PSAPs, is about $1.3 million a year, English said. A larger center supporting multiple medium-to-large PSAPs, and with twice as many personnel, may cost about $2.5 million per year, he said. Qualified cybersecurity personnel don't come cheap but will be critical, he said. Costs could be mitigated through collaboration and information sharing, English said.