Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Interagency radio pilot hits airwaves in Seattle

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 19:15:50 -0400

Interagency radio pilot hits airwaves in Seattle
04/26/04
By William Jackson,
GCN Staff
Building nationwide network will take five to 10 years

The departments of Homeland Security, Justice and Treasury are testing a
wireless network to serve federal law enforcement
agencies nationwide.

“We are trying to finalize our acquisition strategy,” said Michael
Duffy, deputy CIO for electronic government at Justice, the
lead department.

The Integrated Wireless Network would be a common radio network capable
of handling voice, data and multimedia for all
federal law enforcement, first-response and homeland security agencies.

IWN would not serve state and local agencies but would have connectivity
to them, Duffy said. The IWN Joint Program Office
is working with local officials in 25 cities on connectivity plans.

Meanwhile, Acquisition Solutions Inc. of Oakton, Va., is managing the
IWN pilot. For the pilot, Motorola Inc. is fielding a
wireless network linking 15 agencies in and around Seattle.

Duffy said the program is underfunded and behind schedule, but agencies
cannot afford to keep putting their money into existing
analog radio systems.

“We’ve been running this program for three years and have very little to
show for it,” he said. “The clock is ticking.”

Broadened scope

IWN has three drivers: outdated systems, poor agency interoperability
and heavy bandwidth needs. The program originally
included only Justice and Treasury but expanded to DHS when the Customs
and Immigration and Naturalization services
moved to the new department last year.

Incompatible radio systems are a common problem for law enforcement and
emergency services in all areas and at all levels of
government.

“We have aging, and in some cases failing, radio systems,” Duffy said.
Putting more money into stovepipe systems that cannot
support current needs makes no sense, he said.

A 2002 engineering study estimated the cost of a nationwide wireless
system at about $3 billion. That since has been whittled
down to $2.6 billion, but “that is not money we have in hand,” Duffy
said.

Current DHS, Justice and Treasury budgets support only half of what will
be needed to deploy the network in a timely manner,
he said.

Narrowband required

Some elements of IWN already are in place. Justice’s fiscal 2004 budget
includes $32 million for narrowband radio equipment,
principally along the Canadian and Mexican borders, but also in major
cities such as New York.
Narrowband is necessary because of spectrum reallocation that requires
federal users to halve their channel bandwidth, Duffy
said.

It will take five to 10 years to build IWN. Acquisition Solutions is
providing market research and acquisition support.
The network’s procurement will have two phases, with a down-selection of
qualified bidders before contracts are awarded.
The joint program office expects to complete work on a statement of
objectives within a month.

The statement will not specify technology. And Duffy added that the
departments will consider going with a managed service.
“We want to state our requirements, and we want industry to propose
solutions,” he said.
The Seattle pilot will follow the Project 25 standard for interoperable
digital radio developed
by the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials.

Participants in the pilot include DHS’ customs and immigration bureaus,
the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Secret Service, the
Transportation Security Administration, the Marshals
Service, and state and local agencies.

Duffy said the pilot will be a proving ground for operations and program
management as much as for technology.
“We’ve learned a lot of lessons already. The logistics management will
be the make-or-break” issue for bidder

http://www.gcn.com/23_9/news/25712-1.html

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