FCC Seeks Nominations for Membership on the Technical Advisory Board for First Responder Interoperability

The Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau seeks nominations for membership on the Technical Advisory Board for First Responder Interoperability (Interoperability Board). The Interoperability Board is established within the Commission under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Spectrum Act) for the purpose of “develop[ing] recommended minimum technical requirements to ensure a nationwide level of interoperability for the nationwide public safety broadband network.” The Act directs the Commission to appoint fourteen voting members to the Interoperability Board within thirty days of the Act’s enactment, which is no later than March 23, 2012. All voting members appointed to the Interoperability Board “shall have specific expertise necessary to developing technical requirements” for nationwide interoperability. This expertise may include “technical expertise, public safety communications expertise, and commercial network experience.”

Additionally, the voting members of the Interoperability Board must each fit within a statutorily prescribed category:

• Four members must represent “wireless providers.” Of these four, two members must represent “national wireless providers,” one must represent “regional wireless providers,” and one must represent “rural wireless providers.”
• Three members must represent “equipment manufacturers.”
• Four members must represent “public safety entities.” Of these four, at least one member must represent “management level employees of public safety entities” and one must represent “employees of public safety entities.”
• Three members must represent “State and local governments.” These three members must be “chosen to reflect geographic and population density differences across the United States.”