Improving Public Safety Communications Nationwide

The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency released a joint report that analyzes proposed projects for the nearly $1 billion Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) Grant Program. In September 2007, grants were awarded to help state and local first responders improve public safety communications and coordination during natural and man-made disasters. Some of the report's key findings include:

1) More than $811 million of PSIC funds will be invested by state and local agencies in the acquisition and deployment of equipment to increase emergency communications interoperability;

2) Forty-seven states and territories will allocate portions of their PSIC funds for equipment reserves that are pre-positioned, deployable and able to re-establish communications. Together with pre-existing assets, PSIC will provide a nationwide capability to address infrastructure gaps as identified in the National Emergency Communications Plan;

3) PSIC was the first grant program to require states and territories to align their investments to a DHS-approved Statewide Communication Interoperability Plan (SCIP). This strategic alignment will ensure that investments are not only coordinated across multiple jurisdictions and disciplines, but also across multiple federal and state funding sources; and

4) The PSIC program requires grantees to provide non-federal, matching funds for acquisition, deployment and administrative costs. Jurisdictions have proposed more than $256 million in matching funds, which contributes to more than $1.2 billion in interoperable communications improvements when combined with federal PSIC grant funds.