"While there are concerns regarding the effectiveness of implementation, the public safety requirements and the status of critical infrastructure, the commonwealth is committed to providing the resources needed to complete the radio communications project as recommended in the iXP report," said Deputy Chief of Staff Adrian King.
The Statewide Public Safety Radio System is replacing multiple incompatible, mobile radio systems across commonwealth agencies with a single system that provides for wireless data and voice communications. The Ridge administration conceived the project in the mid-1990s, when many state agencies faced the problem of aging radio infrastructure.
Information Technology Deputy Secretary Art Stephens clarified that the Statewide Public Safety Radio System will not be the primary system of usage for most local governments and first responders and that there is not an unfunded mandate for local governments to join the system. The report indicated that confusion exists regarding local governments' understanding of the system, which will be addressed as part of the administration's response to the report findings.
An 800 (MHz) system was selected to meet the current and future needs of the commonwealth state agencies. The infrastructure design is intended to address the standard procedures of dispatch and communications but is also to be available in emergencies when other forms of communications, such as cell phones and land lines, may not work.
"The good news is that the radio system is working today with more than 4,000 users and that the capability exists of handling the anticipated number of state agency users," said Stephens. The system is designed to handle up to 25,000 users.
While the project should continue, there are many hurdles to overcome. The target of 95 percent coverage, by county, has not been reached. "Site acquisition and construction remains a major cause for delay to date and cause for continued delay," said Stephens. "It is the number No. 1 risk for completion of the project as cited in the report."
Out of a total of 201 high-profile tower sites, 18 remain to be implemented. Plans are under way to have these 18 towers operational by March 2005. Upon completion of these towers, coverage will be about 82 percent. To reach the 95 percent goal, about 200 additional cell sites are planned. Site acquisition for many of these cell sites is still in process. One of the additional findings of the report suggests that the commonwealth review the site development plan and deployment schedule and consider construction of more high profile towers to address public safety concerns.
The report also indicated that the project has not been structured effectively from its inception. The project team was assembled with the commonwealth as the integrator, and under the assumption that the software implemented was mature and that the sites for the system were pre-selected. Unfortunately, the assumption did not hold. Another cause for delay has been that individual agencies are responsible for their own transition and they do not have enough information about the operations of the system to transition successfully.
Another major finding is that state police requirements were not agreed upon early in the project and may have changed since its inception. "Our primary concern is with the voice components and inadequate coverage of the system,'' said Lt. Col Henry Oleyniczak, head of information technology for the state police. "However, we are confident that the system will be capable of meeting the unique needs of the state police and are dedicated to continuing to work with the radio project staff to obtain the necessary requirements to transition our users onto the new system."
The commonwealth plans to revisit the system requirements and operational concerns of the state police, as well as all other user agencies, to ensure that the system will meet the needs of the users. This likely means the state police conversion to the system will not be completed until late 2007 and the total project costs will exceed the $240 million figure by an additional $25 million-$35 million during the transition period.
The report also indicated that the commonwealth should consider development of a centralized approach to defining the transition plans of each agency and to allocate necessary resources to implement the plans. It also suggested developing a more robust interoperability plan, including a more comprehensive approach to defining all the intercommunication that needs to occur between state, county and local agencies.
Stephens said, "We agree with the findings in the...report and remain committed to the success of this project." The administration's comprehensive plan of response includes the following:
- Meeting the system concerns of the state police -- The administration will revisit the requirements of the state police and perform a comprehensive requirements document and work with Ma/COM to integrate those requirements into the system. This effort will also include the needs of other agencies.
- Creating a comprehensive site acquisition and implementation approach -- Now that the commonwealth has been given the legal approval to continue the implementation of high profile sites by the state's bankruptcy court, the administration will review and confirm the site acquisition design and determine if more high-profile sites should be used. As suggested in the report, staff will work with the county commissioners and legislators on site acquisition in those counties where coverage is not 95 percent or gaps in coverage exist in critical areas. Staff will work with the legislature to determine whether changes in legislation are appropriate to give the project team the tools to eliminate issues and concerns with local zoning ordinances.
- Creating a dedicated implementation team that approaches implementation from a commonwealth perspective -- A central implementation team will develop an integrated schedule of implementation across the commonwealth agencies and across geographic regions of the state. The implementation team will create an enterprise help desk for addressing user issues, use a centralized approach to coordinating training materials and delivery and provide implementation resources to overcome specific agency issues. This team will be an integrated team of resources from the commonwealth agencies who will be using the system.
- Creating an Interoperability Advisory Board -- The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency(PEMA) and the Office of Homeland Security will take the lead in establishing an interoperability advisory board that will consist of state, local and federal government representatives. The commonwealth will launch a series of meetings with each Regional Counter Terrorism Task Force to address the interoperability needs and plans across each unique region of the commonwealth. Changes will be made as necessary to the Commonwealth Interoperability Plan.
- Restructuring the project team -- The commonwealth will restructure the Radio Project Office to focus on site acquisition, customer service and interoperability.
- Developing a communications plan -- The administration will develop a communications plan to reach each county commissioner, legislator and state agency, informing them of the status of the system and addressing the misunderstandings that exist across the commonwealth.
