DHS mulls options for interoperable wireless communications

The Homeland Security Department is evaluating several options to improve interoperable wireless communications at all levels of government, including the creation of a new program management office, according to a senior DHS official.

DHS officials have met during the past two weeks to examine options to meet Secretary Tom Ridge's goal of improving interoperable wireless communications, said Penrose Albright, the department's assistant secretary for science and technology.

"What we have to do now is consider how we implement this interoperability priority that the secretary has and there are a number of options out there," Albright said. "Creating a program management office is certainly one of the options that are on the table."

Albright declined to comment on other options being considered, adding that he does not know when a decision will be made.

A primary mission for DHS is developing standards for wireless communications systems, Albright said.

Charles McQueary, DHS undersecretary for science and technology, said the department does not want to issue "unilateral standards," but rather wants to work with other agencies and private companies to develop core principles for wireless communications. "We need to develop an approach that will let interoperable communications evolve," he said.

One of the main efforts creating standards is the wireless public safety interoperable communications initiative, or Project SAFECOM. Albright said SAFECOM might be folded into a new program management office if it were created.

The Office of Management and Budget established SAFECOM in 2002 as one of the Bush administration's 24 e-government initiatives. SAFECOM is an umbrella program intended to help local, tribal, state and federal agencies improve public safety response through more effective, efficient and interoperable wireless communications.

SAFECOM was expanded in January when it absorbed the Public-Safety Wireless Network (PSWN) program, which was a joint effort between the Treasury and the Justice departments. The network consists of officials from local, state, federal and tribal governments, and conducts pilot projects and symposiums nationwide on wireless interoperability. At the time, officials said PSWN was being moved under SAFECOM to pool resources and provide greater coordination for wireless communications.

Thomas Coty, SAFECOM's deputy director, said Monday his office would issue an announcement within the "next three to four weeks" to field test and evaluate interoperable technologies. The first phase would require companies to submit five- to six-page proposals, followed by a second phase of full proposals.

Coty expects the solicitation to be very competitive and the department to award two to four contracts by mid- to late July. The technology should be "open in nature and readily open to standards," he told executives.

Greta Wodele, of National Journal's Technology Daily, contributed to this report.