PROJECT SAFECOM PROCEEDING SLOWLY, GAO TELLS CONGRESS
The federal govt.’s program to achieve communications interoperability has made limited progress, the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported Fri. Project SAFECOM was created to achieve wireless interoperability between first responders and public safety systems at all levels of govt., as well as realize potentially billions in savings, but neither appears likely to happen soon, GAO said. The project has made “very limited progress,” the GAO report said, and the savings of “billions of dollars” are no longer expected by program officials. The program hasn’t reached agreements with all shareholders nor established a stable funding mechanism, GAO said.
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One factor holding back the program, GAO said, is inconsistent executive treatment. Not quite 3 years old, Project SAFECOM has already been assigned to 3 different agencies and had 4 management teams. Project SAFECOM was moved to the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) in May, after being started in the Treasury Dept. and spending time under the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). GAO also said inadequate interagency collaboration has hampered SAFECOM, as 4 separate management teams have run the project since its inception. The GAO report was submitted to House Govt. Reform Chmn. Davis (R-Va.), Technology Subcommittee Chmn. Putnam (R-Fla.) and National Security Subcommittee Chmn. Shays (R-Conn.).
DHS should take steps to complete the “written participation and funding agreements with organizations representing all of the project’s stakeholders,” GAO said. In a response, DHS said SAFECOM was the first program to attempt to coordinate and orchestrate interoperability and that it would occur “over time.” “The solution to the problems of public safety communications and communications interoperability -- short of a major overhaul of how spectrum is allocated and managed in this country, technology is implemented, and agency budget cycles are coordinated -- is not a single nor even a clear set of discrete tasks,” DHS said. “There are no simple solutions.”
DHS said it has already taken some steps to address GAO’s concerns: (1) Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) have been developed and an MOU with the Defense Dept. has been signed. (2) MOUs will be used in the future to further delineate funding priorities and responsibilities. (3) A “Balanced Scorecard” has been developed to help DHS track SAFECOM’s progress. GAO said the steps could alleviate some of the problems with the program. DHS also said it’s: (1) Working with the leadership of the public safety community to gather comprehensive needs and requirements. (2) Identifying existing initiatives so as to not duplicate existing efforts. (3) Developing short- and long-term projects to address interoperability needs.