FirstNet – State Plan Checklist Portal

Executive summary

FirstNet has awarded a contract to AT&T for building a nationwide public safety broadband wireless network. AT&T is currently preparing state specific FirstNet plans. States are expected to weigh this plan against then current plan or any alternate options and decide to opt-in or out. The decision process involves complex calculations and comparison of various data components at the county and state levels. The magnitude of this process and time limitations on the decision process demands a data consolidation dash boards that could aid the decision makers.

Enquizit, along with its Public Safety Partner TDD, has developed a customized solution to enable State and Local Government make an educated decision regarding their public safety broadband networks. This customized Web Portal highlights all of the Cost, Capacity, Coverage and Control elements of the public safety network.

Business Challenge / Problem Detail

The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 created the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) as an independent authority within NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) to provide emergency responders with the first nationwide, high-speed, broadband network dedicated to public safety. Recently, FirstNet award a contract to AT&T for building a nationwide public safety broadband wireless network. The need for such a network was made apparent when first responders were unable to communicate with each other during the September 11 attacks. AT&T is currently preparing state specific FirstNet plans and is scheduled to submit to the states in June 2017. States then will have 90 days to understand and analyze the offerings from AT&T. States are expected to weigh this plan against then current plan or any alternate options and decide to opt-in or out. If they opt-out of FirstNet, states have the option of building their own public safety networks to FirstNet standards. Band 14 is the wireless spectrum reserved exclusively for FirstNet.

The decision process involves complex calculations and comparison of various data components at the county and state levels. The four broad categories of requirements to be compared are cost, coverage, capacity, and control. State decision makers are trusted with this complex and sensitive decision process that could impact the safety of their citizens. The magnitude of this process and time limitations on the decision process demands a data consolidation dash boards that could aid the decision makers.

Output / Our Solution

Enquizit, along with its Public Safety Partner TDD, has developed a customized solution to enable State and Local Government make an educated decision regarding their public safety broadband networks. This customized Web Portal highlights all of the Cost, Capacity, Coverage and Control elements of the public safety network. Well organized data elements along with the built-in analytics in our portal aid state and local government in making the most informed decision to opt-in or opt-out.

Our team is building an application with mission critical performance at scale, with elasticity, flexibility, and security. A comprehensive development approach and agile process, along with validated tools and technologies, were selected to ensure quality deliverables. With utmost priority of protecting the sensitive data hosted by this system, Amazon Web Services (AWS) was chosen as the cloud service provider.

Enquizit Role

Our team is responsible for the design, development, testing, deployment and maintenance of the State Plan Checklist portal. Specific responsibilities include:

Tooling (Tools and Technologies)

Expected Challenges

Client:

State Decision makers from States Governments

Industry:

State Government

Problem Statement

States are expected to weigh the FirstNet Plan which involves complex calculations and comparison of various data components. The magnitude of this process and time limitations on the decision process demands a data consolidation dash board that could aid the decision makers.

Goals and Benefits

Core Partners:

AWS and TDD (No Development or Operations Role)