NENA, Indiana Officials Among Witnesses for Wednesday's NG-911 House Hearing

Services Vice President Mary Boyd and Steve Souder, who retired last year from leading Virginia’s Fairfax County 911 system. A GOP memo said that “several barriers remain to the realization of nationwide NG911,” citing funding concerns: “Costs of the transition to NG911 are significant, [but] an authoritative comprehensive cost study has not been produced to date. Congress directed the ICO [the E911 Implementation Coordination Office] to submit a cost study within one year of the passage of the NG911 Advancement Act in 2012, but no such study has been submitted, despite bipartisan concerns over the previous administration’s delay.” Consensus is that funding is “inadequate,” with proposals on the table to “include eliminating funding inconsistencies between states, within states, and between voice delivery networks -- landline, wireless, VoIP and prepaid,” the GOP memo said. It cites governance, network security and regulatory barriers as key issues. The Democratic memo noted funding issues with NG-911. The hearing follows a debate over the i3 standard between APCO and NENA last week (see 1703240052). “That operational and transitional NG911 systems based on i3 exist is a testament to the workability and permanence of the i3 standard,” said Evelyn Bailey, executive director of the National Association of State 911 Administrators, in a statement Monday. “We are well on the way toward achieving the vision of nationwide NG911 by the end of 2020. NASNA does not support anything that would slow down and disrupt that progress.”