AT&T, Verizon Wireless crux of FEMA’s telecom reform

It is a new era for the Federal Emergency Management Administration as it streamlines communications for emergencies and its day-to-day operations.
The federal agency, which was widely criticized for its response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Ike in 2008, has new contracts with wireless and satellite providers that are intended to improve its communications capabilities.
The federal agency employs more than 2,600 full-time workers and has nearly 4,000 standby assistance employees available for emergencies. FEMA is an agency within the Department of Homeland Security and coordinates the federal government’s role in disasters preparedness, response and recovery.
During a competitive bidding process, AT&T Inc. was selected to provide wireless and Wi-Fi services for the agency’s day-to-day operations. Verizon Wireless won the contract for emergency communications and Stratus Technologies was selected to provide satellite communications.
Each of the service providers was awarded a one-year contract with four one-year options. For the possible five years of the contract, FEMA is to pay $61 million.
“This is an example of the new FEMA,” said Rex Whitacre, the agency’s acting deputy CIO.
Cutting out the middle man
Whitacre said the new contracts replace the government’s prior agreement with Verizon Business, which could contract services to various service providers. With the new contracts in place, FEMA can work directly with the service providers and no longer has to worry about the appearance that Verizon Business was pushing contracts to divisions of its parent company, Verizon Communications Inc., he said.
AT&T Government Solutions will serve as the agency’s wireless provider for day-to-day operations. Whitacre said AT&T will provide the agency with 16,000 wireless devices that include wireless cards, Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry 8820 smartphones and various other handsets. Along with voice and data communications, e-mail solutions for the wireless handsets will be available. Handsets with push-to-talk capabilities will also be available to workers.
Whitacre said overall FEMA will be receiving 55,000 wireless cards and devices from the service providers.
Stockpiles
In emergency situations, the agency will utilize Verizon Wireless’ network and devices. The Verizon Wireless handsets and devices that will be used in emergencies are being stockpiled in a warehouse, Whitacre said. The agency plans to reuse some equipment by clearing data from the handsets and having personal computer re-imaged and cleaned after each disaster. This equipment would then return to the warehouse.
Whitacre said the agency relies heavily on wireless networks and satellite communications during emergencies and networks that are knocked out in an emergency zone because of weather or other reasons related to a disaster are to be restored as soon as possible.
Craig Settles, a wireless analyst who owns a consulting firm, is hopeful FEMA has learned from its past mistakes in regard to its response to Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ike. Settles said wireless communications is adequate for day-to-day operations, but questions its reliability when recovery workers use it to respond to an emergency.
“Emergency response communications has to be guaranteed,” he said.
Settles said he questions how effective wireless communications can be during a disaster where a network has been knocked out or is flooded with calls by the public.
Settles said local communities and governments need to come up with their own plans for communications during disasters. These plans would take into account the regions susceptibility to earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and other disasters.
“Each area of the country has a different set of needs,” he said. “One company with one network and one solution doesn’t seem to me to be a practical solution.”
The federal agency recently made the transition to the new contracts. The transition took 30 days and was done before the contract with Verizon Business expired Jan. 31.
“It was a big effort,” Whitacre said.
At the end of each year, FEMA will reexamine the agreements and decide to renew with any of the service providers for another year.
“With the new philosophy in place, we wanted to better manage our resources and get the most bang for the buck,” Whitacre said.