Guest Blog Post by Rich Reed, FirstNet Director of State Plans

Today will close out a productive four days at the 2014 Texas Emergency Management Conference held in San Antonio, TX. It was great to hear from the hundreds of local and state first responders, emergency managers, and decision makers in attendance about their priorities, challenges, and accomplishments. FirstNet would like to thank the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) for inviting us to participate in this year’s conference.

I had the opportunity to provide an update on FirstNet’s consultation process and to engage in a wide ranging question-and-answer session with audience members about the nationwide public safety broadband network. Given the size, diverse geography, and large population in Texas, the state has many factors to consider when it comes to deploying the network for use by the state’s more than 250,000 first responders.

During my presentation, I explained the FirstNet consultation process and reviewed the timeline of key next steps leading up to the design of the state plan. I focused on key elements of the initial consultation process and described how FirstNet would be working with the state Single Point of Contract, Todd Early, to better understand the potential users, coverage goals, and capacity requirements, among other things, to inform the network design in the state plan.

I have worked with Todd and the Texas Department of Public Safety team for many years on emergency communications issues, and every time I meet with them I find myself impressed with their capabilities, vision, and accomplishments. Texas is leading the way on many key functional areas of consultation and planning for the deployment of a public safety broadband network. They have made major progress with proving the value of a Band 14 network, as well as envisioning many use cases, user groups, and a world class governance structure. This forward thinking leadership will benefit Texas, FirstNet, and the nation.

Thank you again for the opportunity to participate in the 2014 Emergency Management Conference. We look forward to working with Texas in the coming months on the initial consultation process.

- Rich