[Ccarc] Stimulus money for communications

[Tom Murray]

This is from Mission Critical Magazine

Tom KB9WSL

O N L I N E  E X C L U S I V E


	
		
		Stimulus Bill Holds Promise for Mission-Critical Communications

		February 18, 2009
		



  
By Sandra Wendelken, Editor


President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday the
$787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a plan to
reinvigorate the economy through new jobs, tax breaks and investments
in various sectors including broadband technology and local and state
governments. Although specific funding requests from public-safety
communications groups aren’t included in the bill, billions of dollars
of funding in the legislation potentially could be used to purchase
mission-critical communications equipment.
The bill allocates $4 billion – $13.8 billion for
local public-safety spending and another several billion dollars for
projects of interest to public safety, according to a report from
government-focused consultancy Galain Solutions. “The large span
between the minimum of $4 billion and the maximum of $13.8 billion is
due to questions over how the states will spend a portion of their
proceeds from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund,” the report said.
The total stabilization fund is $53.6 billion, and 18.2 percent of that
can be spent on “public-safety and other government services.”
Local and state leaders have public-safety
communications projects on their radar for the State Fiscal
Stabilization Fund proceeds, according to wish lists published by state
and local governments prior to the passage of the bill. The wish lists
included radio and 9-1-1 systems, CAD, records management and automated
notification systems, in addition to IT enhancement, gunshot location
systems, fire and police training facilities and construction of
public-safety management facilities. “Wish lists will need to be
modified once governors declare their preferences and processes for
spending the money,” the Galain report said.
The bill allocates $1 billion for the
Community-Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant program for
distribution to state and local law-enforcement agencies. COPS funding
has been declining in recent years after peaking at $1.4 billion in
fiscal-year (FY) 1996. In the past, COPS money has been used to hire
new police officers but also for technology, including automated
notification systems, geographic information systems (GIS), CAD and
9-1-1 systems.
In addition, the new bill provides for $880 million
for local law enforcement or related programs. That money includes $225
million for state and local law enforcement assistance to Indian
tribes; $225 million to improve criminal justice systems, assist crime
victims and mentor youth; and $30 million for southern border and
drug-trafficking areas. The new law also includes $560 million for the
Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program to build new or upgrade
fire facilities.
The bill also includes $74 billion in funds for
broadband services. The National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) will distribute nearly $4 billion of the
broadband allocation as grants. All grants must be awarded by the end
of FY 2010. Applicants for grants can be state/local governments or
Indian tribes, nonprofit organizations or “any other entity,” including
broadband service or infrastructure providers.
About $2.5 billion in loans will also be available
through the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS).
The FCC is charged with creating a national broadband plan that makes
recommendations to Congress on how to ensure the universal adoption of
affordable broadband services. NTIA also will develop and maintain a
broadband inventory map of current broadband deployments across the
country.
"I am confident the stimulus bill will provide
grant money or contracts specific to public-safety communications. The
usual groundswell of local agencies know what technologies they may
need; it’s the ability to fund these projects that’s always in
question," said Rob Funk, a senior analyst with market research firm
Input. "Those in need have kept a strict eye on this bill."
Utilities Telecom Council (UTC) officials said
the organization was pleased with the bill’s focus on smart grids,
especially the enlargement and funding of demonstration projects and
matching grants from the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.
“Utilities are engaged in a mammoth undertaking to upgrade their
infrastructure and add the intelligence that will enable more efficient
energy production, delivery and consumption,” said Jill Lyon, UTC vice
president and general council. “The smart grid will be greatly
dependent on communications and IT networks already in place, as well
as their expansion and interconnection over time. The stimulus package
funding will allow these projects to go forward more quickly.”
 

Specific Requests Omitted
Although the bill doesn’t include allocations
specific to wireless E9-1-1 as requested by the National Emergency
Number Association (NENA), the association said it “worked hard to
ensure the inclusion of language in the bill recognizing the need for
access to broadband networks for public-safety answering points (PSAPs)
and emergency response entities, as well as the services and
applications enabled by broadband networks.”
“We are hopeful that NTIA and RUS will take
advantage of the opportunity to enable improved access to and use of
high-speed broadband networks, both wired and wireless, for
emergency-response agencies,” said Patrick Halley, NENA government
affairs director. The next step in the process will be to reach out to
the federal agencies administering the broadband grant/loan programs to
make sure the rules effectively enable 9-1-1/emergency communications
access to and use of broadband networks, Halley said.
The Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST) had
requested $15 billion to build a nationwide 700 MHz public-safety
broadband network. The Association of Public-Safety Communications
Officials (APCO) International also supported federal funding for the
network.
“We are pleased that the grant program included in
the bill can be applied to the deployment of broadband technologies by
public-safety agencies and urge the administration to include more
specific programs that benefit public safety as the package is
implemented,” said George S. Rice, APCO executive director.
The Galain report noted the biggest challenge will
be administering all the money included the bill. “Although the
stimulus plan includes provisions for administrative costs, federal and
state agencies will be challenged to distribute the funds, particularly
within the time frames and oversight rules the plan requires,” the
report said.




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