California's Office of Emergency Services announces selection of vendors to modernize state 911 system

SACRAMENTO – The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services announced an important step forward in making the state better prepared to assist those in need during emergencies and natural disasters.

The state office has selected four contractors – Atos, CenturyLink, NGA 911 and Synergem Technologies – to partner with the state Office of Emergency Services in upgrading California’s outdated 911 system to a Next Generation 911 platform. The effort to modernize the 911 system across the state will introduce proven state-of-the-art technology to ensure California is better prepared to assist those in need during emergencies and natural disasters.

“In a smartphone-connected world, it’s essential that our public safety capabilities keep pace with the technology people are using every day,” Director Mark Ghilarducci of the state Office of Emergency Services said. “Today marks a significant milestone in updating our 911 network to better support dispatchers, emergency responders and to ultimately save lives.”

The 2019 budget act invested nearly $1 billion in funding for emergency preparedness and response, which included a new, permanent funding source to transform the state’s 911 system to better interface with digital information systems and cell phones.

In addition to transforming the state’s 911 system to better interface with digital information systems and cell phones, Next Generation 911 will increase resiliency by hardening the system to withstand natural and human-caused disasters; allow agencies to reroute 911 calls to each other during disasters; reduce 911 system outages and downtime; allow a statewide common delivery system for alerts and warnings; ensure emergency calls are quickly and accurately delivered; support text to 911 and deliver increased location accuracy for wireless calls.

The Office of Emergency Services is responsible for the coordination of overall state agency response to major disasters in support of local government. The agency is responsible for assuring the state’s readiness to respond to and recover from all hazards – natural, man-made, war-caused emergencies and disasters – and for assisting local governments in their emergency preparedness, response, recovery and hazard mitigation efforts. For more information, visit http://www.caloes.ca.gov or find them on Twitter and get the latest news at http://www.OESNews.com.

Submitted by the California Office of Emergency Services.