NS - Grant - Ratification of Application for Interoperable Communications Technology Grant

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COPS lnteroperable Communications Technology Grant Program B Quarterly Programmatic Updates Once per quarter, grantees will be required to submit a brief programmatic update to their COPS lnteroperable Communications Technology point of contact This narrative update should detail what grant activities occurred during the past three months and describe planned activities for the upcoming quarter, There is no set format for this update, and it can be submitted by electronic mail to the COPS point of contact. Evaluation of Projects - As a condition of the grant award, grantees will be required to conduct an evaluation to document the successes and impediments experienced by the grant recipients in implementing the demonstration projects Grantees will be required to submit the evaluation to the COPS Office. The evaluations will help to export the lessons learned to other states and communities Otf:er lnformatsion --- Standards When procuring equipment for communication system development and- expansion, a standards-based approach should be used to begin migration to multi~urisdictional and muStrdisapfinary interoperability. Speafically, aA new voice sys#ems should be compatible with the ANS1171AlEIAA 102 Phase 1 (Project 25 or P25) suite of standards. This recommendatlon is intended for government-owned or (eased land mobile public safety rad'a equipment and its purpose is to make sure that such equipment or systems are capable of interoperating with other public safety Sand mobile equipment or systems.. !t is not in#ended to apply to commercial services that offer other types of interoperabil'~r solutions and does not exclude any application if it demonstrates that the system or equipment being proposed will lead to enhanced interopetabil"dy With input from the user community, these standards have been developed to allow for backward cx?mpatibility with existing digital and analog systems and to provide for interoper3bSlity in future systems The FCC has chosen the P25 suite of standards for voice and low-moderate speed data interoperablity in the new nationwide 700 MHz frequency band and the Integrated Wireless Network (lWN) of the U.S Justice and Treasury Departments has chosen the Project 25 suite of standards for their new radio equipment. P25 has also been endorsed by the U S Department of Defense for new LMR (Land Mobile Radio) radio systems However, the first priority of federal funding for improving public safety communications is #o provide basic, operable communications within a department with safety as the overriding consideration. Funding requests by agencies to replace or add radio equipment to an existing non-P25 system w-~I be considered if there is an explanation as to how their radio selection will allow for improving interoperability or eventual migration to lnteroperable systems This guidance does not preclude funding of non-Project 25 equipment when there are compelfrng reasons for using other solutions Absent these compelling masons, the COPS Office intends that Project 25 equipment will be preferred for digital systems #o which the standard applies 41