WiCAB Progress To-Date

The Tennessee Public Safety Wireless Interoperable Communications Advisory Board (WiCAB) was established to ensure that an alternate means of communications to telephone is created that will work for all emergency management headquarters in the state and enhance the capabilities of incident managers. The WiCAB board formed and conducted its first meeting on Oct. 23, 2007 with Chairman James Bassham presiding.

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All members identified by title in the executive order were present, but two local government representatives had not yet been appointed by the governor. In their stead, two temporary appointments were made to represent local interests. This reflected the strong commitment by all interests in ensuring the goals of the governor are met. In the first meeting, the board approved by-laws, established rules of operation and formed four standing committees: Planning, Resources, Technical and Users.

In the second meeting on Nov. 19, 2007, the board reached out to incorporate its first selection of projects to meet the criteria of the executive order. The board granted the chairman specific powers to make notifications of awards, caveats or other information as required in letters to jurisdictions that submitted projects for a Public Safety Interoperability System grant. The board reviewed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) grant project and approved projects selected by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency using a P25 standard. Selections were made from 15 applications totaling over $73.5 million to apply for a $17.5 million grant.

Five projects were chosen for application and the board approved forwarding the applications to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in addition to a required strategic reserve to be used for expansion of emergencies.

The following projects were approved for PSIC grant submission:

· District 3 Plan, City of Chattanooga, construction of a 9-county regional interoperability system, $14,000,000.

· District 11 Plan, Memphis UASI area, purchase of three caches of 25 radios and 3 portable towers, including Communications Unit Leader training costing $50,000 to support NIMS/ICS, $565,000.

· District 5 Plan, Williamson County, LETS Talk project to crossband UHF and VHF radio systems, $412,000.

· Obion County Plan, 200 radios for use by first responders to complete an 800 MHz trunked radio system, $285,600.

· Tennessee Department of Correction Plan, licensing of the master P25 switch in Morgan County, $275,000.

· Strategic Reserve, purchase of a radio cache and tower on wheels for the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) threat, $1,358,506 (required by PSIC stipulation).

In the third meeting on Jan. 22, 2008, the newly approved Communications Consultant Project Manager was introduced. Buford Goff & Associates was selected as contractor on Dec. 13, 2007. The board reviewed the approved nominations for the PSIC grant again. The vision was formally established, the project management plan was approved, and formal tasking for committees and their working groups was made. The board approved the membership of the Planning Committee, the Resource Committee and Technical Committee.

In the fourth meeting on Feb. 25, 2008, the board chose “TnWIN” as the acronym to describe the interoperable communications system being created by the WiCAB, the Tennessee Wireless Interoperable Net. The board also added “voice and data” to the vision statement. The board agreed that a report is now due to the Governor regarding the activities of the WiCAB, and a meeting will be arranged with the Deputy Governor to meet this requirement.