In response to a 2005 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant requirement, the National Capital Region (NCR) was required to develop and submit a Tactical Interoperability Communication Plan, to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The documents detail the NCR UA’s first responder radio interoperability communications operational plans, jurisdictional agency contact information, radio frequency and infrastructure, interoperability process, network systems and includes information on governance, mutual aid agreements, Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) and other information regarding the region’s radio interoperability.
The NCR consists of 22 independent jurisdictions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia. The NCR includes over 50 local, state and federal agencies, all of which were represented in the TICP, and Televate made significant contributions in partnership with other jurisdictions to the effort to ensure a successful TICP preparation. The Commonwealth of Virginia’s Commonwealth Interoperability Coordinator’s Office (CICO) also participated in this program with the NCR.
Televate program management and program coordination staff facilitated the NCR in determining the critical contents of the plan, in assisting jurisdictions in assembling the information for input into the document, in authoring and publishing the final TICP and in generally leading the effort for the NCR to prepare and submit the TICP on behalf of the NCR.
This work began during the first quarter of 2006 with the final TICP being published in June of 2006, with the DHS ranking the NCR UA in the top seven of the 75 participating urban metropolitan areas in the Nation. The NCR UA was found to be in the stages of “Advanced Implementation” in all three determining interoperability categories: Governance, SOPs and Usage.
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