Proposal would have California 911 centers migrating to IP-based next-generation 911 technology by 2030, with procurements being conducted early next year
By Donny Jackson, Editor, Urgent Communications
California’s latest proposal to transition the public-safety answering points (PSAPs) to IP-based next-generation 911 (NG911) technology recommends the procurement of a new statewide vendor early next year, with completion of the massive deployment by 2030.
California Governor’s Office of Emergency Management Services (Cal OES) officials presented a new NG911 transition plan last week to members of the Cal OES State 911 Advisory Board, a subcommittee of which ultimately voted to table the item until a missing key board member could participate in the vote.
California Governor’s Office of Emergency Management Services (Cal OES) Chief Deputy Director Lisa Mangat reiterated the need for PSAPs in the state to migrate from the aging legacy 911 system to an NG911 platform, despite the project’s delays during the past several years.
“We recognize that what we are proposing are improvements to the original NG911 project. We also recognize that implementation may be complex at times. However, the status quo is not an option; improvements are needed … Smart, thoughtful changes are necessary, and it’s also the responsible thing to do.
“As a longstanding public servant being part of large, complex projects such as this, I will be the first to tell you that we don’t always get it right. We going to need to hear from you, when you think we can do a better job on the communications side … We want to hear from you on that.”
Cal OES’s new NG911 transition proposal was submitted after a decision was made to abandon the previous plan, which called for the NG911 implementation to be executed in four regions of state—each with a separate vendor. This approach was supposed to result in all 440 PSAPs in California using NG911 technology by the end of 2021. Instead, only 23 PSAPs have been transitioned as of this year, while US$455.28 million was spent on the initiative through June of this year, according to the Cal OES proposal.
Adding to the financial burden for California taxpayers is the fact that the state has paid $392 million to support operations in PSAPs that still use legacy 911 technology—an average of more than $65 million annually for the last six years, according to Cal OES.
Under the new written proposal, Cal OES plans to have the NG911 spearheaded by a single statewide vendor and supported by a single backup vendor. In addition, the new Cal OES plans calls for the use of transitional elements in the network to make ongoing 911 operations less burdensome to PSAPs during the migration from aging legacy systems to NG911 technologies. Both of these strategies were identified verbally during the advisory board’s previous meeting in August.
Procuring the statewide vendor and the statewide backup vendor is expected to occur in “early 2026,” according to the new transition proposal. Migration of PSAPs to NG911—with the 23 existing NG911 PSAPs being in the first group—would be scheduled to begin in “late 2026.” Deployment of NG911 throughout the rest of the state—and decommissioning of legacy 911 components—would be conducted between 2026 and 2030, according to the Cal OES proposal.
Cal OES effectively has halted progress on the NG911 project since August 2024, after which longtime project leader Budge Currier parted ways with the agency.
New Cal OES State 911 Advisory Board Chair Steven Yarbrough—the new deputy director of the Cal OES public-safety communications unit—acknowledged that the NG911 situation may be frustrating to many, but he emphasized the need for stakeholders to take the time necessary to pivot to an effective NG911 deployment model.
“I’m aware that the project has been paused for some time, and that feels like we’re losing something,” Yarbrough said during the advisory-board meeting. “I think it’s equally important to remember that we don’t get another opportunity to get this right.”
Several advisory-board members indicated that they were less than impressed with the new Cal OES transition proposal, describing it as more of a “good report” on the status of the project under the previous approach than a forward-looking plan with clear goals and performance metrics between the procurement and final deployment. Yarbrough said more details should be available after vendors are identified in the procurements.
Meanwhile, NBC Bay Area television journalist Candice Nguyen asked during the advisory-board meeting what the estimated total cost to California taxpayers would be, given the need to pay new vendors and to fund PSAPs using legacy 911 systems in the interim.
Cal OES Chief Counsel David Neill responded by saying that “I think it would be irresponsible to make any sort of guess along those lines.”
