Lawmakers unhappy with slow progress on emergency wireless project

A multi-agency project aiming to create a wireless communications network to connect police and other emergency responders across jurisdictions could lose a portion of its federal allowance in fiscal 2008, according to House and Senate appropriations committee reports. National Journal’s Andrew Noyes writes that the Justice, Homeland Security, and Treasury departments already have spent $195 million on the program, which could have a $5 billion price tag by 2021. The project has also caught the attention of Justice’s inspector general. The initiative would update outdated land-mobile radio (LMR) systems by incorporating cellular telephones and walkie-talkies to provide reliable, secure, wireless capabilities for 81,000 agents nationwide. A March 2007 IG report, however, drew attention to the program’s “disparate funding mechanisms” and inadequate documentation. The integrated wireless network (IWN) is currently one of the most expensive items among Justice’s information technology projects and it is at high risk of failure, the IG report stated. Unless the deficiencies are addressed, such a system “may not be developed and the resulting separate agency communications systems may not be adequate in the event of another terrorist attack or natural disaster.”

The House-passed appropriations bill, H.R. 3093, would fund the project at $81.3 million — the same as the agency’s budget estimate. The Senate measure, S. 1745, however, would provide $76.3 million. The program received $89 million in fiscal 2007. There is reason for the Senate’s stinginess, as lawmakers expressed concern about “lagging progress, as well as the recurring costs of the conversion” to narrowband operations. The panel also noted that an aging infrastructure has been an impediment to implementation.

Despite six years of development and a lot of money, the project yielded only a few test systems, but law enforcement agents have received little by way of new, secure, compliant radio equipment, the IG report said. The program’s collapse “would represent a significant missed opportunity” for federal, state and local agencies, officials added. The Justice Department admitted IWN “has clearly not progressed as rapidly as desired,” but said the report did not accurately reflect progress that has been made. Justice bought thousands of new digital radios and launched interoperability channels in 10 cities that facilitate communication between counterparts in federal, state and local agencies.