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Latest News

NENA Welcomes Establishment of NG9-1-1 Interoperability Oversight Commission

NENA is welcoming the establishment of an independent body to encourage greater interoperability in Next Generation 9-1-1 systems. Together with other stakeholders, NENA will participate in the new NG9-1-1 Interoperability Oversight Commission, an independent body that will oversee key programs related to interoperability in NG9-1-1, including the PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) Credentialing Agency (PCA) and the NG9-1-1 Forest Guide.

These new services are critically important and will require ongoing, stakeholder-driven oversight, which will be provided by the NG9-1-1 Interoperability Oversight Commission. The commission will oversee the development and operation of both services, including budgets, policies, management procedures, and any fees. Seats on the commission will reflect all affected stakeholders, including 9-1-1 authorities, commercial providers, standards development groups, elected officials, and 9-1-1 operators.

NENA is actively soliciting volunteers to sit on the commission. An open letter with submission instructions is available here, and the bylaws for the Commission are here.

NENA Awards First-Ever Wendy Day Scholarship for Women in 9-1-1

NENA is proud to announce the first-ever recipient of the Wendy Day Memorial Scholarship is Megan Hamilton of Decatur County Communications in Indiana.

This newly established scholarship will send one deserving woman per year to NENA’s 9-1-1 Goes to Washington conference, in honor of Wendy Day’s feminism, passion for 9-1-1 policy, and dedication to the betterment of public safety. The scholarship is made possible by a donation from 911 Authority, LLC.

Megan is a third-year supervisor at Decatur County Communications. She has great passion for her work and her coworkers as well as ambition for the future and helping others in her community.

Click here to read more.

Apply Now for ENP Scholarships!

An ENP scholarship opportunity is now available to current NENA members that meet the eligibility requirements for ENP Certification and plan to sit for the exam by January 2021.

Five ENP Scholarships will be awarded (one per membership region). Each scholarship recipient will receive complimentary registration to take the ENP exam during the Summer 2020, Fall 2020, or Winter 2021 examination periods.

Candidates must complete and submit the online application by Friday, March 6. Scholarship winners will be notified by Friday, March 27.

Next Week! Don't Miss #NENAGTW!

9-1-1 Goes to Washington (#NENAGTW) brings you and hundreds of your fellow 9-1-1 professionals together with government leaders in our nation's capital to address today's most pressing 9-1-1 and emergency communications issues. #NENAGTW is the only event where you learn about the policy challenges facing 9-1-1 and then take immediate action to address them through dialogue with your elected and appointed officials. Join us in Washington for a dynamic, interactive program where you receive:

The inside information you need to shape the 9-1-1 and emergency communications agendas for the Administration and Congress;
Critical knowledge of federal and state 9-1-1, homeland security, and emergency communications legislation, regulation, and policy initiatives; and
An opportunity to speak directly with members of Congress, administration officials, and key staff to make your voice heard on behalf of the entire 9-1-1 community.

Click here to register.

Renew Your NENA Membership for 2020

It’s time to renew your NENA membership! You can do it in just a few quick steps:

1. Simply log in to the NENA website.
2. Go to your Manage Profile page.
3. Click on Membership under the "Account History" header to view your renewal options.
4. Pay online by check or credit card.
5. Print out a receipt for your records.

And don’t forget, group memberships are a great way to share all that NENA has to offer with everyone in your organization! And if you're retired (and have been a NENA member for at least twelve years), you can apply for our new "Retired" member category. Click here for details.

Training Update

Apply to Become a NENA Instructor

The NENA Education Advisory Board seeks engaging and enthusiastic instructors to support NENA's Education & Training program. If you are a subject-matter expert in 9-1-1 operations, technology, database, or other 9-1-1-related fields and you have a proven track record as an excellent instructor, then you are invited to help NENA provide exceptional training across North America.

Instructors may be asked to teach up to ten times per year. Attendance at annual development and training events is required, normally one weekend per year. Instructors are paid on a per-day-of-instruction basis with highly-competitive compensation rates.

For consideration, please submit the following to NENA's Education Director, Ty Wooten:

A resume, including previous work experience, references, and contact information
A letter of support from your employer, if applicable
Three letters of recommendation, at least one of which should be from a former student
A ten-minute video of yourself instructing a class and teaching a concept (please use www.wetransfer.com to share your video)

See documents below for full requirements:

Applications are due by February 7.

Upcoming Courses

Check out the NENA Education Calendar to see additional upcoming classes!

Document Announcements

NG9-1-1 RFP Considerations Document Now Available

The NENA Request for Proposal Considerations Information Document is intended for 9‑1‑1 authorities that have made the decision to issue an RFP for the purpose of procuring all or part of a Next Generation 9‑1‑1 system. This document recommends a structure and content to guide a project team that has been given the charter to develop an RFP. It anticipates that other work has been done and decisions have been made that support the development of the RFP. Implementation of this document will assist 9‑1‑1 authorities in developing an RFP to procure elements of an NG9‑1‑1 system, including PSAP Functional Elements, NG9‑1‑1 Core Services, GIS data and services, and Management Information System (MIS) data collection and reporting.

GIS Data Stewardship for NG9-1-1 Document Now Available

The NENA Information Document for GIS Data Stewardship supports the development of complete, accurate, and current GIS datasets to be used within NG9 1 1 systems. These datasets will be used to validate call location information, to route calls to the correct responding agency, and to display locations in context for call handling purposes. Following the recommendations presented will result in more accurate, efficient, and reliable operation of GIS data dependent services within NG9 1 1 Systems.

NENA Hearing Standards for Telecommunicators Now Available

The NENA Hearing Standards for Public Safety Telecommunicators provides assistance to public safety answering points (PSAPs) in establishing Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant hearing standards for public safety telecommunicators. It is a function of the public safety Telecommunicator to receive and process audible information from various telecommunications devices as well as differentiate and process numerous non-verbal audible alarms and indicators. This standard has been created to assist managers in developing minimum hearing standards required to perform this basic and essential function of the public safety telecommunicator role.

Washington Briefing

CTIA’s 9-1-1 Location Accuracy Technologies Test Bed Announces Additional Testing in 2020

The 9-1-1 Location Technologies Test Bed, LLC (Test Bed), an independent entity established by CTIA, invites vendors of location accuracy technologies to participate in vertical positioning accuracy evaluation (known as Stage Zb). The Test Bed independently evaluates the ability of wireless providers and location technology solutions vendors to meet the FCC’s indoor 9-1-1 location accuracy requirements through different technologies.

This testing round is the next step following the initial Stage Z tests conducted in 2018 and 2019. Stage Z testing focuses on emerging indoor technologies that determine the altitude, or z-axis, of a 9-1-1 caller in multistory buildings.

Consistent with the FCC’s 2015 Order on Indoor Wireless 9-1-1 Location Accuracy, CTIA established the Test Bed to independently and transparently evaluate the performance of new and existing wireless 9-1-1 location information technologies.

The vertical location test campaign is scheduled to begin in September 2020.

Click here to read more.

Volunteers Wanted

Federal Railroad Administration Seeks 9-1-1 Input

Over the course of the last four months, TRAINFO has been conducting research with the US Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to quantify the impact blocked railroad crossings have on emergency responders, and to evaluate the effectiveness predicted train occurrence and duration information can provide to the emergency response process.

Early results of the research have supported the need for predicted train occurrence and duration information in the emergency response process. Additionally, the results are showing the most effective place in the emergency response process to inject this information is at the dispatch level.

To support the research, TRAINFO, on behalf of the FRA is seeking members of the emergency communications agencies to participate in an interview process to evaluate the best use of predicted train occurrence and duration information in the emergency response process. The interviews are expected to take no longer than 15-minutes and will serve to evaluate if the early results of the research are a trend, or if they simply represent outlier scenarios.

Interested parties should contact Neil Ternowetsky before March 15, 2020.

Nominees Sought for NENA Institute Board Opening

The NENA Institute Board (NIB) is seeking to fill an At-Large seat on the NIB. The successful nominee will serve for two years beginning in June 2020. To apply, you must be a current ENP and a NENA member.

The NENA Institute Board has two objectives:

Support the activities of NENA and its members by raising and maintaining professional standards in the field of emergency number management.
Define the Body of Knowledge which indicates broad competence in the implementation and administration of emergency telecommunications services and provides a mechanism by which individuals may demonstrate to the Institute that they have acquired this knowledge and are entitled to ENP certification.

At-Large delegates represent the NENA membership, help disseminate Institute and ENP program information, and are involved in the ENP Examination Review. They are expected to attend the NENA Annual Conference, a two-day Examination Review and NIB Annual Business Meeting each year, as well as monthly conference calls.

Applicants must have a firm knowledge of 9-1-1 technology, management and operations, with a good grasp of how 9-1-1 will change in the future.

Expressions of interest, along with a resume and/or bio, should be sent to Andie Burton, Nominating Committee Chair of the NENA Institute Board by Monday, February 24 for consideration by the Nominating Committee.

Volunteer for the GIS Data Transition Working Group

NENA seeks volunteers for a new working group to write a NENA Information Document that will provide guidance to GIS professionals in the transition to NG9-1-1, for applying NENA’s standards and other information documents to their data development activities, and for everyday maintenance of GIS address attributes.

The intent of this working group is to clarify the use of civic address fields within the NG9-1-1 GIS Data Model to support the transition from E9-1-1 to NG9-1-1. The WG will build upon lessons learned, and suggest best management practices for common challenges faced by GIS professionals transitioning through phases of GIS readiness, from initial creation of GIS data for E9-1-1, to supporting both E9-1-1/ALI-style addresses and NG9-1-1 CLDXF-style civic locations.

Volunteers for this work group should be subject matter experts in:

Assessing and maintaining MSAG/ALI/GIS records, ensuring their accuracy, and keeping them synchronized (NENA 71-501);
The NG9-1-1 GIS Data Model (NENA-STA-006) civic location layers and their attributes, especially the differences between legacy fields and fields that support CLDXF; and
GIS data needed to support civic address lookup by various elements of the i3 Standard for NG9-1-1 (NENA-STA-010), especially current work on i3 v3, and CLDXF v2.

Weekly calls will tentatively be held on Mondays at 3:30PM Eastern.

Click here to join.

Join the Spoofing-Mitigation Working Group

There is currently a strong focus by regulators in North America on combating nuisance calls, including robocalling and illegitimate caller ID spoofing, using caller authentication techniques based on standards developed by ATIS and the IETF. While published standards address mechanisms for caller authentication in general, they do not specifically consider caller authentication in the context of 9-1-1 calls or callback calls. There are new standards development activities underway to address the application of caller ID spoofing mitigation techniques to 9-1-1 and callback calls. It is critical that public safety have input into these standards development activities to ensure that the operational needs of 9‑1‑1 authorities and PSAPs are supported by the standards that ultimately get generated.This working group will address topics including:

Identification of use cases associated with legitimate and illegitimate caller ID spoofing;
Description of the information that should be displayed at the PSAP when verification of caller information passes/fails;
Specification of the handling/treatment of calls where the caller information is suspected to be spoofed;
Description of the role of analytics in the display and treatment of suspected spoofed calls;
Considerations related to caller location spoofing reporting and mitigation; and
Considerations related to the display of PSAP caller ID on callback calls (and in particular, the ability to allow the PSAP caller ID to remain "private").

Meeting days and times are TBD. Click here to join the working group.

National Emergency Number Association