FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PSC Approves Contract for Next Generation 911 Services
Lincoln, January 5, 2021– By a vote of four-to-one, the
Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) today, January 5,
approved entering into a contract with Lumen (formerly
CenturyLink) to provide Next Generation 911 (NG911) services.
“I’d like to thank everyone involved in this process for their
support,” said District 3, Commissioner Tim Schram. “This
is a collaborative effort and we are excited to continue the
process to bring improved 911 services to all Nebraskans.”
Voting against the contract approval was District 2,
Commissioner Crystal Rhoades. Rhoades said, “Lumen has
a proven track record of 911 failures nationally and in
Nebraska. I don’t believe awarding them the contract is
prudent given they are currently under investigation for
those failures.”
The contract calls for the establishment of a statewide
Emergency Services Internet Protocol Network (ESInet)
that will allow callers seeking emergency services to
contact 911 not only by making a voice call, but also
allowing the utilization of multi-media data such as text
messages, pictures and video. As part of the contract,
Lumen is partnering with Intrado to provide NG911
Core Services which involves the locating and routing
of calls to 911 geospatially. In a geospatial environment
a caller’s location is identified using Geographic
Information System (GIS) data based on a caller’s
longitude & latitude.
The initial five-year contract with Lumen (CenturyLink) is
to provide NG911 services at a cost of nearly $815,000 the
first year, and $1.8 million each of the remaining four years.
At the end of the initial contract period, the Commission
will have the option to extend the contract for up to
10-years.
“This is the next big step in our process,” said David
Sankey, state 911 director. “Once the contract is signed,
we’ll sit down with representatives of Lumen to set priorities
and a timeline to begin the process of connecting regions
of Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) to the statewide
ESInet.”
The PSC currently provides funding assistance to 68 PSAPs.
The PSAPs are in the process of forming regions with seven
PSAP regions expected to be connected to the statewide
ESInet at the completion of the project.
The goal, Sankey said, is to have all PSAP regions
connected to the ESInet by the end of 2022.
The contract once finalized by the state, can be found on the
Nebraska Department of Administrative Services/State
Purchasing webpage @< https://das.nebraska.gov/materiel/
purchasing/6264/6264.html > .###
Contact:
Deb Collins- Media & Communications Mgr.
(402) 471-0226
deb.collins@nebraska.gov
