Building on the consensus that was developed by the Emergency Communications Task Force (ECTF), as sponsored by APCO International and the IJIS institute, this project will undertake the next steps in implementing the recommendations and priorities from the Task Force.  The project will continue the partnership of APCO and the IJIS Institute, and will further engage the emergency communications practitioner community and the technology industry to establish a common Information Sharing and Safeguarding (IS&S) framework, encompassing the required policy and technology components, for the next generation emergency communications environment.

This project will be conducted as an initiative under the IJIS Institute Springboard program. Springboard provides  the capability to both industry and government to test the implementation of standards-based information sharing solutions utilizing national standards and common framework.  Springboard services include evaluation and conformance certification via an independent test facility.

The development of these new standards-based information sharing solutions will follow the process put in place by APCO to create technical standards under the APCO ANSI program. The development process will be supported by the Springboard platform.  9-1-1, CAD, and RMS software and system providers will be invited to participate in the development, to include testing of the new standards with their systems.

As these new standards-based solutions become formally recognized in the ANSI process, evaluation and conformance services will be available to industry and government through the Springboard program. Conformance criteria will be developed in accordance with the APCO ANSI process and will form the basis of a formal certification of conformance. APCO publishes all newly adopted standards to the public safety community, making them available to emergency communications practitioners and the technology industry that serves them.  Springboard services will be available to industry based upon subscription and certification fees depending upon the specific needs and interests of the participating companies.

The project will directly follow the recommendations of the ECTF which have been approved by both the Executive Committee of APCO, and the Board of Directors of the IJIS Institute.  The first step recommended by the ECTF was to create a common messaging standard for CAD to CAD information exchange, followed closely by standards-based solutions for CAD to RMS, and CAD to CAD exchanges.  This work will lead development of the common IS&S framework, which will be utilized to securely share emergency communications information across the 65 separate exchanges identified by the APCO/IJIS working committee of the public safety data interoperability program.

The common IS&S framework, and associated standards-based solutions, will provide a consistent set of information sharing and safeguarding functional standards for industry and government. These will use relevant components such as those developed by the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative as the foundational components.   It is anticipated that the functional standards will incorporate the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM), and will embrace the use of the Global Federated Identity and Privilege Management (GFIPM), as well as the Global Reference Architecture (GRA).  Details of these building blocks can be found at www.it.ojp.gov/gist.

While APCO International and the IJIS Institute will jointly manage this project, the joint APCO/IJIS team will lead the group of practitioners and industry toward the development of a standard that can be submitted to the APCO ANSI process.  Both APCO and the IJIS Institute are keenly aware of the number of related efforts throughout the public safety technology world being undertaken by various non-governmental organizations and government offices, and there is a strong fundamental premise in this project not to duplicate work already completed, but to incorporate such other relevant activities and bring a full collaborative spirit to this project.  The ECTF members will be invited to continue active participation in this project, and will likely be expanded to seek representation from such other organizations as may be interested and committed to the success of this effort.

Both APCO and the IJIS Institute are committed to completing the draft standards for CAD to CAD and CAD to RMS exchanges in time to present the drafts at the APCO International Annual Conference in New Orleans August 3-6, 2014.
If you are willing and able to help achieve the consensus so long desired by the public safety community, please feel free to contact either Paul Wormeli at IJIS (Paul.wormeli@ijis.org) or Steve Wisely at APCO International (Wiselys@apcointl.org).