An Audit Report on the Commission on State Emergency Communications' Implementation of Phase 1 of Wireless 9-1-1 Improvements Page: 4 of 9
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The Commission used various communications with RPCs, wireless service providers,
and others to determine the status of Phase I implementation. The Commission
primarily relied on letters from RPCs that reported that Phase I was operational as of
the deadline for the counties identified in those letters. The Commission based its
calculation of the percentage completion on the information in those letters. However,
documentation of system test results provided by RPCs and PSAPs did not support that
73.7 percent of the population had improved wireless
9-1-1 services. The system test documentation only validated that Phase I
improvements were 11.3 percent complete because most of the documentation did
not show that:
* All of the appropriate cell towers were tested.
* Wireless 9-1-1 calls were properly routed to all of the appropriate PSAPs and
the data was correctly displayed.
In addition to reviewing documentation, the State Auditor's Office placed or observed
50 test calls to PSAPs in 19 counties to verify that Phase I improvements were
operating correctly. (See Map 3.) In 17 counties with 40.5 percent of the covered
population, all of the test calls were correctly processed. However, successful test calls
alone do not validate that all appropriate cell towers and PSAPs were tested and that all
the data was properly received. In the two remaining counties with 2.3 percent of the
covered population, the test results were mixed with at least one successful and one
failed call in each county. Unsuccessful test calls show that Phase I is not working
correctly in all areas of a county.
The Commission needs to verify the status of Phase I implementation to ensure that the
improvements are working correctly in all areas reported as complete.
What Efforts Did the Commission Make to Meet the Statutory
Deadline?
Even though the Commission did not meet the statutory goal, it was actively involved in
the implementation process and took actions necessary to move the process forward.
However, implementing Phase I required the cooperation of numerous parties that each
had to do their part to ensure that the improvements
were successfully deployed. More than 30 wireless Definition
service providers and several local exchange carriers Local exchange carrier-a
(LECs) were responsible for the system changes telecommunications provider
required to implement the Phase I improvements. that offers dial tone service.
In addition to wireless service providers and LECs, Phase I implementation also
depended on 24 RPCs, over 300 PSAPs, and various contractors. The Commission
worked with many of the parties and took several key steps during implementation to
move the process forward. For example, the Commission:
AN AUDIT REPORT ON THE COMMISSION ON
STATE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS IMPLEMENTATION OF
OCTOBER 2000 PHASE I OF WIRELESS 9-1-1 IMPROVEMENTS PAGE 3
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Texas. Office of the State Auditor. An Audit Report on the Commission on State Emergency Communications' Implementation of Phase 1 of Wireless 9-1-1 Improvements, report, October 2000; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth517922/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.