State of Minnesota Selects Mission Critical Partners to Develop Next Generation 911 Migration and Cybersecurity Plan for Modernizing Public Safety Communications
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (June 15, 2023) — The Minnesota Department of Information Technology Services and the Department of Public Safety Emergency Communication Networks (ECN) division are revisiting their statewide public-safety communications strategy with the help of consulting and managed services firm Mission Critical Partners (MCP). The state began transitioning to Next Generation 911 (NG911) service by implementing a statewide emergency services Internet Protocol network (ESInet) in 2011. Under the new contract, MCP will provide guidance over the next year regarding the most effective and efficient path toward implementing a modern, innovative NG911 system from technical, operational, and financial perspectives. MCP subject-matter experts specifically will assess the following:
- How best to transition from the current 911 system to the NG911 system.
- Current and future costs for transitioning to a fully functioning NG911 system.
- How best to recover those costs while ensuring that the cost-recovery model is equitable for all NG911 system users and aligns with revenue generated by the statewide 911 service fee.
- Governance related to the NG911 transition.
“This project will support the Department of Public Safety – ECN Division as it transitions to the NG911 system. This major transformation impacts our first responders’ communication capabilities across Minnesota, not only from a strategic planning standpoint but also from a budgetary perspective,” said Dana Wahlberg, director of the Department of Public Safety – ECN Division. Minnesota’s NG911 migration also will have implications for each of the state’s emergency communications centers (ECCs) — also known as public safety answering points (PSAPs) or 911 centers — pertaining to cybersecurity, geographic information systems (GIS), and backup dispatch capabilities. The goal is to ensure that each ECC possesses the infrastructure required for the NG911 migration. MCP subject-matter experts will leverage the firm’s in-house data integration solutions:
- Store and analyze critical data regarding each emergency communications center (ECC)’s technology and communications infrastructure.
- Serve as the foundation for a statewide migration plan outlining a timeline and short- and long-term funding requirements.
- Integrate with Salesforce, a cloud-based customer-relationship-management software platform utilized by state agencies.
