It’s imperative for first responders from different jurisdictions to be able to communicate with one another over their radios during a public safety situation. Several New York State counties determined they needed outside assistance in developing their Tactical Interoperable Communications Plan (TICP), which would document communications governance structures, technology assets, and usage policies and procedures.

NYSTEC worked with these counties to write or update their TICPs. We surveyed county personnel on assets and interoperability; entered the assets into the federal Communication Assets Survey and Mapping (CASM) tool; organized and led meetings to gather information for inclusion in each TICP; and led additional meetings to review drafts of each plan until each document was finalized.

Each county now has a comprehensive plan that defines the breadth and scope of its interoperable assets, describes how those assets are shared and how their use is prioritized, and outlines the steps individual agencies should follow to request, activate, and use each asset.
Each TICP provides clear procedures for first responders to communicate in response to incidents and emergencies. And select counties have used their plans as foundational documents to strategize communications improvements.

A U.S. city’s internal data network became overburdened as a result of explosive growth in traffic and usage. The City decided to upgrade its network to support enhanced Internet services across its entire fiber-optic footprint.

NYSTEC conducted a fiber characterization study of all node locations on the network and estimated construction costs associated with the upgrade. We also assisted with ring node design. We then provided comprehensive Project Management and Quality Assurance (PM/QA) services for the project, including assistance with coordinating and deploying critical network assets.

The upgrade project has resulted in an extremely sophisticated municipal network, providing the communications backbone for all city agencies and thousands of employees. The secure dark-fiber network enables interagency connections, hosts hundreds of city applications, and provides internet-based services citywide.

A government agency determined it needed an independent assessment of its information technology program.

NYSTEC helped the agency benchmark it’s IT program and recommended actions for achieving improvements. We initiated a six-step approach for the project: validate the organization’s goals and expectations; define the current state of IT; benchmark the organization’s observed strengths and weaknesses; define a “desired IT state” for the agency; identify gaps and improvement opportunities; and develop a roadmap with clearly defined action steps. The project involved extensive analysis of documents, interviews with staff members, development of customized scorecards for measuring the agency’s IT performance against industry standards, and multiple collaborative sessions with agency leaders and staff members. Based on the assessment, we delivered an actionable strategic roadmap for improvements.

The agency has already acted on a number of our recommendations. In a post-project assessment of our work, our performance was rated as “Excellent,” the highest possible rating.