Washington State Awards Comtech $48 Million Multi-Year Contract Extension for Next Generation 911 Services

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Comtech announced that Washington State recently awarded the company a $48 million contract extension to continue providing Next Generation 911 (NG911) services over the next five years, with the option to extend through 2034.

Washington State initially contracted Comtech to design, deploy and operate next generation public safety technologies and secure and reliable communications capabilities in 2016, making Washington a national leader in the application of NG911 services.

“We value our continued partnership with Washington State and have worked collaboratively over the past eight years to deploy one of the most robust and advanced NG911 systems in the United States,” said Ken Peterman, President and CEO, Comtech. "This contract extension award further demonstrates the state of Washington’s trust of our NG911 capabilities to support the state’s public safety mission. As we continue to support the state of Washington, we look forward to exploring emerging capabilities like artificial intelligence to equip first responders with life-saving insights at the speed of relevance.”

“The Washington State NG911 enterprise system provides people in crisis with a more effective 911 service and has saved countless lives in the eight years since we initially partnered with Comtech,” said Adam Wasserman, Assistant Director for Emergency Communications, Washington State Emergency Management Division. “Our NG911 system keeps pace with the ever-evolving communications technologies used by the citizens in our state. In addition, due to the increased reliability, resilience and security, as well as the designed interoperability with other 911 centers – intrastate, interstate, and international (Canada) – the Washington State NG911 enterprise system is more effective at collecting and disseminating initial situational awareness during major emergencies and disasters.”

As one of the most trusted providers of public safety technologies, Comtech is continuing to expand its NG911 offerings for governments and emergency response providers around the world. The company’s NG911 systems are designed to adapt and continuously evolve over time to meet the needs of emerging use cases as well as future applications.

About the State of Washington 911 Coordination Office

The 911 Unit of the Emergency Management Division works to ensure the seamless operation of the statewide 911 communications system, ensuring uniform, prompt, and efficient access to public safety services for the citizens and visitors to the state of Washington.

Washington has 86 Public Safety Answering Points (911 centers) that cover all 39 counties within the state. The PSAPs are connected to the statewide Emergency Services IP Network (ESInet), which delivers location information of the 911 caller as well as other data needed.

In addition to contracting for the statewide 911 network, the 911 Unit provides fiscal and technical assistance to counties and PSAPs to support 911 operations. The 911 Unit continues to drive the evolution of the 911 network to accommodate the advances in communication technologies such as wireless, VoIP-based communications and the myriad of upcoming non-traditional technologies.