Welcome to the May issue of The Indiana FirstNet Connect, an
e-newsletter to share developments related to FirstNet and the deployment of
the planned, Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN).
Thank you to everyone who attended and supported the
statewide conference held in French Lick at the beginning of May! We could not have pulled off such a
successful event without your help. The
conference provided us the opportunity to bring together federal FirstNet leaders
with Indiana public safety professionals for an educational dialogue.
Over the next couple of months, we look forward to working
with public safety leaders across the state as we prepare for the FirstNet draft
state plan to be shared for comment.
Sincerely,
David Vice, IPSC Executive Director and State of Indiana Single Point of Contact (SPOC)
|
 On May 2nd and 3rd, more than 270
public safety professionals joined IPSC to learn about FirstNet plans and
next steps. The majority of attendees
represented emergency management, law enforcement and 911 dispatch/PSAPs,
complemented by state staff, local elected officials, and professionals from
fire departments, hospitals, public health and EMS agencies.
Pictured: TJ Kennedy, FirstNet President
Feedback from attendees was very positive, and we all
learned a great deal from the federal FirstNet leaders and other
presenters. Thanks to active engagement
of attendees, IPSC learned more about your priorities for public safety
communications and what considerations will be important for decision-making once
the network is available. Conference
presentations are available for download online here.
We will continue to collaborate with state and local
partners during the draft state plan review process, the Governor’s
Opt-in/Opt-out decision process, and FirstNet implementation, to ensure that
Indiana’s local public safety professionals have up-to-date and comprehensive
information about the forthcoming NPSBN.
 Pictured: David W. Vice, IPSC Executive Director/ FirstNet SPOC and Dewand Neely, Indiana CIO
|
Visit Indiana FirstNet's website to view the State Plan District Meetings, where we will gather feedback from communities around the state on the draft Indiana state plan developed by FirstNet and AT&T. Meetings begin June 26th, and you can register here.
On May 4, 2017, FirstNet released its guidance package for the
Draft State Plan review process. The guidance
outlines the timeline, review and comment submission process.
FirstNet State Plan Timeline
 Source: Guidance Package for FirstNet State Plan Review, Released May 4, 2017
On June 7th-8th, in Dallas, Texas, the
national state plan kick off jump starts the process to introduce the FirstNet
solution and state plan review process.
FirstNet will release draft State Plans in mid-June on an
online Marketing Portal, open to the public.
The portal will be a standard website with information about coverage,
rate plans, devices, services and more.
Once received, Indiana has 45 days to review its Draft State
Plan and provide feedback to FirstNet. The Integrated Public Safety Commission
(IPSC) will use a three-prong approach to gather feedback: (1) Workgroups,
(2) District Meetings (see above), and (3) a Statewide Survey. We will share additional information on upcoming
district meetings and survey when available.
 FirstNet will review and consider all comments submitted by
Indiana’s SPOC, David Vice, before releasing the final State Plan to the
Governor for the opt-in/opt-out decision. IPSC looks forward to working with
the public safety community to provide vital feedback on this game-changing,
impactful program.
Tyler Clements, Outreach Coordinator for IPSC, interviewed attendees live on Facebook throughout the Nothing but 'Net conference. Below are highlights – visit and follow IPSC on Facebook to see all of Tyler’s videos!
“If we can deploy such technologies as FirstNet, and improve those challenges and get the technology to our troops, everyone is going to be safer.” - Major Mike White, Indiana State Police
“There’s time we just have dead spots because there’s too many people on the network at that time. So to have our own network will get us ahead of the game some.” - Shari Harrington, Montgomery County Emergency Management
“What we can take back from this [conference] is an enhanced ability to be able to adapt with change, to adapt and assume these new technologies, to be able to work with other communities and to effectively be able to do our jobs.” - Chief David Mann, Edinburgh Police Department |
