PSERN Bulletin | March/April 2020

King County, Washington sent this bulletin at 04/14/2020 12:30 PM PDT

In This Issue

Issue 29, March/April 2020

Creating a New Operator
Project Updates
Register your Bi-Directional Amplifier (BDA)/Distributed Antenna System (DAS)
Project Schedule
Contact Us

Creating a New Operator

Planning is underway to transfer all Puget Sound Emergency Radio Network (PSERN) assets, liabilities, and records to an entirely new non-profit governmental agency that will be formed to run the network once it is completed – the PSERN Operator. Since PSERN end users will be hearing more about this new agency, it is important to explain the distinct roles of the PSERN Project and the PSERN Operator (the Operator).

Though the leasing, construction, and implementation of PSERN are managed by the PSERN Project, (the Project), the Operator will ultimately control all contracts, assets, liabilities, and records that the County has amassed on behalf of the region over the life of the Project.

As laid out by its founding legal instrument, The PSERN Operator Interlocal Agreement (ILA), the PSERN Operator will own, operate, manage, upgrade, update, and repair the PSERN radio infrastructure. Once the 12 partners – 11 cities and King County – approve the ILA, the new entity will have been formed. Then the Operator can begin the 18 month preparation process for taking over PSERN operations.

The partners will appoint members to the Operator’s Board of Directors (the Board). Once the Board is formed, it will adopt bylaws, and begin a recruitment for an Executive Director (ED). The ED will work with the Board to begin building the PSERN Operator from the ground up. This work will run concurrently with the Project activities for roughly 18 months.

During this time, the PSERN Project’s Joint Board will continue to oversee the Project’s scope, schedule, and budget, while the Operator’s Board will be voting on matters of procedure and policy, reviewing staffing/budget models, and standardizing rates, quality of service, and performance quality of the network itself. In the end, the new PSERN Operator will be the entity who will invoice customers for monthly PSERN radio and console fees. Per the current schedule, this would place the Board’s formation in mid-2021, with operational hand-off to the Operator planned for the end of 2022.

If you have more questions about the ILA or the PSERN Operator, please contact Kimberly Nuber, knuber@kingcounty.gov or (206) 263-5865.

Project Updates

The Project is overcoming some setbacks related to COVID-19, however there are still plenty of Project updates:

The PSERN Operator Interlocal Agreement has been transmitted to the 12 partners – 11 cities and King County for legislative approval. Once reviewed and signed, the ILA will solidify the ownership of the future PSERN Operator.
We have reached 96% execution of all legal agreements for the PSERN Project Radio sites. Only two out of the original 62 agreements remain to be negotiated.
With radio site leases nearly complete, construction activities have been intense and will increase now that access to mountain sites is achievable. Over the course of the winter months, 15 radio sites were in winter blackout status (WBO) – meaning no construction could occur. Now that four of the fifteen sites are out of WBO, construction has resumed. As the winter weather subsides, more sites should open up for construction.
In the past couple of months, the Project has hired two Construction Project Managers to address the growing needs around site construction. And one of PSERN’s very own received a promotion to Senior IT Project Administrator to provide high-level support to PSERN's construction and implementation teams.
The Project has experienced a few set-backs due to COVID-19. While the PSERN team is able to work remotely and keep the Project moving forward, several factors are preventing some work from moving forward. In essence, social distancing policies, stay at home orders, and resource constraints are preventing progress in some areas of the project. This has left some schedule milestones in flux. The Project is working with vendors, including Motorola, to ensure progress continues. PSERN staff will have a better understanding of the full impacts of COVID-19 on the Project in the months to come.

Register your Bi-Directional Amplifier (BDA)/Distributed Antenna System (DAS)

Please register your BDA/DAS today, and follow the registration and verification process listed below:

Contact your Fire Marshal or Building Official to validate local code requirements for BDA/DAS.
If using a broadband or Class “B” BDA/DAS, you must also register it with the Federal Communications Commission
Contact your system manager to register your BDA - See the project's website for more information.

Project Schedule

Please note, 2020 is a pivotal year for the Project which means that shifts in the schedule may occur throughout the year. Key Project dates are currently as follows:

Core & Dispatch Center Transition: TBD -- Per Covid-19
Radio Frequency Coverage Testing (system-wide) to be completed: May 2021
Radio End User Pilot Testing to be completed: September 2021
Radio Deployment & Transition to be completed: July 2022
Full System Acceptance: December 2022

*Dates subject to change

Contact Us

If you would like to request more information about PSERN, or would like an in-person presentation for your organization, please contact us using the information below.

Please include your name, title, organization and your preferred contact method. A member of our team will return your inquiry within one business day.

For general information about the PSERN Project, please visit our website, psern.org.
For questions about the project or its staff, please call 206-47-PSERN / 206-477-7376, or email PSERN-INFO@kingcounty.gov.
For questions about how your distributed antenna systems (DAS) and/or Bi-Directional amplifiers (BDAs) will be affected by PSERN, please email DAS-PSERN@kingcounty.gov.

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