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Podcast 6

Partnering and MOU Development

Topic/Title: "Partnering and MOU Development"

Description: The City of San Francisco, California, received a COPS 2007 Technology Program grant to continue build-out of the Bay Area radio network. Jurisdictions across the Bay Area, considered one of the Nation’s “Super UASIs” or Urban Area Security Initiative regions, are working cooperatively to expand and link radio systems. The region is considered to be at the forefront in partnering and development of interagency agreements for shared systems.

Participant: Laura Phillips, Executive Director, Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiative, California

  Listen to Full Interview (duration time: 34:30:00)

Questions: Introduction: Can you tell us a bit about the Bay Area Regional Interoperable Communications System, BayRICS, and share your background with it?

1. Broadly speaking, what sort of partnering challenges do you face with such a large and complex region?
2. The portion of your project funded by a COPS grant built upon a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, for management of the UASI region designated in 2006.
   1. Would you describe that MOU for us and how have you had to supplement it for BayRICS?
   2. Were any national tools of help in developing further agreements?
3. One key interagency connection piece of BayRICS will be provided through the P25 Inter Subsystem Interface, or ISSI.
   1. Would you describe how it’s going to be used and what the partnering challenges have been?
   2. How have you addressed those challenges?
   3. Do you see any changes to agreements on ISSI use over time?
4. The Bay Area has an interesting mutual aid relationship with the Sacramento region.
   1. Would you describe that and what you’re doing to provide for interagency communications during mutual aid operations?
   2. How have you built formal agreements laying out each region’s responsibilities and commitments?
5. It’s a bit outside of your COPS-funded project, but your success with partnering in the Bay Area has carried over to the broadband wireless arena, too. Recently, you served as the governance working group co-chair for a recent national broadband task force.
   1. What are the Bay Area’s plans for broadband wireless?
   2. Do you see any differences between partnerships and formal agreements for land mobile radio systems and what is needed for broadband wireless systems?
   3. Does BayRICS help to provide a foundation for these future regional efforts?
6. In closing, what are your take-away messages for the success of others partnering in future projects?

  Written transcript of interview