The businesses employed to exchange California’s “weak” 911 community with a brand new cutting-edge system declare the state abruptly deserted a completely constructed, deployment-ready system and changed it with a brand new plan they are saying might value taxpayers lots of of thousands and thousands extra.
The state, which has already spent almost $500 million constructing a regional Subsequent Era 911 (NGA 911) community, determined to drag the plug and go away nearly all of its emergency name facilities on a decades-old analog system whereas it pursues a brand new statewide design.
“It doesn’t make sense to anybody aside from that little bubble they’ve in Sacramento,” mentioned CEO of NGA 911 Don Ferguson, one of many firms contracted to construct the brand new system.
The Publish spoke completely with two of the businesses contracted to construct the internet-based digital system who argue the “core was 100% deployed” and ”able to go” earlier than it was scrapped.
The system would have allowed 911 name facilities to obtain voice calls, textual content messages, movies and site information to streamline and improve emergency responses.
California’s state legislature selected to go digital in 2019 utilizing 4 separate service suppliers — NGA 911, Synergem, Lumen, and Atos — to exchange the analog system that primarily solely carries telephone calls, supplies primary location data, and has a single level of failure.
Every firm was given a area within the Golden State to construct out the brand new system, whereas Atos served because the statewide backup community.
The state spent years — and $457 million in taxpayer {dollars} — constructing a system supposed to attach the 447 emergency dispatch facilities throughout California.
The spine of the community was constructed, in keeping with NGA 911, and like Synergem they have been actively testing and migrating over emergency dispatch facilities — 23 had been converted to the brand new system, with over 200 extra able to go.
“We’ve accomplished all of the work. The heavy lifting has been accomplished,” Myron Herron, president of Synergem informed the Publish.
“It’s such as you construct a race automotive, you fill it with fuel, then the sunshine goes from pink, yellow, then let’s get able to go inexperienced they usually mentioned, ‘Oh, by no means thoughts, race is canceled.’”
The California Governor’s Workplace of Emergency Companies (CAL OES) determined a regional strategy was too difficult and opted to return to a single statewide supplier — a choice Herron and Ferguson mentioned will value taxpayers as much as a billion {dollars}.
With the regional rollout successfully deserted, nearly all of California stays on the previous analog community regardless of a digital framework that’s already constructed.
“That’s the absurdity. They arrive at this after having spent at minimal a half billion {dollars},” Ferguson mentioned.
The Los Angeles Police Division (LAPD) even voiced considerations when CAL OES determined to stall the venture, “urgently” requesting CAL OES expedite the method to complete the Subsequent Era 911 system.
“The continuing wildfire catastrophe in Los Angeles County underscores the crucial want to exchange our weak legacy 911 system — together with a single level of failure and a saturated Hollywood Selective Router,” the division wrote in an e mail to CAL OES final yr.
“We respectively ask for a definitive date to start LAPD’s NG911 turn-up and a right away assembly to finalize the timeline,” the e-mail, reviewed by the Publish, acknowledged.
Regardless of LAPD’s request, NGA 911 informed the Publish it was by no means granted the chance to check its community on the company’s principal router and as an alternative was knowledgeable by CAL OES the venture is on maintain.
“LAPD, once they heard of the pause, they known as us in and mentioned, ‘You guys obtained to assist us transfer this Subsequent Gen factor ahead. What are you able to do?’ And we mentioned, actually, it’s out of our management, Cal OES directs it,” Ferguson informed the Publish, including that LAPD by no means heard again after sending an e mail to the Governor’s Workplace of Emergency Companies.
The corporate claims they supplied ”3,000 pages of assessments” exhibiting their new system was ready-to-go however have been met with silence — till they have been despatched an e mail from the state company in June 2025 saying California was going again to utilizing a single supplier.
“This transition just isn’t a mirrored image of distributors efficiency and doesn’t impression any current contractual preparations you might have or future procurements with the State of California.”
Chief Deputy Director Lisa Mangat acknowledged that the transfer was “not a mirrored image of vendor efficiency.”
”We’re assured that we’ll proceed to work as companions,” the e-mail mentioned.
When contacted by The Publish, CAL OES claimed the brand new 911 system was affected by delays, dropped calls, and disruptions ”at an unacceptable charge.”
“Issues have occurred with the regional system’s core providers (the “brains” of NG 9-1-1), together with failed name transfers, poor audio high quality, lacking location information, and misplaced and dropped calls,” a CAL OES spokesperson mentioned in an announcement to The Publish.
“The person regional NG 911 networks additionally didn’t work properly with each other, which made the system tougher to function and tougher to stabilize when issues occurred.”
California’s non-partisan watchdog, the Legislative Analyst’s Workplace, really useful the state pause the transition and conduct a assessment to find out if abandoning the brand new digital mannequin is justified given the prices taxpayers would face.
However CAL OES ignored the advice and pushed forward with awarding Atos — a French firm — a virtually $200 million bridge contract as tries to maneuver to a single statewide Subsequent Gen system.
Ferguson and Herron estimate rebuilding the system below the brand new mannequin might in the end value taxpayers between $700 million and $1.2 billion, though CAL OES has but to supply their very own estimation.
“I don’t assume CAL OES actually calculated what it meant to say we’re going to maneuver to a single statewide supplier,” Ferguson mentioned, noting that the Atos must set up their very own community methods into the 400-plus 911 name facilities throughout the state.
“It’s the poster little one of presidency waste,” Herron mentioned.
Nevertheless, Governor Gavin Newsom’s workplace known as it a “accountable choice” when requested whether or not he supported CAL OES’ plan to modify again to a single statewide supplier.
“The state didn’t abandon modernization—it made the accountable choice to enhance its implementation technique after real-world operational expertise recognized dangers that might not be ignored,” Newsom’s workplace mentioned in an announcement. “Persevering with with an strategy that was creating deployment challenges would have risked emergency communications for thousands and thousands of Californians.”
“The state is not going to settle for something lower than a system that’s dependable, interoperable, fiscally accountable, and worthy of the general public’s belief” the assertion continued.
Within the meantime, the state is utilizing a operate of the Subsequent Era 911 system that processes name location, in keeping with Ferguson and Herron. In different phrases, the brand new community was discarded however the state continues to depend on a sure features of the digital community like location providers whereas most emergency name facilities proceed working on the analog system.
Herron warns switching to a single statewide supplier might be much more complicated as a result of “it’s a must to develop these interfaces and do the customization another time.
“Their endgame is to have the Subsequent Gen,” Herron mentioned. “I believe they’re already a decade behind the remainder of the USA, I suppose they wish to be twenty years behind the USA.”
Nevertheless, extra oversight is probably going on the horizon for CAL OES, as Newsom not too long ago signed the state funds that features provisions requiring an impartial technical analysis and audit earlier than future long-term selections are made on the Subsequent Era 911 venture.
