Statement of need.pdf

Statement of Need

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The Alaska Regional Communications Center (ARCC) provides public safety dispatch services for fifteen park service units across Alaska. Dispatchers track resources and assets as part of their daily routine via radio, telephone, automatic flight following, satellite telephone, and satellite handheld device. The former, satellite handheld devices, are particularly important due to our region’s remote location and geography. An inventory of Garmin handheld devices that are owned by Park Service Units are deployed to field units and are actively administered/monitored by ARCC staff. The device operates off software provided by a third party who acts as a relay between device holder, a monitoring center, and the account holder. The individual devices are still in good working order and meet the needs of our users. Public safety in Alaska is dynamic and ARCC and the Park Service Units that we dispatch for are in need of a communications provider that is: responsive, reliable, and streamlined in terms of usage.

As agencies, the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, and Alaska Regional Communications Center have the following needs:

• Provide a robust software and relay service that is impervious and not susceptible to routine outage.

• Feature secure tracking that is compliant with Department of the Interior/National Park Service standards and practices.

• Compatible with all current Garmin devices on the market as well as InReach: Explorer, Explorer+, Mini, SE, and SE+.

• Two-way messaging service between a device holder and a centralized point of contact.

• Two-way message between devices.

• Emergency/SOS activation feature that is capable of two-way messaging and providing GPS coordinates from a device holder to a 24/7/365 relay center or hub.

• Must base off a well-designed mapping service with accurate layers covering remote Alaska.

• Tracking interval options that allow for consistent short and long-term tracks with a tool that can also plot GPS way points as a visual “bread crumb”.

• Allow a user to retrieve data from the field with ease.

• Provide and staff a 24/7/365 relay hub that can work in tandem with ARCC dispatch staff to ensure that the devices are always monitored.

• Provide for a support hub (ARCC) that is authorized to access, edit, enter, and manage devices.

• Allows for “mini-hubs” where park units can manage their own devices (not devices from other park units).

• The hub must have the ability to easily administer the account, including: suspension of billing on particular device or put them on a reduced fee inactive status, allow for scheduled/automated suspensions based on date, ability to change plans, and offer a portal to monitor usage/overages.

• Offer an array of plans for active users to dormant statuses.

• Plans that charge by the message, tracking intervals, or other means that is easily measurable.

• A well laid out billing model that clearly shows charge per device or group of devices.

o Being able to group devices is paramount. Administrators should be able to input a device serial number and assign it to a sub-group that can be batched and sorted in a bill.

• Billing that lists and explains usage