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FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA, November 19, 2018 — Montgomery County, Virginia, on behalf of the New River Valley Emergency Communications Regional Authority (the Authority), has selected Federal Engineering, Inc. (FE) to assist in the design and procurement of a regional radio communications system to support first responders and public service organizations.

Mr. Matt Hobson, Executive Director of the Authority, said: “Montgomery County is located in the southwestern part of Virginia in the region known as the New River Valley. The New River Valley Emergency Communications Regional Authority, is an agency of the consolidated governments of the Town of Blacksburg, the Town of Christiansburg, the County of Montgomery, VA and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). The Authority is the public safety answering point (PSAP) for Montgomery County, VA and the Towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg, as well as Virginia Tech. The Authority is a recent consolidation of local PSAP’s and became operational in July of 2016. Oversight for the Authority is provided by the Board of Directors, with members from each of the four governmental bodies and an at-large member, as well as the Executive Director. Although the Authority is an independent governmental body, the Authority contracts with Montgomery County for fiscal management services.”

Mr. Hobson went on: “This radio project has a broad focus to address the regional limitations of the existing radio systems and the associated infrastructure. We require the services of a firm that knows the characteristics of communications in our area of the Commonwealth. We also want a firm with the size and depth to address a system serving multiple jurisdictions. The Authority released a request for proposal (RFP) and received multiple bids. After we conducted a thorough review of the proposals, we interviewed the top firms. Federal Engineering was our unanimous choice.”

Mr. Ronald F. Bosco, President and CEO of Federal Engineering, offered a vignette of the project: “We understand the needs of the Authority which include: greater agency interoperability, decreased interference in the UHF bandwidth, reduced number of talk groups, greater region-wide in-building and street level coverage, improved operational security, and the need for a system that is scalable and allows for additional capacity to accommodate future growth. To support these needs, FE will:

• Provide technical guidance and leadership through each phase of the project
• Provide an operational and technical needs assessment based on current technology trends with respect to interoperability, interference issues, and geographic coverage issues
• Prepare a comprehensive RFP with pertinent functional specifications
• Evaluate proposals and recommend a vendor based on the proposer’s ability to comply with the RFP specifications as well as capital costs and recurring operational/maintenance costs
• Assist in conducting best and final offer inquiries, contract reviews, and negotiations
• Identify grant funding

To facilitate this process and provide good management visibility, the project has been divided into five phases.”

Federal Engineering is a leading, nationwide firm providing analysis, design, procurement, and implementation support for NG911, PSAPs, ECCs, and EOCs. These services complement FE’s wide range of consulting services in public safety and public service communications involving LTE as well as traditional VHF, UHF, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, and 4.9GHz mobile radio systems. FE also supports FirstNet planning in anticipation of the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network. Since 1983, FE has completed thousands of communications projects for 46 state governments, as well as numerous local and federal government clients.

In addition to its public sector work, Federal Engineering provides design and implementation support services for voice, data, and video networks used in the transportation, utilities, aerospace, finance, education, publishing, and computer services industries. FE’s certified independence ensures that clients receive objective, unbiased consulting services that are not influenced by any particular technology, product, vendor, or approach.