Page 9 - FCW, September/October 2019

$10,000
FirstNet releases roadmap for network enhancements
is the buyout available to Agriculture Department employees who choose to leave rather than relocate to Kansas City
FirstNet has issued the technological and policy roadmap that will guide its programs, activities and investments over the next five years to make sure first responders have the communication tools they need.
The plan is organized into six domains:
1. Network core, which ensures that the network remains technologically current by exploring cloud-based operations to bring processing closer to users and addressing foundational needs for next-generation technologies.
2. Coverage and capacity, which enables robust and ubiquitous network access by increasing outdoor and indoor coverage, facilitating in-building coverage enhancements and expanding the fleet of deployable equipment.
3. Situational awareness,
which envisions real-time access and the collection and distribution of critical information by enabling easy consumption of geolocation information and collaborating on the development of information-sharing capabilities.
4. Voice communications, which envisions high-quality, reliable voice communications across analog and digital platforms by deploying mission- critical push to talk and advocating for standards and features such as device- to-device communications, land mobile radio to LTE and enhanced dispatch capabilities.
5. Secure information exchange,
which envisions the ability to access, exchange and manage data securely and conveniently within and across public safety agencies and jurisdictions through the use of identity, credential and access management and collaboration on standards for governance and data security.
6. User experience, which seeks to ensure that interfaces are designed
for users’ operational challenges by improving the performance of priority services and advocating for user- friendly apps and specialized devices.
“As we look to the future of FirstNet, it is critical that we deliver network enhancements and innovations based on the needs of public safety and in lockstep with trends in technology,”
said Edward Horowitz, chairman of the First Responder Network Authority board. “This roadmap lays out priorities for ensuring first responders have the dedicated and differentiated network they asked for, supported by the FirstNet Authority’s management of and investment in the network.”
— FCW staff
HHS Accelerate to launch in January
The Department of Health and Human Services’ blockchain-based acquisition portal will get a test run this fall and launch the beginning of next year, HHS CIO Jose Arrieta said.
Speaking at Nextgov’s Emerging Tech summit in August, he said the agency has been developing microservices for its Accelerate portal, which
relies on blockchain and artificial intelligence.
The goal is to use the platform’s deep database
of contracting data from
the agency’s five acquisition
systems to drive automatic
pricing breaks for government the same way consumers can use competitive data at major retailers.
“If you look up the price of something on Amazon and show it to the cashier at Target or Best Buy,” Arrieta said, they will offer you a comparable discount. “We created that ability for the contracting professional” on the Accelerate portal.
Accelerate is the first blockchain- based program in the federal government to receive an authority to operate, and its core node adheres to the Federal Acquisition Regulation and the General Services Administration’s category management initiative.
Other agencies can build their own
microservices based on Accelerate’s core and business service layer, Arrieta said. “No more rewriting SAM.gov information, reputation and certification validation” and other necessary but time-consuming activities, he added.
Jose Arrieta
In addition, HHS officials are talking with the Defense Information Systems Agency about a pilot project for a blockchain-based identity management system. The idea is to use interlaced identity points to lock down access without relying on vulnerable passwords or
usernames, he said. The solution would combine biometrics and behavioral information as a foundation to provide secure access to a variety of networks and devices for health workers, including first responders in the field and doctors in the operating room.
Those attributes could be loaded onto a $7 dongle attached to a smartphone that would potentially provide secure, less cumbersome and less costly identity access to all the user’s networks and devices, Arrieta said.
“It’s powerful,” he added, because it “limits the power of whoever the \[network\] infrastructure provider is.”
— Mark Rockwell
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