AT&T Books $167M in 4 FEMA Task Orders to Modernize Communications; Stacy Schwartz Quoted

AT&T has received four awards from the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency to help its communication modernization efforts over a five-year period if all options are exercised.

The task orders are potentially worth more than $167 million in total and call for AT&T to evolve and develop FEMA’s voice and data functions, wireless LAN system, contact center capability modernization program and the National Warning System, the telecommunications company said Tuesday.

“As climate events and their impacts continue to increase in number and scope, more and more U.S. citizens turn to FEMA for help. We’re proud to stand beside FEMA and modernize its communications capabilities now and for the future,” said Stacy Schwartz, vice president of AT&T Public Sector and FirstNet.

The task orders, which were awarded under the General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract, separately aim to strengthen FEMA’s efforts to complete its mission in disaster preparation and relief by creating a reliable, efficient communication network.

With the new AT&T partnership, the U.S. government is expected to receive first priority and preemption benefits on the company’s Band-4 spectrum network.

In terms of work done under the voice/data task order, AT&T will aim to lower the agency’s enterprise network footprint. In addition, the company will boost security and availability, as well as construct a plan for incorporating future communication needs.

Under the wireless LAN system task order, AT&T is looking to introduce Wi-Fi 6 and other burgeoning technologies to FEMA, all while transitioning current billing to the new enterprise infrastructure solutions contract.

Meanwhile, the contact center capability modernization program work will entail AT&T developing security-enabled services for FEMA contact centers. The more than 1,600 centers are responsible for fielding calls from disaster survivors and are all powered by the FEMA C3MP system. C3MP will migrate to the cloud under the company’s supervision.

Finally, AT&T will modernize FEMA’s National Warning System by evolving legacy technologies to EIS-funded services. Work between FEMA and AT&T is currently underway.