Board approves site-access agreement for Bay Area 700 MHz public-safety broadband network

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a site-access and use agreement enabling San Francisco to participate in the Bay Area Regional Interoperable Communications System(BayWeb) for the 700 megahertz public-safety broadband spectrum.

The resolution authorizes a 12-year agreement for site access and management with Motorola related to the Bay Area 700 MHz public-safety broadband infrastructure. City information-technology and emergency-management officials told the board the system will begin as a dedicated data network for public-safety agencies, enabling images and video transfer between responders, and could be phased to include voice communications in later years.

Why it matters: Project proponents said the infrastructure funding offered through federal grants and vendor agreements presents an opportunity to build a regional dedicated public-safety data network that could replace commercial services for critical communications. Opponents and cautious supervisors raised concerns about long-term device and subscription costs, uncertainty about regional partners and the short federal timeline tied to grant spending.

What officials said

Ann Cronenberg, Director of the Department of Emergency Management, and John Walton, the city chief information officer, described the regional governance structure and funding. Cronenberg said the Bay Area joint powers authority would own the system after the vendor period and that some regional partners had not yet voted on the build-own-operate-and-maintain (BOOM) agreement but still were participating in the joint planning process. Walton said the infrastructure would be largely funded by federal and vendor grants, and the citywould face ongoing modest annual costs for leases and staff.

Walton and Cronenberg told the board that the system would improve respondersability to transmit data on-scene and in disaster conditions compared with commercial cell networks, which can be congested during large incidents. Walton estimated the ongoing annual cost for leases and staff at about $246,000 and said device costs would be phased into normal equipment-replacement cycles; the monthly projected device cost on the BayWeb system was cited as about $43 per device ($38 for service plus $5 to the JPA) when it is operational.

Concerns voiced

Supervisor Jane Kim and others said the board lacked clarity about long-term subscription costs for devices and questioned whether regional partners (notably San Jose and Santa Clara) had declined to approve earlier contracts for a variety of reasons. Kim and others expressed unease about an accelerated federal timetable that required local jurisdictions to move quickly to receive grant funds.

Supervisor David Chiu and other supporters said the city already pays for some commercial data services and that this dedicated regional platform could reduce reliance on commercial carriers and provide first-responder access that is not available on public networks.

Vote and next steps

The board adopted the resolution 9-1. The planning, lease and device procurement steps will come back to the city through additional reviews, including presentations to the Cityand Countytechnology oversight committee (COIT) and lease reviews. Officials committed to return to the board and COIT with firmer device and lease cost estimates and to provide periodic reports.

Sources and attribution: Remarks summarized from Ann Cronenberg (Department of Emergency Management), John Walton (Chief Information Officer), and board floor discussion (Supervisor Jane Kim, Supervisor David Chiu).