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Holmes County moves to pursue NGA 911 contract breach after continued service problems
Summary
The county’s 9-1-1 coordinator told commissioners NGA has not met its scope of work; commissioners voted to pursue breach/termination and directed staff to coordinate backup plans and legal review.
Holmes County’s 9-1-1 coordinator, Ashley Helms, told the commission that the vendor NGA has repeatedly failed to meet the county’s scope of work for the new 9-1-1 service. Helms said testing has shown persistent issues, and she and other commissioners noted that neighboring Jackson County pulled its NGA contract and that other counties are considering similar steps.
Helms said the state initially paid for equipment and core services related to the NGA implementation but that the county has experienced problems with transfers and testing that leave the county exposed to potential liability if a cutover failed and calls were not routed or location services were missing. Staff noted the county’s current backup (Walton County) would not provide location services if transferred without remediation.
After questioning from commissioners about contract termination language and redundancy/backups, a commissioner moved to proceed with breach/termination steps; the motion received a second and the board approved pursuing breach and coordinating with legal and neighboring agencies to protect 9-1-1 continuity. The board asked staff to develop a contingency plan and consult with county legal counsel before taking final contract-termination steps.
The county did not announce a contractor replacement at the meeting; staff were directed to confirm fallback services, consult the county attorney and provide a timeline and risk summary to the commission.
