Concept Paper: Emergency Response Interoperability Center Proposed Primary Mission - To establish a technical and operational framework that will ensure nationwide operability and interoperability from the outset in deployment and operation of the 700 MHz public safety broadband wireless network. Proposed Responsibilities Ø Adopt technical and operational requirements and procedures for ensuring a nationwide level of interoperability, to be implemented and enforced through FCC rules, license and lease conditions, and grant conditions. Ø Adopt and implement other enforceable technical and operational requirements and procedures to address, at a minimum, operability, roaming, priority access, gateway functions and interfaces, interconnectivity of public safety broadband wireless networks. Ø Adopt authentication and encryption requirements for common public safety broadband applications and network usage. Ø Coordinate the interoperability framework of regulations, license requirements, grant conditions, and technical standards with other entities (e.g., the Public Safety Broadband Licensee (Public Safety Spectrum Trust), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)). Proposed Structure Ø Location. Housed at FCC in the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. Ø Public Safety Advisory Board. A board that is broadly representative of the public safety community will serve a central advisory role to ERIC. We anticipate that the board will primarily include representatives of all major national public safety organizations and regional, state, tribal, and local public safety entities. Participating Federal first responder agencies, vendors, and service providers may have secondary or ex officio status on the board. Ø Participating Federal Agencies. We recommend that DHS and NIST contribute to ERIC’s functions in their traditional areas of expertise via Memoranda of Agreement with PSHSB and potential staff detail assignments to ERIC: ü DHS would participate in the areas of grant administration, public safety outreach and technical assistance, and best practices development. ü NIST would participate in the areas of standards development, verification, testing, and validation. Ø Federal Partners Coordinating Committee. Federal agencies that regularly coordinate on state and local public safety communications matters (e.g., DHS, NTIA, DOJ) will have the opportunity to provide input into ERIC specific to 700 MHz broadband deployments.