[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 80 (Thursday, April 25, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24428-24429]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-09805]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
[Docket No. DHS-2013-0027]
P25 Compliance Assessment Program for Communications Equipment
AGENCY: Science and Technology Directorate, Department of Homeland
Security.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security is seeking Expressions of
Interest from laboratory accreditation bodies, which are International
Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Full Members and
signatories to the ILAC mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) and
which are capable of providing accreditation services for laboratories
participating in the Project 25 (P25) Compliance Assessment Program
(P25 CAP).
P25 is a standard which enables interoperability among digital two-
way land mobile radio communications products created by and for public
safety professionals. P25 CAP is a formal, independent process for
ensuring that communications equipment that is declared by the
manufacturer to be P25 compliant in fact meets P25 standards.
Accreditation of the test laboratories that carry out the compliance
assessment is currently conducted by P25 CAP itself, but DHS is
considering a transition to compliance assessment by third-party
laboratory accreditation organizations.
As a first step in the process, the DHS is gauging interest from
laboratory accreditation bodies. This Request for Expressions of
Interest (REI) is for information and planning purposes only. It is not
a broad agency announcement, Request for Proposals or Quotations, or
other form of solicitation for bids, and it is not a commitment or
obligation by DHS to make award of any contractual instrument or make
any payment.
DATES: May 28, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Expressions of interest should be submitted to
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cuong Luu, Program Manager, Office for
Interoperability and Compatibility, U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, tel: 202-254-6374, [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
P25 is a standards development process for the design, manufacture,
and evaluation of interoperable digital two-way land mobile radio
communications products created by and for public safety professionals.
The goal of P25 is to specify formal standards for interfaces between
the various components of a land mobile radio system commonly used by
emergency responders in portable handheld and mobile vehicle-mounted
devices. The P25 standard enables interoperability among different
manufacturers' products.
P25 CAP was developed by DHS and the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) to identify equipment that complies
with P25 standards. P25 CAP provides first responders with
documentation of interoperability they need to inform their purchasing
decisions. P25 CAP is a voluntary program that allows manufacturers to
publicly attest to their products' compliance with P25 standards
through a Suppliers' Declaration of Compliance Document (SDoC),
substantiated by an Official Summary Test Report. P25 CAP makes
[[Page 24429]]
these documents available to the first response community on the
Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Responder Knowledge Base
(RKB) Web site at http://www.rkb.us.
P25 CAP accepts test reports from certified first (where the
laboratory is operated by the manufacturer), second (where the
laboratory is operated by the Federal government), and third party
laboratories (where the laboratory is operated by an independent
party).
Products are tested for performance, conformance, and
interoperability. The relevant technical requirements and test methods
have been selected by P25 CAP, and the currently accredited
laboratories have been assessed for their competence to test to
specific or all of the test criteria. The current P25 CAP laboratory
recognition process is detailed in NIST Handbook 153.
Eight test laboratories are currently accredited under P25 CAP. P25
CAP has informed these eight laboratories that they may be required to
seek re-accreditation from any DHS-identified designated laboratory
accreditation body(ies) in order to maintain their P25 CAP
accreditation. The P25 CAP will consider accreditation organizations
for participation and will recognize laboratories appropriately-
accredited by any DHS-identified designated accreditation bodies. P25
CAP has developed a transition plan that will allow time for DHS-
designated laboratory accreditation body(ies) to develop and offer an
accreditation program for P25 CAP testing. This transition program may
include appropriate workshops for interested parties, i.e., candidate
laboratories, radio manufacturers, and others.
Expressions of Interest
Laboratory accreditation bodies are invited to respond to this
notice with an expression of interest, including (1) the name of
organization; (2) a contact person; (3) telephone number; and (4) email
address.
Laboratory accreditation bodies participating in the P25 CAP
program will be required to: (a) Maintain their ILAC MRA Signatory
status; (b) Nominate subject matter expert assessors; (c) Participate
in P25-provided training activities, and (d) Accredit laboratories to
the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025, the international standard for
requirement for competence of testing and calibration laboratories, and
P25 CAP specific requirements.
A responding laboratory accreditation body should also discuss its:
(e) Access to assessors with expertise in areas relevant to the P25
standard; (f) Prior experience with similar technologies; and (g)
Accreditation of one or more of the currently designated laboratories
for similar technologies.
Expressions of Interest should note the FRN docket number in the
subject line and be no longer than 10 pages. They the above factors and
be submitted to [email protected]. Responses to this notice will be
acknowledged by DHS. Information obtained as a result of this notice
will be used as considerations for the restructuring of the P25 CAP.
Interested parties should avoid including any business confidential
or proprietary information in its expression of interest. If such
information must be included, it should be clearly marked and the
interested party must provide justification as to why such information
is confidential and/or proprietary. DHS will handle such information in
accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552).
This Request for Expressions of Interest is for information and
planning purposes only. It is not a broad agency announcement, Request
for Proposals or Quotations, or other form of solicitation for bids,
and it is not a commitment or obligation by DHS to make award of any
contractual instrument or make any payment. The cost for the
preparation and submission of a response to this notice is solely the
responsibility of the interested party. DHS will make no payment(s)
associated with this Request for Expressions of Interest.
Additional information can be found at:
Project 25: http://www.safecomprogram.gov/currentprojects/project25.
Project 25 Compliance Assessment Program and Compliance Assessment
Bulletins: http://www.safecomprogram.gov/currentprojects/project25cap.
NIST Handbook 153: http://www.safecomprogram.gov/SiteCollectionDocuments/NISTHandbook1532009REVEdition_16Jul09.pdf.
P25 CAP Laboratory Recognition (eight laboratories and their scopes
of recognition): http://www.safecomprogram.gov/currentprojects/project25cap/webpages/lr.aspx.
FEMA Responder Knowledge Base: https://www.rkb.us.
Dated: April 12, 2013.
Tara O'Toole,
Under Secretary for Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 2013-09805 Filed 4-24-13; 8:45 am]
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