Contract Name: Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) & Wireless Priority Service (WPS)
Contract Number: HC1013-04-C-5000
Sponsor: National Communications System, Department of Homeland Security
Contract Expiration Date: December 31, 2009
Program Ceiling: N/A
Type of TOs: CPAF

Hurricanes, earthquakes, acts of terror and other crises or emergencies can destroy equipment and facilities - possibly causing considerable physical disruption to telephone service - as well as generate extraordinary levels of call volume. During such times it is particularly important for National Security and Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) personnel to complete their calls so they can respond rapidly and effectively.

For over 40 years, the National Communications System (NCS), now part of the Department of Homeland Security, has helped provide NS/EP telecommunications support. In response to White House tasking, the NCS developed the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) and the Wireless Priority Service (WPS) so that NS/EP personnel can communicate over the local and long distance wireline and wireless segments of the world's greatest telecommunications asset, the nation's Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN), during times of crisis. Rather than build an expensive system exclusively for emergency use, the NCS made intelligent use of the PSTN by enhancing its existing robustness. These enhancements, based on existing commercial technology, provide NS/EP users a high likelihood of call completion during the most severe conditions of network congestion and disruption.

To implement GETS and WPS, the NCS selected CSC as the GETS/WPS Integration Contractor (IC). In this role, CSC is the key to the successful implementation of GETS and WPS. CSC works with service providers, switch manufacturers, the NCS and their Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance contractor to bring the capabilities of the telecommunications industry together into a technologically sophisticated but easy-to-use nationwide service. GETS and WPS use special features which give priority routing to NS/EP calls over available PSTN lines, while restricting access to those features to authorized personnel. As the GETS/WPS IC, CSC ensures these features provide a cost-effective means of ensuring rapid and reliable PSTN wireline and wireless NS/EP communications.

What Is Available

CSC provides the following services:

• Operations, administration, and maintenance support for GETS/WPS users, 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• Training
• Planning for future services
• Systems engineering
• Service engineering and implementation

Why Choose CSC?

CSC has helped clients around the world manage and profit from every major wave of change in information technology for more than four decades. Our mission is to provide customers in government and industry with solutions crafted to meet their specific challenges and enable them to profit from the advanced use of technology. During those years, CSC has proudly served the U.S. Government as a trusted IT partner. Our innovative solutions and mission-critical operations services have supported NS/EP initiatives of vital importance to the nation. We go beyond simple fixes to truly innovative, effective solutions, offering an unparalleled scope of services ranging from consulting in the strategic uses of information technology, to systems design, development and integration, to outsourcing. CSC: Proven expertise. Results that count.

Who Is Eligible

GETS and WPS are available to any Federal, State, Local, or Tribal government organization or Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that performs any of the following NS/EP missions, as defined by the NCS:

National security leadership

• National security posture and U.S. population attack warning
• Public health, safety and maintenance of law and order
• Public welfare and maintenance of the national economic posture
• Disaster Recovery

Additionally, industrial or commercial organizations considered part of the critical infrastructure may also be eligible.

The Office of the Manager, NCS (OMNCS) or an NCS member organization must sponsor Federal organizations that are not members of the NCS and non-Federal organizations.

How to Order

For information on becoming a GETS or WPS subscriber, please contact us or see your organization's GETS/WPS Point(s) of Contact; or visit the NCS GETS program page or the NCS WPS program page.

Contacts

Tom Otto
Program Manager
Tel:  703.818.4296
E-mail: totto@csc.com

About CSC

Learn more about CSC.