Letter Audit Report on the Implementation of the Computer Aided Dispatch System by the New York City Police Department

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This audit determined whether the Intergraph Computer Aided Dispatch System (ICAD) has been implemented and integrated successfully into New York City’s Emergency Communications Transformation Program (ECTP) system.

In 2008, the NYPD contracted with Intergraph Corporation (Intergraph) to implement the ICAD, a key component of the City’s emergency 911 system. ECTP is an ongoing multi-year initiative developed by the City after the 9-11 attack to improve the City’s emergency response capability and the sharing of data between first responders. The goals of ECTP include enhancing call taking and dispatch operations for the New York City Police Department (NYPD), Fire Department (FDNY), and the Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Services Bureau (EMS). The ICAD is the NYPD’s portion of an improved Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system that was designed to replace an earlier attempt at a unified CAD that was never successfully implemented.

Results

The audit generally found that the NYPD’s implementation and integration of the ICAD into ECTP has been successful. Project monitoring and quality assurance have been adequately provided within the framework of the ECTP program. The NYPD established test parameters and conducted numerous simulation tests on the ICAD system prior to going online on May 29, 2013. While several system problems occurred shortly after the installation, our review of ICAD data (application logs) found that these problems were alleviated after software fixes were applied on May 30, 2013.

In connection with the audit, we have certain observations and four related recommendations for the NYPD’s attention and consideration. We also found that the current ICAD contract provides for relocation of the ICAD system, with a contract modification at additional cost, from 1PP to Public Safety Answering Center 2 (PSAC 2) when the PSAC 2 physical plant becomes available for systems implementation. At the time the NYPD contracted with Intergraph to develop the ICAD, PSAC 2 was supposed to be available for system implementation in 2014. That did not occur and PSAC 2 is now scheduled to become operational in 2018.

Further, we note that the planned relocation of the ICAD system, from 1PP to PSAC 2 when the PSAC 2 physical plant is ready, also involves a risk under the current contract that there will be insufficient back-up capacity during the period of transition from 1PP to PSAC 2. Installing the ICAD at PSAC 2 means moving the current ICAD function from 1PP in the current Intergraph contract. However, by doing so 1PP may not be able to function as a full back-up during this transition period, which could leave the City vulnerable in an emergency. In addition, it may not be cost effective to relocate the older ICAD supporting computer technology into a new PSAC 2 environment.

The audit makes the following four recommendations:

• The NYPD’s continued project management of the ICAD should include an assessment of ICAD component upgrades that would be appropriate for PSAC 2;

• The NYPD should prepare ICAD computer hardware life cycle analyses to better track IT component upgrade needs to accommodate near-term agency projects at PSAC 1;

• The NYPD should develop a strategy for ICAD component upgrades for future deployment of the ICAD at PSAC 2; and
• The NYPD should assess current capacity and anticipate possible infrastructure upgrades that will be needed to accommodate the FDNY and EMS interface requirements.

The NYPD stated that they are in agreement with all four audit recommendations. With regard to the planned relocation of the ICAD system, from 1PP to PSAC 2, NYPD responded that “the transition will, in fact, not leave the City vulnerable, since the plan is to deploy, test and accept new ICAD backend servers and infrastructure at PSAC2 prior to the decommissioning of servers that support day-to-day 911 operations and ICAD mission critical interfaces (EMS, FDNY, RTCC). There will be no degradation to back-up capacity or impact to the ‘Disaster recovery’ model. We will continue to have fully redundant intra-site and inter-site capabilities.” In response to the planned relocation of ICAD from 1PP to PSAC 2 as not cost effective, the NYPD responded that “there is no plan to relocate the current ICAD servers to PSAC2.” The NYPD also responded “that the current PSAC2 schedule has ICAD operations beginning in 2016.”