Office of Emergency Communications Communications Portfolio Management

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) collaborates with the public and private sectors to ensure the national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) communications community has access to priority telecommunications and restoration services to communicate under all circumstances. The office manages the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS), Wireless Priority Services (WPS), Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP), and Next Generation Network Priority Service (NGN-PS) programs. OEC works to ensure that all DHS programs continue to support NS/EP communications and that the directives and policies governing these programs are followed.

• Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS)

This priority service enables users to have end-to-end priority on the landline network, historically offering users more than a 95 percentile call completion rate during periods of network congestion. DHS currently offers this service to over 310,000 users. For more information about GETS, visit the GETS program page.

• Wireless Priority Service (WPS)

WPS is the wireless complement to GETS, providing users with priority communication over the wireless networks and offering users more than a 90 percentile call completion rate during higher call volumes. DHS currently offers this service to over 118,000 users. For more information about WPS, visit the WPS program page.

• Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP)

TSP is a program that authorizes NS/EP organizations to receive priority repair and installation of vital voice and data circuits or other telecommunications services. TSP enables telecommunications carriers to prioritize the restoration, recovery and reconstitution of critical circuits and voice capabilities in the event of a disaster. For more information about TSP, visit the TSP program page.

• Next Generation Network Priority Services

Next Generation NetworkPriority Services (NGN-PS) is a DHS acquisition program that will enable users to have priority voice, data, and video communications as the communications networks evolve. OEC is leading the development of priority services for voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) based networks and will continue planning for data and video priority during future budget years.

Contact

For additional information, please contact OEC@hq.dhs.gov.