DHS' Progress in 2011: Interoperability

Secretary Napolitano announced $25 million in grant funding under the Border Interoperability Demonstration Project (BIDP)—a one-time competitive grant program focused on developing innovative solutions to strengthen interoperable emergency communications along the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico. The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 called on DHS to establish the BIDP to identify solutions that facilitate emergency communications along and across the border, and ensure that emergency response providers can communicate during natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other catastrophic events.