I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5907 

To require the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 

to conduct a competition to award grants for the development of nonstationary radio over Internet protocol devices that support mission-critical 

broadband voice and data communications of public safety personnel, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 28, 2010 

Ms. HARMAN (for herself and Mr. SHIMKUS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require the National Telecommunications and Information 

Administration to conduct a competition to award grants 

for the development of nonstationary radio over Internet 

protocol devices that support mission-critical broadband 

voice and data communications of public safety personnel, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Next Generation Pub5 lic Safety Device Act of 2010’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PUBLIC SAFETY ROIP DEVICE DEVELOPMENT COM2 PETITION. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Assistant Secretary, in 

4 coordination with the Commission, the Director of the Na5 tional Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Di6 rector of the Office of Emergency Communications in the 

7 Department of Homeland Security, shall conduct a com8 petition to award grants to eligible entities for the develop9 ment of nonstationary radio over Internet protocol devices 

10 that support mission-critical broadband voice and data 

11 communications of public safety personnel. 

12 (b) WORKING GROUP.— 

13 (1) COMPOSITION.—The Assistant Secretary 

14 shall establish a working group composed of— 

15 (A) a representative of the Commission, 

16 the Director of the National Institute of Stand17 ards and Technology, and the Director of the 

18 Office of Emergency Communications in the 

19 Department of Homeland Security; and 

20 (B) such other public or private stake21 holders with technical expertise in the develop22 ment of emergency communications devices as 

23 the representative of the Commission considers 

24 appropriate. 

25 (2) DUTIES.—The working group shall provide 

26 the Assistant Secretary with advice and technical asVerDate Mar 15 2010 16:34 Jul 29, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5907.IH H5907

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1 sistance in conducting the competition under this 

2 section. 

3 (3) SUPPORT SERVICES.—The Assistant Sec4 retary shall provide the working group with the ad5 ministrative, professional, and technical support re6 quired by the working group to carry out its duties. 

7 (4) DURATION.—The working group shall ter8 minate not later than the earlier of— 

9 (A) the date that is 15 days after the date 

10 of the submission by the Comptroller General of 

11 the United States of the report required by sub12 section (e)(3); or 

13 (B) the date that is 6 years after the date 

14 of the enactment of this section. 

15 (c) DEVICE REQUIREMENTS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary, in 

17 coordination with the working group, shall establish 

18 requirements for RoIP devices developed, in whole or 

19 in part, using a grant under this section. 

20 (2) CONTENT.—The requirements established 

21 under paragraph (1) shall include— 

22 (A) an identification of specific commu23 nication needs of public safety personnel and 

24 any corresponding characteristics or capabilities 

25 of the devices for meeting such needs; and 


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1 (B) such characteristics and capabilities of 

2 the devices as will ensure— 

3 (i) delivery of communications in a 

4 real-time manner; 

5 (ii) reliability of the delivery of com6 munications under adverse conditions; 

7 (iii) sufficient clarity of transmission 

8 to permit public safety personnel to easily 

9 comprehend the content of communica10 tions; and 

11 (iv) full interoperability among dif12 ferent types and brands of RoIP devices 

13 used by public safety personnel. 

14 (d) GRANT PROCESS.— 

15 (1) 3-STAGE PROCESS.—The Assistant Sec16 retary shall establish a 3-stage process for awarding 

17 grants to eligible entities under this section. 

18 (2) AWARD OF GRANTS.—The Secretary may 

19 only award a grant in a stage to an eligible entity 

20 that— 

21 (A) submits a bid meeting the specifica22 tions developed under paragraph (3) for such 

23 stage; 

24 (B) provides the Assistant Secretary with 

25 an assurance that the eligible entity will use 


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1 grant funds to develop a RoIP device in accord2 ance with the specifications included in such 

3 bid; 

4 (C) in the case of a grant in stage 1 or 2 

5 for the development of a device, provides the 

6 Assistant Secretary with an assurance that the 

7 eligible entity will submit in good faith a bid for 

8 a grant in stage 2 or 3, respectively, for the de9 velopment of such device; and 

10 (D) in the case of a grant in stage 2 or 3 

11 for the development of a device, has received a 

12 grant in stage 1 or 2, respectively, for the de13 velopment of such device. 

14 (3) BID SPECIFICATIONS FOR EACH STAGE.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Sec16 retary shall develop specifications for bids sub17 mitted for grants in each stage and shall ensure 

18 that such specifications are— 

19 (i) based on the requirements estab20 lished under subsection (c)(1); and 

21 (ii) provide for reasonable progress 

22 from stage to stage toward the commercial 

23 production of RoIP devices that meet such 

24 requirements by eligible entities receiving 

25 grants in stage 3. 


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1 (B) SPECIFICATIONS FOR STAGE 1.—The 

2 specifications for stage-1 bids shall include a re3 quirement that the eligible entity provide the 

4 Assistant Secretary with an assurance that the 

5 eligible entity will use grant funds to develop 

6 the prototype referred to in subparagraph (C)(i) 

7 for submission with the stage-2 bid of the enti8 ty. 

9 (C) SPECIFICATIONS FOR STAGE 2.—The 

10 specifications for stage-2 bids shall include the 

11 following: 

12 (i) A requirement that the eligible en13 tity submit a prototype of the device being 

14 developed. 

15 (ii) A requirement that the eligible en16 tity provide the Assistant Secretary with 

17 an assurance that the eligible entity will 

18 use grant funds to develop the plan re19 ferred to in subparagraph (D)(i) for sub20 mission with the stage-3 bid of the entity 

21 and to prepare to commercially produce 

22 the device in accordance with the plan. 

23 (iii) A requirement that the eligible 

24 entity submit such information as the As25 sistant Secretary may require regarding 


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1 the capability of the eligible entity to com2 mercially produce, distribute, and market 

3 the device. 

4 (D) SPECIFICATIONS FOR STAGE 3.—The 

5 specifications for stage-3 bids shall include the 

6 following: 

7 (i) A requirement that the eligible en8 tity submit a plan for the commercial pro9 duction of the device by the entity that 

10 demonstrates that the device, as produced, 

11 will meet the requirements established 

12 under subsection (c)(1). 

13 (ii) A requirement that the eligible en14 tity provide the Assistant Secretary with 

15 an assurance that the eligible entity will— 

16 (I) use grant funds to commer17 cially produce the device in accordance 

18 with the plan submitted under clause 

19 (i); and 

20 (II) apply for award of the label 

21 under section 3. 

22 (iii) A requirement that the eligible 

23 entity submit such information as the As24 sistant Secretary may require regarding 

25 the capability of the eligible entity to comVerDate Mar 15 2010 16:34 Jul 29, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5907.IH H5907

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1 mercially produce, distribute, and market 

2 the device. 

3 (4) ADDITIONAL FACTORS FOR CONSIDER4 ATION.—In making a grant under this section, the 

5 Assistant Secretary shall consider, in addition to the 

6 requirements established under subsection (c)(1) and 

7 the bid specifications established under paragraph 

8 (3) for the stage involved, the following factors: 

9 (A) The extent to which the grant will en10 courage competition in the market for the de11 vice being developed. 

12 (B) The estimated cost at which public 

13 safety personnel will be able to purchase such 

14 device. 

15 (C) The potential contribution to public 

16 safety of such device. 

17 (D) Whether such device is capable of uti18 lizing, in addition to the portions of the electro19 magnetic spectrum listed in subparagraphs (A) 

20 and (B) of section 4(8), the following portions 

21 of the spectrum: 

22 (i) Public Safety Broadband License, 

23 Guard Band (the electromagnetic spectrum 

24 between 768 and 769 megahertz, inclusive, 


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1 and between 798 and 799 megahertz, in2 clusive). 

3 (ii) Public Safety, Narrowband Net4 work (the electromagnetic spectrum be5 tween 769 and 775 megahertz, inclusive, 

6 and between 799 and 805 megahertz, in7 clusive). 

8 (E) Such other factors as the Assistant 

9 Secretary considers appropriate to promote the 

10 public interest. 

11 (5) PRIORITY.—In making a grant under this 

12 section, the Assistant Secretary shall give priority to 

13 bids for the development of devices that are inter14 operable across— 

15 (A) multiple commercial bands of the elec16 tromagnetic spectrum; and 

17 (B) multiple communications profiles. 

18 (6) TIMING.—The Assistant Secretary shall 

19 structure the timing of each stage as the Assistant 

20 Secretary considers appropriate, but the Assistant 

21 Secretary shall release the solicitation for stage-1 

22 bids not later than 8 months after the date of the 

23 enactment of this section and shall ensure that all 

24 grants in stage 3 have been awarded not later than 


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1 4 years after the date of the award of the 1st grant 

2 in stage 1. 

3 (7) NUMBER AND AMOUNT OF GRANTS.— 

4 (A) NUMBER.— 

5 (i) 1 GRANT PER DEVICE PER

6 STAGE.—The Assistant Secretary may not 

7 award more than 1 grant per device per 

8 stage. 

9 (ii) NUMBER OF STAGE-3 GRANTS.— 

10 The Assistant Secretary shall award not 

11 fewer than 4 and not more than 7 grants 

12 in stage 3. 

13 (B) AMOUNT.— 

14 (i) PER STAGE.—A grant for the de15 velopment of a device may not exceed 

16 $4,000,000 per stage. 

17 (ii) PER DEVICE.—The Assistant Sec18 retary may not award more than a total of 

19 $8,000,000 in all 3 stages for the develop20 ment of a single device. 

21 (8) CONSULTATION WITH WORKING GROUP.— 

22 The Assistant Secretary shall consult with the work23 ing group in carrying out this subsection. 

24 (e) GAO AUDIT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

2 the United States shall conduct an audit of the com3 petition conducted under this section. 

4 (2) FACTORS FOR EVALUATION.—In conducting 

5 such audit, the Comptroller General shall evaluate 

6 the following: 

7 (A) The extent to which grants under this 

8 section were awarded on the basis of the merits 

9 of the bids submitted, including whether the re10 quirements established under subsection (c)(1) 

11 were sufficient to ensure that the devices devel12 oped with such grants adequately support mis13 sion-critical broadband voice and data commu14 nications of public safety personnel. 

15 (B) The extent to which the grants encour16 aged competition in the market for the devices. 

17 (C) The effect of the grants on the cost at 

18 which public safety personnel are able to pur19 chase the devices. 

20 (D) The contribution to public safety of 

21 the devices. 

22 (E) Such other factors as the Comptroller 

23 General considers appropriate. 

24 (3) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 5 

25 years after the date of the enactment of this section, 


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1 the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a 

2 report on the findings of such audit. 

3 SEC. 3. AWARD OF LABEL BY FCC. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall establish a 

5 voluntary labeling program to identify nonstationary RoIP 

6 devices that meet such criteria as the Commission con7 siders appropriate for the support of mission-critical 

8 broadband voice and data communications of public safety 

9 personnel. 

10 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF LABEL.—Under such pro11 gram, the Commission shall determine a name and design 

12 for a label (in this section referred to as the ‘‘label’’) for 

13 any RoIP device that meets the criteria described in sub14 section (a) and shall take the necessary steps to register 

15 the label as a mark under the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to 

16 provide for the registration and protection of trademarks 

17 used in commerce, to carry out the provisions of certain 

18 international conventions, and for other purposes’’, ap19 proved March 17, 1946 (commonly referred to as the 

20 Trademark Act of 1946; 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.). 

21 (c) AWARD OF LABEL.— 

22 (1) APPLICATION.—Under the program, the 

23 Commission shall establish a process under which an 

24 entity manufacturing, marketing, or selling a RoIP 


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1 device may apply for the award of the label for such 

2 device. 

3 (2) AWARD.—Upon application for a device 

4 under paragraph (1), the Commission shall award 

5 the label to such device if the Commission deter6 mines that the device meets the criteria described in 

7 subsection (a). 

8 (3) EFFECT.—An entity manufacturing, mar9 keting, or selling a RoIP device awarded the label 

10 may display the label and otherwise indicate that the 

11 device has been awarded the label on the device and 

12 in or on any materials accompanying the device or 

13 any advertising with respect to the device. 

14 (d) REVISION OF CRITERIA.—The Commission shall 

15 periodically review the criteria described in subsection (a) 

16 and revise the criteria as the Commission considers appro17 priate. 

18 (e) ANNUAL COMPLIANCE CERTIFICATION.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—An entity displaying or oth20 erwise indicating that a RoIP device has been 

21 awarded the label shall annually certify to the Com22 mission that the device continues to meet the criteria 

23 described in subsection (a), including any revisions 

24 to the criteria since the label was awarded. 


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1 (2) WITHDRAWAL OF AWARD OF LABEL.—The 

2 Commission shall withdraw the award of the label 

3 with respect to a device if— 

4 (A) for a year, a certification required by 

5 paragraph (1) for the device is not submitted 

6 by any of the entities required to submit such 

7 certification; or 

8 (B) the Commission otherwise finds that 

9 the device no longer meets the criteria described 

10 in subsection (a), including any revisions to the 

11 criteria since the label was awarded. 

12 (f) REGULATIONS.—The Commission may promul13 gate regulations to promote the effective use of the label 

14 and to prevent the misuse of the label. 

15 (g) ONLINE DATABASE.—The Commission shall 

16 maintain an electronic database of the devices for which 

17 the award of the label is in effect and shall make such 

18 database publicly available on an appropriate Internet 

19 website. 

20 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist23 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 

24 Commerce for Communications and Information. 


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1 (2) BROADBAND.—The term ‘‘broadband’’ has 

2 the same meaning as under the Broadband Tech3 nology Opportunities Program established under sec4 tion 6001 of the American Recovery and Reinvest5 ment Act of 2009 (47 U.S.C. 1305). 

6 (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

7 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

8 (4) COMMUNICATIONS PROFILE.—The term 

9 ‘‘communications profile’’ means a configuration of 

10 technology or equipment that supports broadband 

11 communications by radio through the public 

12 switched telephone network, the Internet, or any 

13 other public network. The radio-air interface con14 figuration used by a particular communications pro15 file is part of such profile and is one of the charac16 teristics that distinguishes such profile from a dif17 ferent communications profile. A communications 

18 profile can be implemented using radio equipment 

19 designed to support specific, fixed profiles or radio 

20 equipment capable of supporting an indefinite num21 ber of profiles through software programming 

22 changes. 

23 (5) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti24 ty’’ means an entity that submits a bid for a grant 

25 under section 2. 


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1 (6) MISSION-CRITICAL.—The term ‘‘mission2 critical’’, used with respect to communications be3 tween 2 or more public safety personnel, means that, 

4 in order for such personnel to protect life or prop5 erty or the safety of such personnel, such commu6 nications must be delivered in a real-time manner 

7 and with sufficient quality and clarity for easy com8 prehension by such personnel, regardless of the con9 ditions under which the communications are sent or 

10 received. 

11 (7) PUBLIC SAFETY PERSONNEL.—The term 

12 ‘‘public safety personnel’’ means any Federal, State, 

13 or local law enforcement officer, firefighter, or pro14 vider of emergency medical services or communica15 tions center personnel. 

16 (8) RADIO OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL DEVICE

17 OR ROIP DEVICE.—The term ‘‘radio over Internet 

18 protocol device’’ or ‘‘RoIP device’’ means a device 

19 that is capable of passing audio and other control 

20 functions of a radio system across an Internet pro21 tocol-enabled network utilizing, at a minimum, the 

22 following portions of the electromagnetic spectrum: 

23 (A) D Block (the electromagnetic spectrum 

24 between 758 and 763 megahertz, inclusive, and 

25 between 788 and 793 megahertz, inclusive). 


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1 (B) Public Safety Broadband Network (the 

2 electromagnetic spectrum between 763 and 768 

3 megahertz, inclusive, and between 793 and 798 

4 megahertz, inclusive). 

5 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

6 (a) PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS DEVICES

7 FUND.— 

8 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 

9 the Treasury of the United States a fund to be 

10 known as the Public Safety Communications Devices 

11 Fund. 

12 (2) PURPOSE.—The Assistant Secretary and 

13 the Commission shall use the funds deposited in the 

14 Public Safety Communications Devices Fund to 

15 carry out sections 2 and 3, respectively. 

16 (3) CREDIT.— 

17 (A) BORROWING AUTHORITY.—The Assist18 ant Secretary and the Commission may borrow 

19 from the general fund of the Treasury begin20 ning on October 1, 2010, such sums as may be 

21 necessary, but not to exceed a total of 

22 $70,000,000, to implement sections 2 and 3, re23 spectively. 

24 (B) REIMBURSEMENT.—The Secretary of 

25 the Treasury shall reimburse the general fund 


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1 of the Treasury, without interest, for any 

2 amounts borrowed under subparagraph (A) as 

3 funds are deposited into the Public Safety Com4 munications Devices Fund, but in no case later 

5 than September 30, 2015. 

6 (b) DEPOSITS.—Notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) 

7 and (D) of paragraph (8) of section 309(j) of the Commu8 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)), the Secretary 

9 of the Treasury shall— 

10 (1) deposit in the Public Safety Communica11 tions Devices Fund $70,000,000 of the proceeds (in12 cluding deposits and upfront payments from success13 ful bidders) from the auction of spectrum under 

14 such section during the period beginning on October 

15 1, 2012, and ending on September 30, 2015; and 

16 (2) make the funds deposited under paragraph 

17 (1) available to the Assistant Secretary and the 

18 Commission without further appropriation. 

19 (c) TRANSFER OF UNUSED FUNDS.—The Secretary 

20 of the Treasury shall transfer to the general fund of the 

21 Treasury any funds remaining in the Public Safety Com22 munications Devices Fund after September 30, 2015. 

23 (d) EXTENSION OF AUCTION AUTHORITY.—Section 

24 309(j)(11) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 


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1 309(j)(11)) is amended by striking ‘‘2012’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘2015’’. 

Æ 


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