Pennsylvania E-911 Wireless Fails Performance Audit, Says Auditor General

Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner recommended today that the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency improve its administration of the statewide Wireless E-911 Emergency Services Program, after a special performance audit determined that a fully operational statewide system was not in place by June 30, 2008.

Auditors found that 11 of 69 call centers could not pinpoint the location of cell-phone users placing emergency 911 calls as of June 30, Wagner said -- even though PEMA had invested $214 million to build the system during the past 3 1/2 years. The funds were derived from a $1 monthly surcharge the wireless service providers collected from Pennsylvania cell-phone customers.

Auditors determined that inadequate staffing played a central role in the program's shortcomings, including PEMA's inability to make sure that the $214 million in funding had been disbursed prudently to county call centers.

"Taxpayers have a right to expect that when they pay for something, it should work as intended and it should be completed on time," Wagner said. "This is not a civics debate; it is a matter of life and death. When every second counts, and with more and more people relying on cell phones as their only communications device, it's imperative that the wireless E-911 system fulfill its goal of providing a caller's precise location to emergency responders. I strongly recommend that PEMA implement all of the recommendations made in our audit."

Wagner's audit made 16 recommendations. It said PEMA should:

• Immediately fill two vacant emergency management specialist positions
  and reclassify certain positions in its 911 section requiring them to
  meet minimum financial experience standards.
• Strengthen its oversight procedures by conducting annual visits to the
  69 emergency call centers (in all 67 counties plus Allentown and
  Bethlehem) and by maintaining a computerized master inventory program.
• Conduct year-end financial reconciliations itself instead of having
  them conducted by an accounting firm with ties to a private
  telecommunications consulting firm hired by PEMA to assist with
  implementing the wireless E-911 program.
• Clarify, enhance and standardize annual application procedures and
  processes to ensure that funding is fair and equitable.
• Work with state and local officials and wireless providers to minimize
  or eliminate gaps in wireless coverage.

The state's wireless E-911 program traces its origins to Act 56 of 2003, which required PEMA to establish and maintain a wireless emergency call system. Ideally, when fully deployed, the statewide system would not only route wireless calls to the appropriate county call center, it would also provide the caller's phone number and latitude and longitude coordinates.

The wireless service providers have been collecting a $1-per-month surcharge on wireless devices and remitting their collections to the commonwealth since April 2004 to pay for the statewide E-911 system deployment. Auditors found that the state collected $235 million and disbursed $214 million to county call centers during the audit period of Dec. 30, 2003 to June 30, 2007. The monthly surcharge will expire on June 30, 2009 unless the General Assembly grants an extension.

PEMA distributed funds according to applications made by each county call center by March 3 of each year. The county call centers, in turn, used the surcharge funds to pay for eligible implementation and maintenance expenses. Among the eligible expenses: the lease, purchase or maintenance of existing 911 service telephone equipment; backup electricity service; Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping software; consumer education; employee salaries; and triennial audits required by law.