Border Interoperability Demonstration Project

To address the critical need for interoperability along and across the international borders, the 9/11 Commission Act (Pub. L. No. 110-53) authorized OEC to establish the International Border Community Interoperable Communications Demonstration Project (hereafter referred to as the Border Interoperability Demonstration Project or “BIDP”) to identify solutions that facilitate emergency communications along and across the border and ensure emergency response providers can communicate during natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters. The Act authorizes DHS to select no fewer than six communities (at least three along the U.S.-Canadian border and at least three along the U.S.-Mexican border) for participation in the demonstration project, to provide technical assistance to the selected communities, and to share information among BIDP participants and other interested parties. The overarching goal of BIDP is to explore innovative and effective models of interoperable emergency communications systems and approaches that improve emergency communications along and across the U.S. border, and that can be shared with and adapted to other U.S. border communities.