In 2019, Los Angeles-based company NGA landed more than $100 million in contracts with the California Office of Emergency Services to help create the state’s new Next Generation 911 project, which promised to bring our aging 9-1-1 system into the internet age.
California’s project, however, is years behind schedule and currently on hold after some of the first 9-1-1 centers to go live with the new network reported technical issues such as outages and misrouted calls, with law enforcement officials blaming NGA’s technology for some of those problems in emails and memos obtained by NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit.
Now, newly obtained records from three other states that contracted with NGA to build similar Next Gen 911 networks show the company has been met with similar problems and delays, drawing the ire and frustration from government officials.
One of the strongest rebukes came from the State of Florida, which wrote a scathing letter to NGA in April of 2024 following complaints from several counties in the state that had contracted with the company on Next Gen 911 pilot projects.
“More than two years since the initial award date, your company has failed to implement reliable NG9-1-1 service in any county in Florida,” wrote Denise Adkins, Director of the Division of Telecommunications for the Florida Department of Management Services. “This is despite assurances that implementation would be complete and the first OSP cutover would occur within 12 months of contract execution. NGA911’s inability to meet the most basic requirements of the scope of work in a timely manner has not only left the region 1 counties dissatisfied but has caught the attention of the State of Florida.”
In the letter, Adkins also threatened to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission should the project fail.
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“Confidence in your company is at an all-time low,” Adkins wrote. “Your customers are concerned that NGA911 is not capable of providing the services you have promised. This project is on the brink of collapse due to continued excuses, lack of accountability, and lack of performance.”
In February, officials in Santa Rosa County, Florida terminated their contract with NGA after the project was nearly two years behind schedule, noting in a presentation from the county’s Communications Chief that the project has been “plagued by delays in implementation, adjusted timelines, missed benchmarks, unsuccessful testing windows, service outages, and degradation in technical services…”
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NGA has defended their company’s work in California and beyond, blasting NBC Bay Area’s reporting as “misleading” and asserting that “these reports reveal a blatant bias targeted at NGA911.”
While the company didn’t respond to the specific allegations in the letter from government officials in Florida, NGA said in a statement that “as a direct result of NBC’s incorrect and misleading reporting, some Florida locations have decided to halt discussions with NGA.”
However, the letter from the State of Florida came nearly seven months before NBC Bay Area published its first report on California’s Next Gen 911 project or mentioned NGA in any story.
And criticism of NGA extends beyond just Florida and California.
In Louisiana, the East Baton Rouge Parish Communications District is currently working to end its contract with NGA, according to the District Board of Commissioners in a November meeting. Officials had previously complained about dropped calls and call transfer delays, meeting minutes show.
When asked about the contract termination, NGA wrote that “the contract term is coming to an end, and both parties have amicably agreed to move forward separately.”
NGA also has a contract in Oklahoma, where the company announced in 2020 it had been selected by 9-1-1 Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG) to “deploy a Next Generation Core Services and Emergency Services Internet Protocol Network” which will create a “more resilient 9-1-1 system.”
In 2023, however, a memo to ACOG from a public safety consultant detailed “delays with NGA’s NG911 deployment,” as well as “recognizable call routing complications” including “calls not completing to the call handling equipment, long call setup times, and static on calls” at one of the 911 call centers that had deployed the network set up by NGA and another company.
According to the memo, the 911 call center made the decision to return to the legacy network.
In response to NBC Bay Area’s questions about its work in Oklahoma, NGA stated only that “we are in good standing” in the state. During a January 2025 ACOG Board of Directors meeting, officials said network testing was still underway as of February.
In a recent interview with NBC Bay Area, a former high-level insider at NGA who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the company used its contracts in California to drum up business in other states.
“It’s always California’s right there at the top of the list…our first big contract,” he said. “There was always this pie in the sky belief that one day we’re going to figure it out and we’re going to take over the world.”
As NBC Bay Area just reported, he and another independent source who’s actively working on California’s Next Gen 911 network said Cal OES failed to thoroughly test the network before deploying the technology, potentially putting communities at risk.
Some of the first 9-1-1 call centers to go live with the network, such as Desert Hot Springs Police Department, reported serious issues that they blamed on NGA.
“Yeah, they were a guinea pig,” said the NGA insider. “There’s no other way to say it. We knew putting it in, that it was not fully baked.”
NGA denied the allegations, saying it “does extensive end-to-end testing with all deployments.” The company also said transfer issues at Desert Hot Springs Police Department stemmed from the agency’s old technology, not their Next Generation 911 system. However, emails from the Department’s 911 manager said the problems occurred only after they went live with NGA’s system – a system the manger called “inconsistent at best.”
NGA’s attorney told NBC Bay Area there is documentation of the test results. However, he declined to share the records with our news organization when we requested copies. He said they belong to Cal OES. When NBC Bay Area asked Cal OES for the documentation, the agency said it has located records and is reviewing them to potentially redact confidential information before deciding to release them.
NGA is one of four contractors tasked with building out the state’s Next Generation network, with each contractor handling their own region.
Cal OES originally projected each of the state’s 911 centers, more than 400 in total, would be live on the Next Gen network by 2021. However, more than three years after that estimated completion date, only about 5% of those call centers have switched over.
Late last year, the state announced it was pausing further deployment of the network so it could review the issues plaguing the rollout of the network and meeting with representatives from the state’s 911 centers to address their needs.
“The pause gives us the opportunity to really do a review of the technology,” said new Cal OES Chief Deputy Director Lisa Mangat, who’s now in charge of overseeing the project after former Chief Deputy Director Budge Currier left the agency last year. “Not just from the technology side, not just the equipment and network, but also the business side of it, the lived experience of [911 call centers.]”
The agency has not stated when it will resume deployment.
Catch up on all of NBC Bay Area's reporting on Next Generation 911: www.nbcbayarea.com/nextgen911.
Candice Nguyen is the investigative reporter on this story. If you have a question or comment, you can email her at candice.nguyen@nbcuni.com.
