HEC spends $180,000 for consultants to find problems with system

06:56 PM CST on Monday, December 20, 2004

By Amy Tortolani / 11 News

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Houston's emergency system has gone down several times in the past couple of weeks, but now the HEC is getting some help to fix its problems.

KHOU-TV

City hopes consultants can determine what's causing problems in the system at the Houston Emergency Center.

MITRE, an independent not-for-profit agency, is investigating the problems at the HEC.

The cost of this six-month assessment is about $180,000. Officials say the money will come from a yearly maintenance fee.

The city hopes that the company will be able to assess the systems, technologies and personnel at the HEC, then come up with a plan to fix the problems.

In the past, the computer system has gone down, forcing call takers and dispatchers to go to a written system. They say that slows down the process and is not as safe.

MITRE says it has worked with other 911 systems and should be able to come up with a plan to help get Houston's system in shape.

"I think the bulk of the work we are going to do will be in a three-month time period. We will conduct interviews, look at the system, do our assessment and make the appropriate suggestions and recommendations to try and make improvements as necessary, " says Bobby Blount of MITRE.

City officials say while fixing the HEC is a priority, it's too soon to tell how much money it will take to fix it, or how long the process will take.