Provision of a TETRA/ MCX Interworking Gateway Solution for the Emergency Services Network (ESN)

This Award Notice relates to the Award of a contract for a TETRA/ MCX Interworking Gateway (IWG) solution to be provided to the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP).

The supplier will provide this IWG to support the transition from Airwave to ESN for approximately 300,000 users across 107 User Organisations. The IWG will link together Airwave talk groups to their equivalent new ESN talk groups, allowing migrated ESN users to make Group and Emergency Calls to, and receive Group and Emergency Calls from, unmigrated Airwave users.

The Authority is seeking to procure a Network Interworking Service to support the transition from Airwave to ESN for approximately 300,000 users across 107 User Organisations. The Network Interworking Service will use an Interworking Gateway (the subject of this procurement) to link together the 6000 busiest Airwave talk groups to their equivalent new ESN talk groups, allowing migrated ESN users to make Group and Emergency Calls to, and receive Group and Emergency Calls from, unmigrated Airwave users.

The Interworking Gateway is assumed to be a software product that can be deployed onto physical or virtual servers provided and hosted by the ESN User Services Supplier, who will also be responsible for service integration, first line and second line maintenance, with the Interworking Gateway supplier responsible for third line support.

The type of interface to be used between Airwave and the Interworking Gateway will be DCS, (Motorola DIMETRA™ Dispatch Communications Server), because this is the only interface available on the Airwave radio service. This is the same interface as used for standard control room system connections that provide service to over 4000 control room ICCS (Integrated Communications Control System) desks. A quantity of 600 active DCS ports (plus an extra 300 ports for resilience) will be assigned to the Interworking Gateway, serviced by three Airwave DCS data centres.