General Dynamics, Fairfax County Team Up For Improved 911 System

General Dynamics Information Technology has been awarded a contract to develop, deploy and provide maintenance and support for a Next Generation 911 (NG911) solution for Fairfax County.

GD’s system will support the five primary and secondary 911 answering points in the county and enable Fairfax County emergency services to accept and route emergency 911 information from a variety of sources, a GD release said.

Fairfax County is seeking to replace its longstanding emergency call-handling system with a secure, IP-based NG9-1-1 system that permits emergency service requests from existing public networks through new and emerging modes of communication and devices.

The system will also provide additional mapping capabilities using Geographic Information Systems data for caller locations and integrate incoming 911 texts and 911 voice calls under one unified platform.

General Dynamics has previously launched more than 50 E911 systems into service. The company also has deployed a similar solution for Morgan County, Ohio.

In September, Fairfax County launched a new text-to-911 system, though it encourages citizens to still call.

Meanwhile, GD hopes to move its headquarters to Reston soon. In January, the company filed plans with Fairfax County for development of the 21.7-acre parcel at 11011 Sunset Hills Rd., which is currently a vacant lot between Hunter Mill Road and Wiehle Avenue.

About 200 employees currently working at for GD in leased space in Falls Church would make the move to Reston in 2019.

Graphic: Text to 911/Credit: Fairfax County