DC Auditor Issuing RFP for 911 Audit After Dispatching Issues

The Washington, D.C., auditor is issuing a request for proposals to audit the city's 911 dispatching agency after it came under fire from local stakeholders for what appears to some to be a pattern of mistakes affecting fire-rescue response. The Office of the D.C. Auditor had said it was considering such a move.

By Nov. 13, the consultant working on this review would meet with the auditing agency to "identify research issues, clarify objectives, and agree on timeline." A preliminary report would be due April 1 and the final report by May 15. That's all per the RFP dated Thursday and sent to us late this afternoon by the auditor's office.

"Recent events call into question the effectiveness of OUC’s 911 Operations Division," the RFP said of the local 911 center apparently at the heart of the issues, the Office of Unified Communications. "Recent media coverage also calls into doubt OUC’s ability to dispatch MPD and FEMS units to the correct location in a timely manner." A union representing local firefighters working for Washington's Fire and EMS Department requested such an audit. MPD is the local police department.

Various 911 stakeholders, overseers and local government entities didn't have an immediate comment.

For top news articles from our ongoing series of articles about Washington's dispatching problems, see here, here, here.