Emergency responders have needs. The Department of Homeland Security's TechSolutions program exists to help solve them. Established by the department's Science & Technology Directorate, its goal is to identify capability gaps for the various emergency services that can be bridged with research and development efforts in partnership with industry. The intent is to have relatively short turnaround times in developing new products--in the range of 18 months to 2 years.

In February 2009, the directorate created the First Responders Research Development Test and Evaluation Working Group. This group is part of a new Integrated Product Team, or IPT. At the time of the group's creation, the directorate already had 12 other IPTs in areas ranging from border protection to explosives detection and removal. Since the First Responders group's inception, it has met three more times and created four subcommittees: Law Enforcement, Fire, Emergency Medical Services and Emergency Management.

Those serving on the First Responder Working Group are volunteers--nothing is reimbursed but their travel expenses. Members of the group's EMS subcommittee were recommended by organizations like the International Association of EMS Chiefs, National Association of EMTs and National Emergency Management Association. Members include chief officers from some of the largest EMS systems in the country and some of the smallest, super-rural and frontier systems. The subcommittee's chair is Charleston, SC, EMS Chief Don Lundy; the vice chair is Los Angeles Fire Department paramedic Andy Wordin.

Each subcommittee was tasked with identifying technology gaps that could be addressed by the DHS S&T formula. While the Fire Suppression, Law Enforcement and Emergency Management subcommittees each identified 4-6 potential projects, EMS, being the overachievers we are, identified 13.

The next step was more challenging. Each subcommittee had to identify its top three ideas to focus R&D efforts on. More than one S&T facilitator likened this process to herding cats. One item that emerged from each of the four subcommittees, though, was the need for common platforms in areas like radio communications, electronic data transfer and even battery systems. Whatever was developed from the process needed to be out-of-the-box interoperable with other systems already on the market.

The EMS subcommittee's top three identified projects were:

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