A number of federal agencies, but primarily the Department of Homeland Security, direct the efforts of federal public safety agencies (e.g. FBI, DEA, US Forest Service, and US Coast Guard) to become more interoperable between themselves both for day-to-day operations, and for large incidents.
The federal government has also promoted interoperability at the local, regional and state level via both unfunded mandates and grant programs (recent grant programs often stipulate that radio equipment be interoperable by being P25 Digital capable, or by requiring local agencies to share radio equipment across a region). SAFECOM is an excellent starting point for this kind of information.
The information below attempts to provide you with links to various information relevant to agencies at the local and regional level.
Federal
Interoperability
Communications interoperability is driven at a national level via the Department of Justice's
IWN (Integrated Wireless Network) project, which will eventually provide a nationwide digital backbone and complete interoperability among all federal agencies.
One of the political and technical objectives of IWN is to include interoperability with state, regional, and local public safety agencies.
Although not strictly a federal effort, the
NPSTC (National Public Safety Telecommunications Council) is an association of associations, each of which is in turn representing a specific public safety sector (e.g. police, fire, medical, forestry, emergency management, etc.). The NPSTC develops and makes recommendations to government entitites, and a key objective is interoperability.
State
Interoperability
Each state has convened an interoperability committee, usually called the SIEC for "State Interoperability Executive Committee" (or "Council").
While the specifics of governance, membership, and leadership vary from state to state, the overall objectives are usually similar: utilizing existing state-owned communication assets (including existing frequency licenses, but also including towers and other forms of radio infrastructure) in a comprehensive plan for interoperability between state agencies, and between state and local/regional agencies.
What follows are links to the various states' websites for interoperability efforts, which in many cases offer documents and publications describing the analysis, planning, and implementation conducted thus far.
Also note that the NPSTC (National Public Safety Telecommunications Council) hosts
a concise website on the topic of SIEC's nationwide, a great resource for states not on our list above, as well as information relevant to all SIEC efforts.
