The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) has announced changes to the P25 Compliance Assessment Program (P25CAP). The changes were explained on a webinar by Sridhar Kowdley, P25CAP Program Manager, DHS Office for Interoperability and Compatibility, on November 10, 2021.

Summary of Changes -

1. The P25 Compliance Assessment Bulletin (CAB) is being revised; this is the normative document for P25 testing.

2. P25 Equipment Manufacturers must refresh their company and product P25 CAP data annually.

3. The retesting requirements for equipment interoperability are expanded and further defined.

4. Detailed Test Reports (DTR’s) more than 4 - 5 years old will not be accepted for Summary Test Reports (STR’s) after 1/1/2023.
   1. Trunked Interoperability DTR’s older than FOUR years.
   2. Conventional Interoperability DTR’s older than FIVE years.

5. All P25 Suppliers must refile their STR/SDOCs into revised templates by December 31, 2022.

6. Non-compliance will result in Company and product removed from the P25 CAP DHS Grant Eligible website.

P25 CAB Revision: Test Requirements

The current CAB is dated 2016, this new revision removes obsolete language, brings this CAB in line with current requirements, adds annual Equipment Manufacturer information update requirements, adds Interoperability Refresh / Retest requirement for current equipment on the DHS Grant Eligible list. Manufacturers were briefed on these revisions on a DHS webinar on 9/16/2021.

P25 CAP Requests Equipment Manufacturer

P25 Equipment Manufacturer shall refresh company and/or product P25 CAP data no less than every 12 months. The following actions would qualify:

• Submission of STR/SDOC for a new Model
• Refresh of corporate name, parent, HQ location or Home URL
• Change or update of CAP Point of Contact (PoC) information
• Release of new software, update to Statement of Software Commonality
• Notification Email to P25CAP@hq.dhs.gov stating no changes have occurred since last submission

The CAP Team will update the Date of Last CAP Submission to Date of Notification Email

Interoperability Retesting Requirements

P25 Equipment Manufacturer shall retest should any of the following occur:

• Substantive changes to a TIA standard and normative TIA Test Case scope or versions (retesting and/or gap testing).
• New product platform release requiring both new hardware and software.
• Updated system or product software.
• Age of DTR(s).
  • Conventional Interoperability after FIVE Years from DTR Date.
  • Trunked Interoperability after FOUR years from DTR Date

Refiling Requirements

All P25 Suppliers must revise and refile their STR/SDOCs by December 31, 2022, and all new submissions must use the new templates.

For more information send email to P25CAP@hq.dhs.gov or visit https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/p25-cap