Every month, Californians pay an extra $3 million for an overlap in ‘Next Generation 911’ services because the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) is pivoting to a different service provider. The overlap fees will continue until at least summer 2027, Cal OES said, which will bri ng the total to over $50 million. For over a year, California has been in a high-priced transition as Cal OES moves away from Next Generation 911 technology that it has called “flawed and unsafe.” Next Generation 911 is supposed to bring the state’s aging emergency calling system into the digital age. In 2019, Cal OES signed contracts with three regional vendors – NGA 911, Lumen and Synergem – to create the statewide Next Generation 911 network. The three vendors were supposed to create new Next Gen 911 systems in their own regions that eventually worked together. But there were continuous call problems with the networks like misrouted and dropped call, as reported by NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit over the past two years. After our Investigative Unit exposed those issues, Cal OES announced in November 2025 it’s switching from the regional approach to a single statewide Next Generation 911 network. During that transition, Cal OES said state phone fee ratepayers – which is anyone who pays a monthly phone bill – will continue to pay for an overlap in services that comes out to roughly $1 million a month per contractor. That’s $3 million a month total or about $50 million a year in overlap service fees. “The state continues to pay for the network services provided to protect public safety and ensure the 9-1-1 system continues to operate,” Cal OES said in a statement. “Until the local 9-1-1 dispatch centers on the regional network are fully transitioned to the Atos statewide network, there will be some overlap of the networks. Regional network functions will be transitioned over time, and Cal OES expects migration of all regional functions to be to complete by summer 2027.” State lawmakers say they are shocked by this spending. “It’s so crazy. We need complete transparency about where we went wrong and what problems still exist, period. And we need to know how much money was spent and where it was spent and get some accountability for the contractors and the state agencies,” said Assemblymember Heather Hadwick, R-Shasta.NBC Bay Area reached out to the three contractors involved. NGA 911 and Synergem responded saying even though the state has switched to a different statewide vendor, their networks still provide important Next Generation 911 services like caller location data. “If there is any ‘waste’ as described by Cal OES, it is due to their decision to scrap a fully-functional network in favor of a new architecture which frankly has yet to be revealed,” Synergem COO Jeff Schlueter said in an email.  Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 111, a new law requiring an audit of the Next Generation 911 project, a technical evaluation of the new technology and independent oversight by the California Department of Technology. Cal OES told NBC Bay Area it is pleased to work with lawmakers to ensure the project moves forward and public dollars are spent responsibly. Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, D-Tracy, worked to get Next Gen 911 accountability measures passed through Senate Bill 111. She says she’s still scrutinizing Cal OES. “We are still working on accountability. We are still working on transparency. And I appreciate all of the concessions that have been made by the agency about some of the past problems and some of the results and impacts of those problems, but t there is still work that needs to be done,” Ransom said.To watch all of NBC Bay Area’s reporting on Next Generation 911 visit: www.nbcbayarea.com/nextgen911. ...read more read less