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Graves Earns NCS Manager's Award for Government/Industry Partnership

Arlington, VA., May 31, 2002 - John Graves, the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) Program Director, received the 2001 National Communications System (NCS) Manager's Award for Government/Industry Partnership. He is the third recipient of this annual award.

Lieutenant General Harry D. Raduege, Jr. Manager of the NCS and Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), presented the award to Mr. Graves during annual awards ceremonies held May 30, 2002, at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia.

Upon receipt of the 2001 NCS Manager's Award for Government/Industry Partnership, Mr. Graves recognized the Government and industry workers who make everything in GETS possible. “I accept this award on behalf of the GETS Team for all of their hard work,” said Graves. Each year, DISA and NCS host an awards banquet to honor dedicated employees and their exemplary performance and excellent achievements for the prior year.

Mr. Graves became the program director for GETS in April 1996. GETS provides Federal, State and local government National Security and Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) users, as well as private sector critical infrastructure users, with a ubiquitous switched voice and voice-band data communications service. The GETS program was widely used following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001. In the first week after the attacks, 95 percent of the nearly 7,000 GETS calls were successful, allowing emergency responders to effectively communicate and coordinate emergency support. The GETS program achieved full operating capability on September 30, 2001.

On October 24, 2001, officials with the annual Post-Newsweek Government Awards program recognized the GETS Program Management Office as one of 10 outstanding Federal organizations for their “innovative, effective use of information technology” -- a testament to Mr. Graves' outstanding program management.

There were two additional nominees for this year’s NCS award; Mark Deem of the NCS Plans and Resources Division and Lieutenant Colonel Frances Wentworth, USAF, from the NCS Critical Infrastructure Protection Division. Recognized for his outstanding performance as a procurement analyst, Mr. Deem implemented an innovative multiple-award contract to maximize small business opportunities within the NCS. Lt Col Wentworth was instrumental in the development of the National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications (NCC)’s Telecommunications Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Telecom-ISAC)

Lieutenant General Harry D. Raduege, Jr., Manager of the National Communications System (NCS), presents the NCS Manager's Award for Government/Industry Partnership to John Graves, the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) Program Director during ceremonies in Alexandria, Va., May 30 (Photo by Donna Burton, Defense Information Systems Agency.)

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