Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – Today, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a grant to the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, Department of Information and Communications. The grant provides technical assistance supporting the development of Ho Chi Minh City’s Integrated Emergency Communication System (ECS) project.

The grantee selected Winbourne Consulting, LLC (Arlington, VA), an emergency response technology and management consulting firm as the prime contractor for the project.   Winbourne Consulting’s efforts will focus on developing a unified and integrated emergency response center for Ho Chi Minh City.  The ultimate goal of the ECS project is to better protect citizens during emergencies by increasing access to emergency responders and enhancing communication between municipal departments in fire, police, and health emergencies.

USTDA Country Manager for Southeast Asia, David Ross, signed the grant during a Smart Cities Dialogue in Ho Chi Minh City, along with Duong Anh Duc, the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications. U.S. Consul General Mary Tarnowka and Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong witnessed the signing. 

“USTDA is pleased to support this important project that will improve citizen accessibility to emergency responders and enhance communication capabilities among departments during emergencies,” said David Ross at the signing ceremony. “This project is a great example of how U.S. digital technologies can transform the lives of citizens and advance Vietnam’s smart city goals.”

“As the Technical Assistance partner for the project, we are looking forward to starting the project and assisting the City to implement an integrated emergency communications solution,” said Jeffrey Winbourne, CEO of Winbourne Consulting. “The project will bring a unique combination of Smart City and emergency communications technology and improved services to the people of the City and its first responder agencies.”