This is what they are looking for:
GOALS OF THIS RFI
The goals of this RFI undertaking are as follows:
- Obtain high level cost estimates suitable for budgetary planning for a replacement P25 radio system that meets the County’s needs as defined herein.
- Determine the system’s likely site count and channel count.
- Identify the system’s spectrum needs.
- Explore features and options for the new system.
This RFI is organized to provide a summary (Section 4) of each category of information requested. Where appropriate, subsections refer to detail supplied as one or more appendices. These appendices are working drafts and are intended for use in a future RFP. As such, the vendor is advised that: 1) the current RFI’s purpose is to gather information that will assist the County with planning; 2) the appendices include TBD (to be defined) and estimated values; and 3) the appendices and the stated requirements therein are intended to provide clarity of the County’s intentions and are subject to refinement in the future.
4.0 COUNTYWIDE RADIO SYSTEM (DESIRED)
The County envisions a future 700 MHz P25 Phase 2 trunked simulcast radio system that provides countywide coverage and is available for use by all County, public safety, and public service operations. The County requests that vendors provide information on how they would address the below categories.
4.1 County as a Systems Administrator
The County, specifically DER, intends to manage and maintain administrative control of the system. Any architectures or agreements that would require the common use of system resources with entities outside of the County or that would cede the County’s control in this regard are discouraged.
RFI-DCP-76-20 Page 4 of 8
4.2 Coverage
The County requires portable on-street/outdoor operation over the entire service area. The service area is defined to include all land/water contained within the County legal border, the Hudson river adjacent to the County to the western shoreline, and two fire districts that partially extend outside the County border. Additionally, there are several other areas of interest within the service area that require enhanced coverage. Coverage requirements are detailed in Appendix C. The vendor is requested to consider these requirements and to provide a notional system design that would satisfy them. The notional system design should include site counts, simulcast partitioning, and an estimate of existing versus greenfield sites.
The respondent is advised that Appendix D provides a list of existing County radio sites and an incomplete list of other potential site candidates for the notional system. This list is not intended to restrict site selection.
4.3 Capacity
The County intends to provide sufficient capacity to allow all public safety and municipal operations in the County to migrate to the new system. Additionally, the County would like to size the system to accommodate a 25% increase in traffic in the future. The County has used measurements and estimates to approximate the present combined traffic load for a typical week, as well as atypical peak usage incidents. This traffic activity is detailed in Appendix E. The vendor is requested to identify the RF channel count required by the notional coverage design to support this capacity requirement.
4.4 Backhaul
The County requires that the new radio system be interconnected with a redundant backhaul network that relies principally on MPLS microwave radio links. Currently there is a microwave network that interconnects the County’s existing radio sites and was recently upgraded. It is desired to leverage this recent investment where cost-effective. Information on the existing network is provided in Appendix F. The vendor is requested to identify the number of additional links needed to interconnect their notional system design and to provide a budgetary cost to implement that network.
4.5 Resiliency
The County requires that the new radio system and associated subsystems be implemented in such a way that the combination does not have any single point of failure (SPF). With this goal in mind, the vendor is requested to describe the architecture and redundant elements in their typical offering that satisfy this goal, including network management capabilities that support this goal.
4.6 P25 Radio System Features and Functionality
The vendor is requested to provide a list of value-add P25 feature sets that are likely to be most relevant for the Dutchess County system and its stakeholders. Please include a description of each feature set, along with an indication of the need for any additional equipment and licensing for both system and subscriber units.
4.7 Subscriber Equipment
The County expects that a wide variety of agencies will migrate to the new system, including public safety (police, fire/EMS, private ambulance) and public service (highway department, administration, transit, county services). As such, the County requires that a range of subscriber unit capabilities, feature sets, and price points be available for migrating agencies to select from. This includes both portable (hand-held) and mobile (vehicle-mounted) units. Appendix G provides detailed requirements for various radio tiers that would satisfy these requirements. Please indicate which radio models you would recommend for these purposes. Please provide the per-unit budget cost for each model.
4.8 Dispatch Operations
DER provides dispatch services for several Public Safety agencies, as well as municipal agencies, such as highway and transportation departments. It is anticipated that several local agencies, who currently operate on their own LMR systems, and dispatch themselves, will migrate to the newly created
system. Some of these agencies may consolidate dispatch services into the County’s dispatch Center while others may continue to maintain their own dispatch center. As such, a variety of dispatch solutions will be required, including the addition of new equipment which should be capable of interfacing with existing equipment. Appendix H provides a notional quantity and type of dispatch solution needs for the new system. Please describe the different solutions you can provide and include per-position budgetary pricing for each.
4.9 Existing Subsystem Compatibility
The County intends to reuse existing infrastructure and subscriber units where practical and cost- effective. These include:
- Paging system - The County is currently installing new GTR 8000 base stations to support their existing UHF pagers and intends to continue use of this infrastructure and pager inventory. The County is also interested in the new system’s ability to support P25 paging in the future. Please provide detail on this capability.
- Microwave - The County recently deployed Aviat Eclipse microwave equipment to interconnect their existing sites; refer to Appendix F for additional information on the existing backhaul. Please indicate whether the existing microwave equipment can be used economically, and to what extent.
- DER Dispatch Center equipment – The County intends to continue use of its existing MCC7500 dispatch subsystem, which will need to be integrated with the new radio system. As a part of the new system, the County requires a new trunked logging recorder, sized to accommodate the new system and its agencies.
- The following dispatching agencies lease Zetron model 4010 console systems and will need to either integrate with the new system or replace with new equipment: DC Sheriff, City of Poughkeepsie PD/FD, and Town of Poughkeepsie PD
- UHF and VHF simulcast channels – The County intends to redeploy existing UHF and VHF equipment to support national interoperability channel functions.
The County requests that the vendor comment on the County’s stated intentions for reuse and is open to the vendor’s alternative ideas, as may be appropriate.
5.0
Implementing a countywide trunked system will significantly improve interoperability between agencies operating within the County; however, interoperability with others will still be required. Three technical interoperability solutions are envisioned: 1) P25 ISSI connectivity with adjacent P25 counties and the MTA; 2) P25 RFSI interfaces, or their equivalent, with non-P25 adjacent counties; and 3) national interoperability channels at tower sites. Details of these requirements are provided in Appendix I. The vendor is requested to provide a description of their interoperability solutions applicable to these requirements and provide a budgetary cost to implement them.
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