Huntsville/Madison County no-bid trunking contract

[713]

Huntsville/Madison County 911 board approved a $3.6 million contract...

911 board approves $3.6 million for radio system | al.com

The comments below the article are interesting. It's not surprising that there are some readers that seem to be more informed than the writer of the article. They "called BS" on the so-called FCC "mandates".

Does anybody know any technical details of what they are planning to do? What is to be accomplished in phase 1 and phase 2? Which kind of digital?

 

[Resqr551]

No Bid BS Contract

Ernie Blair our former 911 Center is overseeing this project.
I imagine like the last time when the former mayor was in office and the existing system was being bid, he (the former mayor) went to work for Motorola when he left office. This is probably Ernie Blairs "retirement job".
The system will undoubtedly be Astro 25, just like the new Gadsden system. Supposed to be 5 sites.
The agencies like our 17 county volunteer Fire Dept's are getting this shoved down their throats. They currently have 3 vhf high band repeaters (all different freqs) and different mountains, and get good coverage. There has been NO avenue of access for questions to the board overseeing this project by ALL the agencies
Motorola bought their boy again here, so much for state bid laws. Wouldn't be near as pissed off if system was gonna be Pure P25, that way we don't get locked into sole vendor BS again.
I'd love to see the State Ethics Commission take a GOOD, LONG look at this. It smells the same way it did when we first went 800 trunking: Bat ****.

 

[Caddop22]

Ernie Blair our former 911 Center is overseeing this project.
I imagine like the last time when the former mayor was in office and the existing system was being bid, he (the former mayor) went to work for Motorola when he left office. This is probably Ernie Blairs "retirement job".
The system will undoubtedly be Astro 25, just like the new Gadsden system. Supposed to be 5 sites.
The agencies like our 17 county volunteer Fire Dept's are getting this shoved down their throats. They currently have 3 vhf high band repeaters (all different freqs) and different mountains, and get good coverage. There has been NO avenue of access for questions to the board overseeing this project by ALL the agencies
Motorola bought their boy again here, so much for state bid laws. Wouldn't be near as pissed off if system was gonna be Pure P25, that way we don't get locked into sole vendor BS again.
I'd love to see the State Ethics Commission take a GOOD, LONG look at this. It smells the same way it did when we first went 800 trunking: Bat ****.

If the system does become Astro 25, can the system be monitored? As in, will a Pro-96 or Pro-106 decode this system?

Thanks

 

[pilotman1260]

The 911 board may have approved it but It has not been approved by County Commisioners yet,at todays meeting it was brought up that the bidding process had not taken place and two other companies were at the meeting today and expressed possible legal action against the county,so the County Commision,siad they would wait before voting on the issue,so they don't get their rears sued,which will end up costing more than the contract.So Mr Blair will have to wait a little longer to see who will get the contract.

 

[Caddop22]

The 911 board may have approved it but It has not been approved by County Commisioners yet,at todays meeting it was brought up that the bidding process had not taken place and two other companies were at the meeting today and expressed possible legal action against the county,so the County Commision,siad they would wait before voting on the issue,so they don't get their rears sued,which will end up costing more than the contract.So Mr Blair will have to wait a little longer to see who will get the contract.

If the RFP was pulled before the bidding process was complete there will and should be law suits. Smaller and (not Motorola, propitiatory company's) should not have this advantage, Something is crooked in H town.

Thanks for you reply, lets keep this thread alive sir.

 

[Cars-Trains4me]

Anything new on this ? Is Huntsville Public Safety going digital ? If so, boo-hiss !

 

[713]

Madison County Digital

The system will undoubtedly be Astro 25, just like the new Gadsden system. Supposed to be 5 sites.
The agencies like our 17 county volunteer Fire Dept's are getting this shoved down their throats. They currently have 3 vhf high band repeaters (all different freqs) and different mountains, and get good coverage. There has been NO avenue of access for questions to the board overseeing this project by ALL the agencies

If I was in a fire department being forced this direction, I would do some research and educate/lobby my chief and other departments and protest vehemently. Digital radios have no place on the fire ground. Do some research about the problems with the vocoders and background noise like PASS devices and chainsaws, etc. FDNY has some unpleasant history in this area.

I would bet the vast majority of your radios are new enough (and likely your repeaters) that they could be moved to narrowband with only a software change.

Besides that, ask yourself how the additional cost of subscribing to the new system would benefit your department at all....

 

[Resqr551]

800 mhz has NO mandate to narrow band. Only VHF & UHF are mandated to narrow band.

 

[713]

800 mhz has NO mandate to narrow band. Only VHF & UHF are mandated to narrow band.

True, however the county fire departments are currently on vhf-hi. So that may have been part of the argument being used to force them to the 800MHz. Just trying to point out, it would still be much cheaper for them to stay on VHF and convert over to narrowband.

 

[dhsvf]

madison county commission meeting info on the subject via al.com:

Madison County Commission discusses switch to digital emergency radio system | al.com

HUNTSVILLE, AL. - Despite misgivings about the contract for a new digital emergency radio system at the Madison County E-911 Center, Madison County Commissioner Bob Harrison appears ready to move on.
Harrison at this morning's commission meeting repeated his assertion that the 911 Center's board should have had "a fair and open competition" by seeking bids for the center's new console and equipment instead of paying Motorola $4 million as a sole-source vendor. "But, we're where we are and we have to make the best of it," Harrison said.
He said the county now needs to concentrate how it will move forward replacing analog radios used by sheriff's deputies, volunteer fire departments and others with digital radios. Harrison said replacing the radios could cost up to $5 million.
Commissioner Dale Strong said he also had misgivings about how the 911 board handled the first phase of the switch. He said an option to supply the new radios to emergency responders should have been part of the first phase contract.
Commission Chairman Mike Gillespie said the national deadline for all emergency responders to be able to talk on the same radio frequency could be pushed back from 2013 to 2015.
A possible delay and federal money to help local governments make the switch were discussed in Washington last week when Gillespie, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle and Madison Mayor Paul Finley met with part of the state congressional delegation, Gillespie said.
The 911 Center's contract with Motorola will be on the commission's March 11 meeting agenda. The Huntsville City Council approved it Thursday night. The Madison City Council will also have to approve the contract.
The 911 Center's board will increase the monthly telephone fee from 82 cents to $2 for residents and from $2.225 to $2.75 for businesses to pay for the center's new equipment.

 

[pilotman1260]

There was suppose to discuss it at yesterday's meeting but havent heard anything yet.