Kern County approves massive $177M upgrade to emergency responder communications system

[Opfor2]

County supervisors approve massive $177M upgrade to emergency responder communications system

County supervisors took up the budget item Tuesday in the final step for a process that started seven years ago.

www.kget.com

 

[1979lee]

oh dammmmmit

 

[W8KIC]

So, what does it mean now that Kern County has awarded Motorola Solutions the contract to update their communications system? My gut tells me first and foremost that they likely overpaid. Lol! Just kidding, of course. For all I know, Motorola may well have been the best way to go, although I'm quite sure there'll be those who'll question how Kern arrived at the decision they ultimately made, especially, when that decision came in five million dollars ABOVE the other guys! At the very least, the taxpayers will be scratching their heads wondering just what criteria their county uses when awarding big ticket items like this one.

 

[mmckenna]

Low bid doesn't always equal and automatic win. The buyer will sometimes award "points" based on other criteria.

Sounds like one guy raised the BS flag, but got "assisted" by his fellow supervisors into letting it slide. Slowing down the award process seemed like their main concern, not the $5 million difference.

But, most of us probably knows how this will play out:
Harris will sue the county.
Motorola will sue the county.
The project will get delayed.
Eventually it all gets sorted out thanks to millions of dollars in taxpayer funded attorneys and legal consul.
By then, the quotes/contracts will have expired and it starts all over again.

Then the winner will change order the snot out of the county. This project will NOT cost $177,000,000.00

Remove "Kern" and insert your county name here.

To be fair, Kern County is HUGE and covering even some of it is going to be a large undertaking. Motorola and Harris would be the only vendors with the capability to handle something this size.

I'm sure we have not heard the last of this.

 

[scannerboy02]

The 5,989 pages are going to take some time to read, thankfully (LOL) a good number of them are redacted. From the 596 I've scanned so far it at least seems as though they aren't going to use 700/800, that's a good move for that county.

 

[AM909]

$5M is nothing on a $177M project. Capability to professionally install, maintain, and support can be worth many times that. There's also the question of what can actually be delivered any time soon. Some have been waiting for radios for a long time. Of course, there's always a pecking order, and a big job like that might be able to get their own manufacturing run shoved in the queue in Mexico, Phillipines, Malaysia, or wherever.

 

[Eng74]

It took 10 years for them to do the last system 23 years ago. I remember they sent the new HT’s to the stations and we had to send them back in again because the batteries went bad because they were not being used.

 

[Calicrook]

Just saw it on the news, wonder if anything in the contract talks about encryption of it.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

Just saw it on the news, wonder if anything in the contract talks about encryption of it.

I hope not ESPECIALLY on the fire side. I drive through there a lot for my job (2x a day, every day for a month) and rely on my scanner to know where the wrecks on 99 are.

 

[scannerboy02]

It took 10 years for them to do the last system 23 years ago. I remember they sent the new HT’s to the stations and we had to send them back in again because the batteries went bad because they were not being used.

The estimated completion date in the contract is 2031, and as we know these things never stay on schedule.

Just saw it on the news, wonder if anything in the contract talks about encryption of it.

It does mention encryption as part of the contract but that is standard for most new systems these days. If they are going to use it or not isn't something they put in a contract.

 

[1979lee]

P25 TYPE 2Noooooooooooooooooooo! well guess its chp only for me,i cant spend 600$ fo a p25 t2 scanner

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

P25 TYPE 2Noooooooooooooooooooo! well guess its chp only for me,i cant spend 600$ fo a p25 t2 scanner

It’s gonna be awhile. You could start saving and probably buy a second or third hand one by time it finishes in 10 years.

 

[AM909]

... and will probably be mostly encrypted anyway.

 

[Eng74]

P25 TYPE 2Noooooooooooooooooooo! well guess its chp only for me,i cant spend 600$ fo a p25 t2 scanner

You can get a 996P2 or a 325P2 for $399.95, or the 436HP $509 or 536HP $519. Those 4 should only go down some more. You can always check Ham Radio Outlet for used that are on consignment.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

You can get a 996P2 or a 325P2 for $399.95, or the 436HP $509 or 536HP $519. Those 4 should only go down some more. You can always check Ham Radio Outlet for used that are on consignment.

Hell, you can get Whistler digital scanners that support phase 2on eBay for less than $300.

 

[scannerboy02]

One thing to remember is if they are planning for simulcast sites, and it looks like they are, a lot of "older" scanners have trouble with those.

 

[Progline]

$177 M, wow! Sounds like they got the full Moto Dog & Pony show. That little newspaper clip has all the dangerous catchphrases too:
"State of the Art"
"Subject to Change"
"Streamlined Communication"

Where have I heard this before?
What could possibly go wrong???

And I love how staff told them a 2 week delay would require a "new contract" and "higher cost". Sheesh. YOU'RE THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS! YOU CALL THE SHOTS.

 

[TampaTyron]

That is a big number, but I am ignorant of the county and its coverage challenges. That being said, I am a large Moto dealer specializing in MOTOTRBO. The largest Capacity Max system I have ever worked on was 100 site VHF system with 150ish consoles in North Africa. Not sure on price, but guessing around 50ish million. TT

 

[mmckenna]

That is a big number, but I am ignorant of the county and its coverage challenges. That being said, I am a large Moto dealer specializing in MOTOTRBO. The largest Capacity Max system I have ever worked on was 100 site VHF system with 150ish consoles in North Africa. Not sure on price, but guessing around 50ish million. TT

I don't live in Kern county, but I've driven through a lot of it. A real mix of flat valley floor and towering mountains. A $177 million price tag to cover that kind of land, plus all the radios, isn't out of the ordinary. I'm working on the designs for a 3 channel 8 site system and I'm looking at about $3M.

 

[Eng74]

That is a big number, but I am ignorant of the county and its coverage challenges. That being said, I am a large Moto dealer specializing in MOTOTRBO. The largest Capacity Max system I have ever worked on was 100 site VHF system with 150ish consoles in North Africa. Not sure on price, but guessing around 50ish million. TT

A county about the size of Massachusetts, the county is split in two by the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the east side has the Mojave Desert. We cover SRA land and have interagency response areas with USFS and BLM.