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Cleveland weighs proposals for city's new radio system - Cleveland.com
NEWS
Cleveland weighs proposals for city's new radio system
One bidder offers lower cost, but reduces project's scope
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Patrick O'Donnell
Plain Dealer Reporter
Cleveland can solve its police radio needs for a fraction of what it expected to pay, says one of the two bidders to build a new communications system for the city.
The bid from the Harris Corp. offers a new radio system for about $17 million -- well below the $30 million to $60 million the city estimated it would cost when it put the project out for bid this spring.
The city still does not know how it will pay for the new system. So Harris' proposal reduces the scope of the project from what the city sought when it asked for proposals from companies.
The city planned to buy a radio system to serve city maintenance workers and water department employees working across the county, in addition to police and firefighters. Harris, formerly operating under Tyco Electronics or M/A-Com, instead submitted a proposal to serve just the safety forces.
The plan would take those forces off the city's failing police radio system and allow intercommunication with safety forces from other cities, a major Homeland Security goal nationwide since 2001. Under Harris' plan, other city employees would remain on the existing system until the city has money to add them to the new one.
"Our creative approach offers the city's public-safety forces what they need today but saves the taxpayers a considerable savings of millions of dollars," John Hawn, a Harris district manager, said in a written statement.
The Plain Dealer has requested copies of the proposals from Harris and Motorola, the only bidders for the project, since the bids were due at the end of June. The city has declined to release them, saying that doing so would reveal trade secrets.
Neither company would release its bid while city committees reviewed the proposals. Harris responded to The Plain Dealer's request last week as it received word the city is leaning toward Motorola's plan.
The city's review process rated Motorola's plan higher, according to score sheets provided by the city. Those do not contain much detail about the relative merits of the plans.
Ken Silliman, the chief of staff for Mayor Frank Jackson, said the mayor and Safety Director Martin Flask are still awaiting final recommendations from a committee reviewing the plans. He said the city would have no comment on the plans until then.
One bidder offers lower cost, but reduces project's scope
But Silliman said he was concerned that Harris would release its plan and not respect city requests not to.
"They are attempting to influence the outcome of our evaluation," Silliman said. "That will not happen."
He also declined to comment on Harris' offering a different plan from what the city asked for. He said that the city included each part of its plan for a reason and that its request "speaks for itself."
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Motorola spokesman Matt Messinger said Wednesday that his company would not jeopardize the bid process and referred questions to the city.
The dueling bids come as the city's old radio system is failing. Between December and January, it shut down suddenly three times, forcing police officers to use cell phones and restrict their response to calls for several hours each time.
The city bought that system in 1993 for $21.2 million and still has to pay more than $1 million a year for it until 2022.
As the city replaces the system, it aims to upgrade to a standard called P-25 that would allow public safety systems nationwide to communicate with each other in disasters. The state and county are also building systems on that standard.
Motorola, in addition to being the maker of the city's current system, has dominated the market in Ohio for such systems. Harris is trying to break into the Cuyahoga County and Ohio market with its Cleveland bid.
The Harris proposal and statements indicate that the city's original plan would have Cleveland building a system that would serve the whole county. Harris instead argues that a city system that could be used across the county would either duplicate the county system that is being developed or is more than Cleveland should be responsible for. Setting up such a system would require Cleveland to install transmitters across Cuyahoga County.
"We used common-sense reasoning to assume that the citizens of Cleveland should not pay for equipment for these other cities," according to the written statement from Hawn, the Harris district manager.
Harris' plan also adds a technological improvement over what the city asked for. The city requested bids for a system using the first phase of P-25 equipment. Harris' plan offers Phase II equipment, which the company said will keep its equipment from becoming outdated in the next few years.
The city has not determined how it will pay for a new system, Silliman said. The city hoped federal stimulus money would cover much of the costs, he said, but that has not happened and the city is looking at other ways to pay for it.
NEWS
Cleveland weighs proposals for city's new radio system
One bidder offers lower cost, but reduces project's scope
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Patrick O'Donnell
Plain Dealer Reporter
Cleveland can solve its police radio needs for a fraction of what it expected to pay, says one of the two bidders to build a new communications system for the city.
The bid from the Harris Corp. offers a new radio system for about $17 million -- well below the $30 million to $60 million the city estimated it would cost when it put the project out for bid this spring.
The city still does not know how it will pay for the new system. So Harris' proposal reduces the scope of the project from what the city sought when it asked for proposals from companies.
The city planned to buy a radio system to serve city maintenance workers and water department employees working across the county, in addition to police and firefighters. Harris, formerly operating under Tyco Electronics or M/A-Com, instead submitted a proposal to serve just the safety forces.
The plan would take those forces off the city's failing police radio system and allow intercommunication with safety forces from other cities, a major Homeland Security goal nationwide since 2001. Under Harris' plan, other city employees would remain on the existing system until the city has money to add them to the new one.
"Our creative approach offers the city's public-safety forces what they need today but saves the taxpayers a considerable savings of millions of dollars," John Hawn, a Harris district manager, said in a written statement.
The Plain Dealer has requested copies of the proposals from Harris and Motorola, the only bidders for the project, since the bids were due at the end of June. The city has declined to release them, saying that doing so would reveal trade secrets.
Neither company would release its bid while city committees reviewed the proposals. Harris responded to The Plain Dealer's request last week as it received word the city is leaning toward Motorola's plan.
The city's review process rated Motorola's plan higher, according to score sheets provided by the city. Those do not contain much detail about the relative merits of the plans.
Ken Silliman, the chief of staff for Mayor Frank Jackson, said the mayor and Safety Director Martin Flask are still awaiting final recommendations from a committee reviewing the plans. He said the city would have no comment on the plans until then.
One bidder offers lower cost, but reduces project's scope
But Silliman said he was concerned that Harris would release its plan and not respect city requests not to.
"They are attempting to influence the outcome of our evaluation," Silliman said. "That will not happen."
He also declined to comment on Harris' offering a different plan from what the city asked for. He said that the city included each part of its plan for a reason and that its request "speaks for itself."
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Motorola spokesman Matt Messinger said Wednesday that his company would not jeopardize the bid process and referred questions to the city.
The dueling bids come as the city's old radio system is failing. Between December and January, it shut down suddenly three times, forcing police officers to use cell phones and restrict their response to calls for several hours each time.
The city bought that system in 1993 for $21.2 million and still has to pay more than $1 million a year for it until 2022.
As the city replaces the system, it aims to upgrade to a standard called P-25 that would allow public safety systems nationwide to communicate with each other in disasters. The state and county are also building systems on that standard.
Motorola, in addition to being the maker of the city's current system, has dominated the market in Ohio for such systems. Harris is trying to break into the Cuyahoga County and Ohio market with its Cleveland bid.
The Harris proposal and statements indicate that the city's original plan would have Cleveland building a system that would serve the whole county. Harris instead argues that a city system that could be used across the county would either duplicate the county system that is being developed or is more than Cleveland should be responsible for. Setting up such a system would require Cleveland to install transmitters across Cuyahoga County.
"We used common-sense reasoning to assume that the citizens of Cleveland should not pay for equipment for these other cities," according to the written statement from Hawn, the Harris district manager.
Harris' plan also adds a technological improvement over what the city asked for. The city requested bids for a system using the first phase of P-25 equipment. Harris' plan offers Phase II equipment, which the company said will keep its equipment from becoming outdated in the next few years.
The city has not determined how it will pay for a new system, Silliman said. The city hoped federal stimulus money would cover much of the costs, he said, but that has not happened and the city is looking at other ways to pay for it.
