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Approve a revenue agreement with City of Vacaville for $92,991 for the term of July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 to provide maintenance and programming services for the City’s two-way subscriber radios; and Authorize the County Administrator to execute the agreement and any subsequent amendments, with County Counsel concurrence, not to exceed 10% of the agreement amount
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Department of Information Technology (DoIT) recommends that the Board of Supervisors:
1. Approve a revenue agreement with City of Vacaville for $92,991 for the term of July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 to provide maintenance and programming services for the City’s two-way subscriber radios; and
2. Authorize the County Administrator to execute the agreement and any subsequent amendments, with County Counsel concurrence, not to exceed 10% of the agreement amount.
SUMMARY:
The City of Vacaville owns and operates a fleet of Public Safety-grade handheld and vehicle-installed two-way radios used on their P25 Public Safety Communications (PSC) system, and other Very High Frequency (VHF) conventional mutual aid systems, such as the Solano County conventional VHF system. The primary users are the Vacaville Police, Fire, Public Works, and Transit departments. These radios require repairs and periodic preventative maintenance to operate properly as part of the PSC system. The City does not have trained personnel to perform this work and has traditionally contracted this work out to entities equipped and trained to do so, including Solano County in the past.
The City of Vacaville is seeking to contract with the Solano County PSC Division of DoIT to provide required repairs and periodic preventative maintenance for the City’s fleet of 789 subscriber radios, and annual programming updates for Vacaville Fire Department’s 149 VHF-capable subscriber radios, as required by CAL-Fire.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The total revenue to the County of the proposed not-to-exceed contract is $92,991. This consists of $80,842 for maintenance and repair services of 789 P25 subscriber radios, and $12,149 for programming updates for 149 VHF Fire Department subscriber radios.
DISCUSSION:
Consistent quality of communications is critical for Public Safety and other critical infrastructure users. Properly maintaining radio equipment is paramount in achieving the optimum performance from the equipment. This translates directly to a safer environment for both users and the public.
Solano County PSC Division’s core competencies and responsibilities are to provide these types of services to the Sheriff, County Fire Districts, and other County departments. Solano PSC Division has recently invested in increased staff, training, and equipment, and can now offer these services to other Agencies within the County.
A small pilot program with Dixon Police Department maintaining 60 of their front-line Police subscriber radios over the last year has had positive results, including access to trained technicians, and a single point of contact to initiate service requests. Solano County PSC Division is expanding these services to other agencies and fine-tuning our service processes and continue to grow our staff capabilities.
Services under this contract will be provided by current PCS Division staff. As additional services contracts for radio servicing get added, DoIT will evaluate the impact on capacity of the existing PSC team.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board may choose not to approve the City of Vacaville service contract. This is not recommended as it would delay the City of Vacaville in contracting with a qualified and affordable service entity, which would delay or extend the timely update of the fire radios and add to a growing backlog of inoperative subscriber radios. As mutual aid partners with Solano County, poorly performing or malfunctioning subscriber radios could potentially decrease safety due to delayed or failed communications with dispatch or other public safety entities, impacting Solano Dispatch emergency services.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel has reviewed the contract as to form.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION