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Title:
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Contract award to Motorola, Inc. for the Interagency Communication Interoperability System (ICIS) upgrade.
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City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council award the contract for the Interagency Communications
Interoperability System (ICIS) upgrade to the City’s radio system to Motorola, Inc.
BACKGROUND:
Interagency Communications Interoperability System (ICIS) is a concept that will
allow cities using common band (UHF) communication systems to share their
infrastructure to communicate with each other and their home city throughout the
region.
Historically, the inability of public safety organizations to talk to each other during
major emergencies has imposed a significant obstacle in mitigating these
incidents. This limitation was listed as a major problem during the September
11
th
, 2001 terrorist attacks and again, most recently, in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina. The ability to communicate with all of the agencies involved with incident
response and recovery efforts is known as “interoperability”. Achieving
interoperability is a goal that every public safety agency in the nation is working
to attain.
Due to the sheer size and number of different agencies in Los Angeles County, it
is a huge task to try to bring together public safety communications. The best
solution would be to get every agency on the same radio band using the same
technology. If this were the case, talking to one another would be a simple
matter of “dialing up” the other agencies’ channels.
Meeting Date: 10/24/05 Item Number: C-9
AGENDA ITEM: Consideration to Award the Interagency Communications
Interoperability System (ICIS) Upgrade Contract to Motorola, Inc.
Contact Person/Dept.: David L. White Phone Number: (310) 253-6805
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [] No [X]
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: [X]
Public Notification: Master Notification List (10/18/05); Interagency Communications
Interoperability System (ICIS) Authority (10/18/05); Motorola (10/18/05)
Department Approval:
Jeffery I. Eastman 10/13/05
CAO Approval:
Jerry Fulwood 10/19/05
City Controller Approval:
Marlee Chang 10/19/05City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
The optimum radio band for this area is UHF, which is where most agencies are
already operating; however there are not enough channels in the UHF band to
allow every agency to utilize it with conventional radio systems. To achieve this
level of interoperability and actually get everyone onto the same band would
require technology that is extremely efficient and reliable, such as the one we
used to solve our problems (trunking).
Culver City switched from a “Conventional” radio system to a “Trunked” radio
system in 2001. Trunking is a technology that optimizes airtime within a radio
system. It allows users to have significantly more talkgroups (or channels) than it
has actual licensed frequencies. The system assigns frequencies to users as
needed making full use of available airtime. The old system had six frequencies
assigned as six channels. We now have thirty-two talkgroups using those same
six frequencies.
Our trunked radio system is a great success with its users throughout the City
and has become a model for cities designing new systems with limited available
frequencies. Our trunked system also allows us to connect to a region wide
communication network, ICIS, under development within the Los Angeles basin.
ICIS is the next level to having every city on UHF (the same band) and using the
same technology (trunking). ICIS would allow agencies that are UHF trunked to
“plug in” to each other’s systems and use them as if they were their own when
out of their normal “home” area. ICIS will provide Culver City with the following:
The capability of radio communications to Culver City Dispatch almost
anywhere in Los Angeles County. This is extremely valuable in a
police pursuit and when our companies are involved in providing
mutual aid to other jurisdictions.
A back-up radio system, redundancy is very important in this age of
disasters and terrorism.
The ability to communicate with any agency on the system using the
same radios at the push of a button.
ICIS has allowed the Culver City Police Department partial access to the system
over the past six months. They have been very impressed and fully support this
project. Staff is confident that most regional public safety agencies will migrate
toward the ICIS model. City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
DISCUSSION:
On August 4, 2005, the City of Culver City took the first step toward achieving
interoperability by entering into a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) with several
other Cities in Los Angeles County in order to establish the Interagency
Communications Interoperability System. The proposed ICIS upgrade to our
existing radio system represents the second and final step in meeting this goal.
The ICIS upgrade covers the following scope of work:
1. Equipment Upgrade at the Baldwin Hills Radio Site
2. Equipment Upgrade in the Police Department Dispatch Center
3. Equipment Upgrade at the ICIS master site located at the Glendale Civic
Center
4. Flash Software Upgrade for Police and Fire Subscriber Units (portable &
mobile radios)
5. Purchase mobile radios for the Fire Department
Motorola - Sole Source Vendor
Staff recommends that the City Council award the contract for the Interagency
Communications Interoperability System (ICIS) upgrade to the City’s radio system
to Motorola, Inc. for the following reasons:
1. The City of Culver City’s existing radio system was purchased from and
implemented by Motorola.
2. ICIS is a Motorola system.
3. Both systems are based on Motorola’s trunking technology.
4. ICIS also utilizes Motorola’s specialized Smart Zone simulcast trunking
technology.
5. The key components including hardware, software, and factory integration
services of the proposed system are available for the City only through the
manufacturer, Motorola.
6. Due to the unique and highly specialized nature of Motorola's Smart Zone
simulcast trunking system, the associated hardware and software are typically
not distributed through dealers or third parties.
7. The ICIS upgrade requires both systems be fully integrated with each other.
Due to the specialized requirements of Motorola's public safety simulcast
systems, we are not aware of another party with the knowledge of these
particular Motorola products that is qualified to integrate and optimize this new
equipment and software into the ICIS system.
8. Motorola has the implementation experience and staff to implement the new
system in the timeframe required by the UASI grant.
9. Motorola will provide a single point of contact for the City of Culver City,
minimizing the implementation risks.City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
FISCAL ANALYSIS
There is no cost to the City for the radio system upgrade. Fire Department staff
has aggressively pursued grant funding and succeeded in obtaining funding to
cover 100% of the upgrade costs. The upgrade is fully funded by grant awards
from the 2005 Urban Area Securities Initiative and the 2005 State Homeland
Security Grant program. The total contract price is $890,206.85. The contract
includes all maintenance costs for one year. After one year the radio system will
be maintained with existing budget funds, and staffing from the Fire Department
Telecommunications Division (the source of existing radio system maintenance).
ATTACHMENTS:
None
MOTIONS:
That the City Council:
1) Award the contract for the Interagency Communications Interoperability
System (ICIS) upgrade to the City’s radio system to Motorola, Inc; and
2) Direct the City Attorney to prepare the appropriate contract documents with
Motorola, Inc and authorize the Chief Administrative Officer to sign the
contract.