control over what kind of system it will get. As I understand it, early
talks concerning LA-RICS brought about a commitment to be compatible with
the ICIS system*, which is already being used and/or committed to by several
cities/agencies in the County. That commitment alone narrows the field to
companies which can provide a Motorola-type trunking system. That's a very
narrow field (anybody besides Motorola?).
My question is, will the agency/ies be allowed to ultimately have control of
what system they can buy/implement? Or will the bidding process put that the
County at risk of having an "interoperability" system that nobody else can
interoperate on? That's where the real threat is, in my estimation.
---------
* ICIS had just really gotten established, with several of the participating
cities heavily invested in new hardware which could have been obsoleted by
an incompatible system. In fact, in the earliest days of LA-RICS, some of
the ICIS participants not yet invested pulled out.
ICIS compatibility ruled out use of the 800MHz spectrum which had been the
early thinking, and would be compatible with LAFD and Orange Co. By
contrast, ICIS and LACoFD, as well as Sheriff, are on 470-484MHz range.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Waterhouse" <gydanw@cvip.net>
To: <californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2011 5:28 PM
Subject: Re: [californiadisasters] L.A. Co. Starting Over on Emergency Com
System
Some thoughts from someone who's in government and who has dealt with
bidding (not for comm systems though).....
Hopefully, the bid package would spell out the qualifications for bidders
(such as experience supplying comm systems, ability to provide tech
support). A properly put together bid package would limit the potential for
damage from unqualified bidders.
The important phrase for this discussion should be "lowest responsible
bidder." That means a bidder who meets the qualifications and whose bid
makes sense, compared to the "engineer's estimate" and the other bids. So,
let's say LA estimates the cost of the system (I'm throwing some numbers out
there, they're not real) to be $10 million and all but one bid comes in
close to that number (higher and lower than). Then Joe's Radio and Billiards
submits a bid of say $7.5 million.
The purchasing agent is going to ask Joe's to explain its bid and why it
came in so low. If Joe can't come up with a valid explanation for the
low-ball, their bid is going to be disqualified as not being a "responsible"
bid.
--dan
Joe's Radio and Billiard Ball Co. bid lowest, would LA-RICS have to be
supplied by Joe?
A real dilemma.
------------------------------------
Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
californiadisasters-digest@yahoogroups.com
californiadisasters-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
californiadisasters-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
No comments:
Post a Comment