COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

AREA OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES

DATE:

October 12, 2005

BOARD MEETING DATE:

November 8, 2005

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Sheriff Don Horsley, Office of Emergency Services Area Coordinator

SUBJECT:

Agreement with Telecommunications Engineers Associates (TEA) to purchase and install equipment to upgrade the San Mateo County Fire Service Radio System.

RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a resolution authorizing the President of the Board to:

A.

Waive the Request for Proposal (RFP) process; and

B.

Execute an agreement with TEA to upgrade the San Mateo County Fire Service’s radio system.

VISION ALIGNMENT:

Commitment: Ensure basic health and safety for all.

Goal 7: Maintain and enhance the public safety of all residents and visitors.

The proposed agreement will update the County’s public safety communication system by replacing obsolete equipment.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

Measure

FY 2004-05
Actual

FY 2005-06
Projected

Number of incidents responded to by OES staff:

76

80

Percent of emergency incidents responded to within one hour:

98%

100%

BACKGROUND:

In 2004, the San Mateo County Fire Service was awarded grant monies from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in order to replace mission critical technology used for their radio infrastructure.

Approximately seven years ago, the San Mateo County Fire Service re-designed their radio infrastructure to accommodate the new consolidated services they provide in fire suppression and medical care responses. It is now time to replace obsolete equipment and add new equipment where necessary.

The monies secured for this project are locally administered through the County Area Offices of Emergency Services (OES). OES provides grant administration for DHS grants to all public safety agencies in the County. Part of the grant administration includes the purchasing of services or goods for these departments. OES then seeks reimbursement from DHS for monies spent.

DISCUSSION:

TEA has been in San Mateo County for the past 18 years, upgrading and installing new radio, data and communications systems. They have performed several projects for the County such as the engineering and installation of equipment at the Fire/EMS Back-up Center at Redwood City Fire Station #9 and the installation of alerting equipment for the County Fire Stations in order to be dispatched by Public Safety Communications.

TEA has vast experience in providing advanced systems for public safety environments. Their firm was the principal vendor responsible for the planning, implementation and testing of the Countywide consolidated fire communications radio infrastructure, and is currently the vendor maintaining fire station alerting and radio equipment in all San Mateo County Fire stations. TEA installed and maintained the County Fire Service’s radio infrastructure since its inception in 1999.

The County Fire Service’s radio system is a mission critical system which is relied upon so that the Fire Service can successfully accomplish their tasks on 24 hour, 7 days a week basis. Failure of the system can compromise the delivery of fire suppression and pre-hospital care services they provide. It is crucial that the system is maintained during normal operations while new equipment is being installed.

It is the County Fire Service’s desire to have TEA install the equipment for this project in order to maintain system integrity and minimize risk to the mission critical operation during implementation. TEA has prepared a work plan that includes a needs assessment, planning, engineering, procurement, implementation, testing and maintenance. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the County to waive the Request for Proposals process and to contract with TEA based on their experience with and knowledge of the County’s public safety communications system infrastructure.

County Counsel has reviewed and approved this resolution and agreement as to form.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The term of this Agreement is September 1, 2005 through September 30, 2006. The total obligation under this Agreement is not to exceed $375,000. Monies spent on this project are reimbursed by the Department of Homeland Security. There is no net County cost associated with this project.