COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Office of Public Safety Communications

DATE:

March 19, 2010

BOARD MEETING DATE:

April 13, 2010

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Jaime D. Young, Public Safety Communications Director

SUBJECT:

Authorization to execute Purchase Order with Priority Dispatch Corporation

RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a Resolution Authorizing:

A. A waiver of the request for proposal process;

B. Authorize the County’s Purchasing Agent to execute a Purchase Order in an

amount not to exceed $142,000 for proprietary software licenses, maintenance and support from Priority Dispatch Corporation and execute change orders modifying the County’s maximum fiscal obligation by no more than $31,000 for a total obligation of $173,000.

BACKGROUND:

Public Safety Communications (PSC) provides medical instructions to citizens reporting emergencies that require pre-hospital care and transportation to a hospital. Otherwise known as “Emergency Medical Dispatch” or “EMD”, PSC applies these systematic protocols in order to:

• accurately categorize the reported signs and symptoms

• determine the appropriate response configuration of fire and ambulance resources

• provide life saving pre-arrival instructions in cases where respiratory/cardiac arrest, choking or childbirth is being reported.

• provide immediate post-dispatch instructions to the caller in order to prepare for first responders

Dispatch and quality assurance software, training, maintenance and operational and technical support have been provided by the same vendor, Priority Dispatch Corporation, since 1992. In 2006, PSC was awarded the distinction of being an "Accredited Center of Excellence” by the National Academy of Emergency Dispatch for the provision of Emergency Medical Dispatch, an achievement obtained through the use of the products and services provided by Priority Dispatch Corporation (Priority Dispatch).

DISCUSSION:

PSC is in a position to take a step closer to becoming the first Police, Fire and EMS Dispatch Center in the Western United States accredited in all three services by procuring the software licenses and services from Priority Dispatch for its “Emergency Police Dispatch” (EPD) protocol and “Emergency Fire Dispatch” (EFD) protocol. This software package is parallel to its companion EMD software and will provide:

• Establishment of a unified standard – assisting to ensure that each caller receives comparable levels of service and facilitates Quality Improvement procedures.

• Safe prioritization of responses - enabling agencies to triage responses according to the seriousness of an incident while maximizing resources utility

• National Certification of Emergency Police/Fire Dispatchers – ensuring competency amongst staff and building trust with our customers

• Quality Improvement – measuring individual performance against a nationally recognized standard

• Reduced Liability – by employing the above, the systematic application of protocols reduces agency and individual liability

• National Accreditation – opportunity to achieve the highest level of excellence at the individual, operational and organizational levels.

PSC is scheduled to implement the EPD system in August of this year, while EFD is tentatively scheduled for 2010/11. There are no vendors other than Priority Dispatch providing comparable products and services across Police, Fire and EMS dispatch. On the basis of Priority Dispatch’s highly specialized knowledge and experience in this field, as well as PSC’s history of successful implementation and maintenance of Priority Dispatch’s EMD protocol, PSC requests a waiver of the RFP process.

County Counsel has reviewed and approved the purchase order, and Resolution as to form. Information Services has reviewed this request.

This resolution supports Vision 2025 Healthy Community, promoting safe neighborhoods by delivering high quality and standardized service to the public and public safety agencies.

Performance Measure(s):

Measure

FY 2008-09
Actual

FY 2009-10
Projected

Percent of high priority calls dispatched within established time frames:

• Police

84%

82%

• Fire

93%

94%

• Medical

92%

94%

FISCAL IMPACT:

Net County Cost for this purchase will not exceed $173,000. On-going maintenance for this product is projected to be $19,601. The funding for this purchase and maintenance is in the Public Safety Communications budget for the current and concurrent fiscal year.