Peter Schorsch
On Tuesday, the Department of Management Services’ Joint Task Force on State Agency Law Enforcement Communications will continue an ongoing discussion on a business case from January which recommends the adoption of a suite of “P25” radio standards and — significantly, for communications industry stakeholders — a competitive bidding process to achieve them.
The new, enhanced standards for law enforcement radio systems are meant to make all radios issued to state personnel interoperable, or compatible across agencies and jurisdictions. Florida has seen avoidable tragedies in recent years stemming from incompatible systems which have prevented police and emergency management officials from adequately coordinating.
The state’s current radio vendor, the Brevard County-based Harris Corporation, has argued that taxpayers would be best served by continuing their contract, which expires in 2021. They argue they can make the same upgrade for cheaper and without risk of disruption of service that would attend a switch to a new vendor. Harris has also reportedly made a play for funding in this year’s state budget, asking for $84 million for new radios to reaffirm their role as a state partner, which has so far been rejected by House leaders.
Others, including industry competitors, say the best way forward is to completely revamp the radio infrastructure from the ground up, scrapping the existing analog system such that no efficiency would result in keeping the current vendor in place beyond their current contract. Motorola Solutions and Airbus are expected to enter a bid if a procurement process goes forward as recommended by the task force.
The meeting is slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. at the DMS’ Betty Easley Center in Tallahassee’s Southwood district.
