Harris appeals state's radio contract decision

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As expected, Harris Corp. is taking a battle over a major state law-enforcement radio contract to an appeals court.

The Melbourne-based company Thursday filed a notice of appeal of a decision by the Department of Management Services (DMS) to award the contract to Motorola Solutions, according to the 1st District Court of Appeal website.

DMS Secretary Erin Rock last month adopted a recommended order issued by Administrative Law Judge J. Bruce Culpepper and dismissed a protest filed by Harris.

The department in March announced it planned to award the contract, which is expected to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to Motorola. That drew the administrative challenge from Harris, which had the radio-system contract with the state.

The decision almost certainly will need legislative review and approval if the appeal goes nowhere.

The new Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System (SLERS) buildout is scheduled to begin in 2020, the company said in a press release.

The system is “a single, unified digital radio network that meets the radio voice communications needs of state law enforcement officers and other participating agencies throughout the state,” according to the DMS website.

Melbourne-based Harris Corp. had challenged the award to Motorola this March. It held the contract for SLERS since September 2000.

At a hearing in May, Harris had raised the issue of radio towers and how their quantity and quality of service is paramount to officer and public safety.

But Motorola’s legal counsel said his client’s superiority in communications technology essentially means the company can do more with less.

The system is funded through a $1 fee tacked on to vehicle registrations.

Last month, Harris and New York-based L3 Technologies announced that they had agreed to an all-stock “merger of equals,” creating the sixth largest defense contractor in the U.S.

Billed as “the largest merger in defense history,” the new company — L3 Harris Technologies — is expected to generate $16 billion in yearly revenues and has 48,000 employees worldwide, a press release said.

The News Service of Florida contributed to this post.

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Harris appeals state’s radio contract decision

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