Florida awarded ComNet-Ericsson a contract to upgrade and enhance the state’s partially completed law enforcement radio system, much to the chagrin of Motorola Inc., which supplied the original system.
ComNet-Ericsson said the contract, representing the largest public-private partnership in Florida history, will shift the risk of owning and maintaining the system to ComNet-Ericsson while insulating the state from cost overruns and issues associated with changing technology.
Although Florida’s current radio system, contracted to Motorola, was started in 1988 and has cost the state more than $120 million to date, the state claims only 35 percent of the system is complete.
The new agreement calls for the system to be completed within 36 months at a price that is expected to save the state $859 million, based on buildout estimates presented to the state legislature in 1997 by the Department of Management Services.
“Florida did an excellent job of recognizing the value of its communications infrastructure, which had previously been a liability,” said Steve Savor, president of Com-Net Ericsson. “They have taken non-revenue producing assets and leveraged them to achieve their critical communications goals.”
The new system also will include additional features that were eliminated from Florida’s current radio system plans due to cost concerns, including a statewide dedicated data network, annual technology updates over the life of the service agreement and a mobile disaster relief radio site that provides emergency communications capability and increased transmission capacity in the event of an emergency.
Motorola said it was disappointed that Florida chose to sign the contract with ComNet-Ericsson, which calls for the dismantling of the recently upgraded Phase I and Phase II portions of the system.
Motorola also said the timing of the contract signing was surprising since there are currently several legal actions pending that could challenge the legal process followed by DMS in the procurement process, including alleged violations of the Florida Sunshine Law.
“On several occasions, Motorola told the state that Florida did not get the best value for the public-safety community,” Motorola said in a statement. “In a last-minute, arbitrary decision, the state elected to eliminate Motorola’s proposal for sharing revenue on the statewide radio communications towers, even though the state specifically instructed Motorola to provide such a proposal. Had even a third of the proposed revenue been considered, Motorola would have been the low bidder as well as providing a more robust system that met all of the state’s technical requirements.”
Savor said that Com-Net Ericsson went to Motorola as early as 1998 to try and help them work through the implementation of the radio network, but was re-buffed at that time.
“Motorola said it was waiting for the state to come up with more money to pay for the project,” Savor said. “I am not sure how Motorola does their math, but all of their allegations concerning the contract are without merit.”
Savor noted that a judge has recently dismissed Motorola’s claims concerning the matter.
