HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 1587City of Palo Alto (ID # 1587)
City Council Staff Report
Report Type: Study SessionMeeting Date: 5/2/2011
May 02, 2011 Page 1 of 4
(ID # 1587)
Summary Title: Tri-Cities Joint CAD Project
Title: Public Saftey Systems Virtual Consolidation Project
From:City Manager
Lead Department: Police
RECOMMENDATIONS
Continue to work cooperatively with the Cities of Mountain View and Los Altos towards the
virtual consolidation of public safety technology.
BACKGROUND
Currently, the cities of Palo Alto, Mountain View and Los Altos operate separate public safety
technology systems including computer aided dispatch (CAD) and records management systems
(RMS). At present, none of these systems communicate with each other. In 2007, in an effort
to leverage purchasing power and share costs, the three Cities embarked on an effort to
consolidate police and fire department ancillary systems, computer aided dispatch, records
management systems and Police and Fire Mobile applications. Representatives from the three
cities have been working collaboratively towards the goal of sharing a single set of shared
public safety systems, as opposed to each city procuring and supporting separate and disparate
systems from different suppliers.
The three Cities shared the cost of consulting services for the first phase of the project. A
Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was released to the vendor community in 2007 and from that,
selected vendors were invited to participate in a Request for Proposal (RFP) process in 2008.
After a thorough analysis of the proposals received, including an objective analysis by the
project’s consultant and system demonstrations, the proposal submitted by the Intergraph
Corporation was identified as representing the best choice for the three Cities.
In August 2010, Intergraph Corporation conducted a detailed system design process with
project stakeholders from the three Cities in order to validate the proposed system design and
ensure that all three Cities’ requirements would be met or exceeded. This process included a
hands-on demonstration period for the end-users as well as validation of over one thousand
functions required in the RFP. The project team members have been working with Intergraph to
further refine the scope of the project and to ensure all required features, functions, and
interfaces will be present in the proposed system. The representatives from the three
municipalities and Intergraph have agreed on the required scope for the project and are
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engaged in the final contract negotiations. The City of Mountain View’s Purchasing Agent is the
lead cost negotiator for the tri-cities.
DISCUSSION
With shared cost savings in mind, the goal for the tri-city consolidation is for real-time
communication and collaboration between the three cities for the day-to-day delivery of public
safety services as well as regional emergencies. Furthermore, it is anticipated that
implementation of a shared CAD/RMS system will result in increased efficiencies, reduced
response times, and improved service delivery through redundancy and leveraged resources. It
is anticipated that there will be personnel savings once the project is complete. The goal for
operational implementation is July of 2012.
Another significant development in 9-1-1 and emergency dispatch service delivery is the advent
of "Next Generation 9-1-1" (NG9-1-1). For the past 40 years, 9-1-1 calls have depended upon
traditional, low-speed, analog telephone infrastructure. While the remainder of the business
and consumer world has embraced and adopted the use of the Internet and wireless
technologies, the 9-1-1 infrastructure has remained essentially unchanged. 9-1-1 Centers in
California and across the Country have been unable to accommodate (for example) emergency
requests from text messages,Internet-based text messaging clients, video-based clients, etc.
The goal of the three Cities in this virtual consolidation project is to adopt a common 9-1-1
emergency telephone system that will allow us to be well-prepared to accommodate NG9-1-1
features and functionality. The use of a common 9-1-1 emergency telephone system amongst
all three Cities will be a cornerstone to the virtual consolidation project,allowing flexible call
routing and handling, as activity levels vary and special situations warrant.
In addition, the tri-city project team is working to identify grant opportunities for a shared, law
enforcement mutual aid channel through. This additional feature would enhance the flexibility
of call routing and handling. Additionally, all three agencies could operate as back-up 9-1-1
centers should any of our centers become inoperable.
RESOURCE IMPACT
The Cities are equally sharing a total of $77,120 in consulting services and $60,000 in design
phase costs. The City of Los Altos’ portion for these two costs was $45,681 ($25,681 for
consulting and $20,000 for detailed design review).
In 2009, the City of Palo Alto established a capital improvement project (CIP) with a budget of
$1.3 million for the acquisition of the combined public safety CAD, RMS, and supporting
systems (CIP TE09000). Mountain View has budgeted approximately $1.3 million and Los Altos
has encumbered $740,000. Los Altos has a smaller population and does not dispatch Fire or
EMS resources. Together, the three cities anticipate a final acquisition cost of approximately $3
million for the joint public safety systems. Funding for the replacement of the Cities’ 9-1-1
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emergency telephone systems is primarily funded by the State 9-1-1 program (via the 9-1-1
surcharge on wireless and landline telephones). Partial funding for a common radio channel has
been allocated by the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP) and a frequency has
been identified and approved by the FCC.
TIMELINE
Estimated timeline and milestones:
·2011
o 2Q –Sign contract for joint public safety systems (CAD, RMS, AFR, and
supporting systems)
o 2Q –Initiate 9-1-1 telephone system replacement with State 9-1-1 Emergency
Communications Office
o 2Q-4Q –Prepare for new public safety systems (map development, hardware
installation, system configuration, training, and testing)
·2012
o 2Q –Joint public safety systems go live
o 3Q – 9-1-1 Emergency telephone system replacement
o 4Q –Connect/merge 2-way radio systems between the three Cities
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
Expenditure of funds are consistent with City policy.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This project is not subject to CEQA pursuant to Title 14 California Code of Regulations Section
15061(b)(3), and it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility of a significant effect
on the environment.
Prepared By:Charles Cullen, TSD Coordinator
May 02, 2011 Page 4 of 4
(ID # 1587)
Department Head:Dennis Burns, Police Chief
City Manager Approval: James Keene, City Manager