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HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 8817INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS to ex .4,s To the Mayor and Members of the City Council No. 8817 January 18, 2007 Page 1 of 3 SUBJECT: COMPUTER AIDED DISPATCH (CAD) AND STATION ALERTING REPLACEMENT PROJECT UPDATE On November 7, 2006, the City Council was briefed during the Pre - Council meeting and by Informal Report No. 8806 on the need to replace the City's Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Station Alerting system. The City's CAD and Station Alerting system is aging and will no longer adequately meet the dispatch needs of the Police and Fire departments into the future. The primary concerns driving the need to replace the current system are the following: • The City's Tiburon CAD system does not share real -time information with Med Star's TriTech CAD system. Real -time information sharing between Police, Fire and Med Star (the City's Emergency Medical Service provider) is vital to efficient and effective incident response and management. • The current system suffers from performance and stability issues. Since the CAD is the central nervous system for Police and Fire dispatch operations, any performance or stability problems pose a significant risk to our public safety operations and to our citizens. • The responsiveness of the current system vendor to outages and support calls has proven to be less than satisfactory. • A secondary but vital reason for moving forward quickly on this project involves the replacement of the current Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) system that the existing vendor has indicated they will not support after December 2007. At the November 7th Pre - Council meeting, the City Council gave approval to City staff to begin negotiations with TriTech Software Systems to replace the City's current CAD system with a TriTech system. The staffs primary concern in procuring a TriTech CAD system is driven by the necessity for real -time interoperability and information sharing with Med Star's TriTech CAD system. As staff has discussed with the City Council, the only way to guarantee that a fully dynamic interactive interoperability can be achieved between two functioning CAD systems is to have the City and Med Star on the same CAD system software. In examining how to proceed with this procurement process, staff determined that procurement of a TriTech system pursuant to Section 252.022 (a) (2) of the Local Government Code, which exempts procurements necessary to preserve or protect the public health or safety of the municipality's residents from competitive bidding requirements, was permissible. The City Council was briefed on this statutory exemption as well as the exemption related to sole source procurement. On December 19, 2006, the City Council approved M &C C -21906 authorizing the City Manager to execute a contract with TriTech in the amount of $4.8 million for the purchase of a new CAD and Station Alerting system contingent upon approval of a short-term loan by the Crime Control and Prevention District (CCPD) Board of Directors. The contract which was $675,000 less than the state bid contract price for a similar TriTech CAD system also included a new AVL system and other features including software to address communication with the mobile data computers in City police cars and fire apparatus. The City Council also approved M &C G -15550 on the same day authorizing the City Manager to request the CCPD inter -fund loan in the amount of ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS jz�;;n; To the Mayor and Members of the City Council No. 8817 January 18, 2007 Page 2 of 3 SUBJECT: COMPUTER AIDED DISPATCH (CAD) AND STATION ALERTING REPLACEMENT PROJECT UPDATE $5,570,441 which along with an existing budgeted FY 2006 -2007 general fund appropriation of $1,085,809 would cover the TriTech system costs, other related software costs, installation, and contingencies. The discounted price of $4,800,000 for the CAD system and related components was offered by TriTech as an incentive to the City to close the purchase by the end of the calendar year or before January 1, 2007. The CCPD Board of Directors considered the inter -fund loan in specially called meetings on December 19 and again on December 27, 2006. After two staff presentations and public input, the CCPD Board voted against the inter -fund loan. This action essentially negated the negotiated price of $4.8 million for the TriTech system and nullified the passage of the two M &Cs that were considered by the City Council on December 19, 2006. The CCPD Board members expressed concern with repayment terms, with setting precedent of providing an inter -fund loan, with the procurement process, and with their lack of knowledge of the technological capabilities of the proposed new CAD system. During the two CCPD meetings, staff provided a three page memorandum providing detailed information to the Board as well as letters from Bond Counsel related to the inter -fund loan, from the City Attorney related to the legal basis for the expenditure, and from Pete Anderson on the practice of end of the year software incentive discounts. This information was provided to the CCPD Board as well as a presentation on the technical specifications of the new system in order to alleviate concerns raised by Board members without success. Since the December 27th CCPD Board vote, staff has been working to identify another method to fund this project. The urgency of funding this project is driven by the need to have the new system in place before the end of the current calendar year or December 31, 2007, when the AVL system is no longer supported by the vendor. As reported on November 7, 2006, the initial plan for financing the CAD project was to use equipment notes with a 5 -year repayment plan. Consistent with that plan, the 2006 -2007 adopted City budget included $1,085,809 for the anticipated debt service related to the equipment note financing. Subsequently, it was determined that equipment notes could not be issued without a current (i.e., FY 2005) CAFR. In order to avoid a delay in acquiring the much needed system, the request to the CCPD Board was made to provide a short-term inter -fund loan until the equipment notes could be issued. Upon denial by the CCPD Board, staff further explored the mechanics of the equipment note program in consultation with City's Bond Counsel. It was determined that because the City actually has contracts in place with two banks to purchase equipment notes, the contracts can be used to provide appropriation authority without actually having to sell the equipment notes at this time. Upon completion of the 2005 CAFR, the City anticipates selling equipment notes and replenishing the note authority. This is similar to the way the commercial paper program is used by the City for larger capital projects. ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS ,;fA To the Mayor and Members of the City Council No. 8817 January 18, 2007 Page 3 of 3 SUBJECT: COMPUTER AIDED DISPATCH (CAD) AND STATION ALERTING REPLACEMENT PROJECT UPDATE Since a contract for the new TriTech system was not executed before January 1, 2007, the staff and project consultant renegotiated a new discounted price with TriTech of $4,980,000 for the CAD system, Station Alerting, AVL, and MDC software. The total estimated cost for the new CAD system with additional modules, installation, and contingency funds for unforeseen project costs is $6,840,000. This is still $360,000 less than originally estimated project cost of $7.2 million which was reported to the City Council on November 7, 2006. The staff is hoping to identify other savings on this project as installation occurs. In order to expedite the project, the staff proposes to place an M &C on the January 23, 2007, City Council agenda recommending approval for the City Manager to execute a contract with TriTech Software Systems in the amount of $4,980,000 for the CAD system and related components. Additionally, the M &C will recommend the appropriation of contingency funds of $1,860,000 for the project. The project procurement will be pursuant to Section 252.022 (a) (2) of the Local Government Code, which exempts procurements necessary to preserve or protect the public health or safety of the municipality's residents from the competitive bidding process. The funding source that will be identified for this project is a combination of the $1,085,809 FY 2006 -2007 General Fund appropriation and $5,754,191 in equipment note authority as explained above. The City Council consideration and approval of the proposed M &C will pave the way for the project to be completed in a timely manner to avoid any negative ramifications of the possible loss of the current AVL function. Should you have any questions related to this project, please feel free to contact Joe Paniagua, Assistant City Manager, at (817) 392 -6191. Staff will be prepared to answer questions regarding this Informa,14�eport at the Pre - Council meeting of January 18, 2007. 4i�in e a er ISS UED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS