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Home My WebLink AboutIR 8806INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8806 November 7, 2006 exTo the Mayor and Members of the City Council txys SUBJECT: Next Generation CAD System In the late 1990s, the City Council authorized funding to modernize the City's police and fire dispatch system which at the time and since the 1980s was being run off the City's mainframe. The decision to develop a new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system was based on several issues in existence with the mainframe system including system stability which had started to deteriorate: system outages which were requiring the public safety community to fall back to manual dispatching and newer technologies such as Station Alerting, Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) for the Fire Department and other components which were available but not compatible with the City's Mainframe CAD. In 1999, after a Request for Proposal process, the staff began development of a new generation CAD system using system software developed by Tiburon. Over the last few years, this system has provided the City with a functional server -based system to dispatch fire and police resources to emergency situations. Because the system is now six years old, the staff was tasked to evaluate the continued effectiveness of the current Tiburon CAD system. This was necessitated by operational concerns expressed regarding the Tiburon CAD system stability and vendor service requirements. In March of this year, a staff review team was formed with jWpecific task to evaluate the City's current CAD system. The review team concluded that the current Tiburon CAD system does not meet the Fire and Police Department's operational needs specifically related to system stability, Medstar interface nor current vendor responsiveness to system outages and support calls. The review team also concluded that the system was reaching its useful life which is not unusual for technology -based systems and needs to be replaced. The staff's primary concern is the stability of the current Tiburon CAD to Medstar's TriTech CAD interface. Medstar is on a completely different CAD system that has limited interface capability with the City's Tiburon system. The current interface between the two systems has proven unreliable and insufficient. By placing all three emergency services on the same system, this interface becomes unnecessary. The main criteria in a future CAD selection should be the interoperability that it affords. Currently, approximately 70% of the Fire Department's call volume is with Medstar which utilizes the TriTech CAD. The lack of dynamic call updating has been a safety issue for the Fire Department and the limited communication between the two CAD systems can and continues to place firefighters in harm's way by not transmitting updated information in a timely manner. There have been several documented near misses. Additionally, the disparate geographic /address files used by each agency delays call processing and response. Furthermore, the need by each agency to have real time awareness of a system outage is paramount. Utilizing the same system across all agencies will allow each agency to know when the system is experiencing an outage. This would allow for each agency to immediately notify the other by telephone. Under the current interface, the electronic request for service may not be delivered and neither agency would be aware of a system outage. are numerous benefits to moving to the same system that Medstar has beyond the ones previously oned. This list is not all inclusive as there are too many to list but they were presented in the on -site ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8806 November 7, 2006 ,�►►•* To the Mayor and Members of the City Council z. +•r% SUBJECT: Next Generation CAD System demonstration that TriTech conducted and user testimonials expressed during the staff review team's multiple site visits. The highlights include: • Ability to view real time message updates on combined calls. • Ability to have specific call types on medical calls making it easier to know the exact nature of the incident. Currently, operators must filter through lengthy and unnecessary can notes for that information. • TriTech would provide for unit accountability for each agency on the incident listing each unit identifier. • The AVL system would alert the Fire Department of the ambulance and/or police unit's location and estimated travel time thereby providing faster updates to on scene personnel. • The TriTech AVL is also based on road configurations instead of the current CAD system's line of sight system which has been an ongoing problem with dispatch recommendations. • The mobile mapping in the apparatus is a definite advantage for faster response by supplying written and verbal driving directions based either on time or distance calculations. • The ease of updating the mapping information would allow moving newly annexed areas into Fort Worth on the spot instead of waiting days or weeks for the process to be handled by the current CAD system. • Real time paging can transfer active call information and unit status to command staff via any text enabled device, ie., cell phone, pager, and blackberry. Interfaces that would need to be incorporated into the next CAD include Fire Station Alerting, Paging Interface, 9 -1 -1 Interface to include Phase II Compliant Requirements, Telecommunication Device for Deaf TDD Interface to include Hearing Carry Over and Voice Carry Over, Automatic Vehicle Locator (for Fire at this time), Mobile Data Computers, Interface to Firehouse or the ability to transfer data to File Transfer Process site for data retrieval, CAD -to -CAD with MedStar, Maximus Records Management System, Tiburon Automatic Record System/Records Management System, and TXDOT. TriTech has the ability to accomplish all of these needs and has a proven track record with other public safety agencies that use the TriTech product. Additional research has been conducted to ensure and verify that other TriTech installations received quality service in regards to implementation, system reliability and continued customer service which is a base line requirement for the next generation CAD project. This research consisted of site visits, feedback instruments (surveys) and customer testimonials at Public Safety conferences. It is the staffs recommendation that the City begin the process of replacing the current CAD system. The first step would be to open negotiations with TriTech on a sole source basis to develop the next generation CAD system for the City that would provide at minimum the necessary interoperability between the City's k AD system and the Medstar CAD system. A new CAD system with an updated AVL and Station Alerting ystem would position the City with respect to future growth. The staff is asking that the City Council give the go ahead to begin the negotiation process with TriTech for a new CAD system After a reasonable ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS "To To the Mayor and Members of the City Council ♦ a t ..n SUBJECT: Next Generation CAD System No. 8806 November 7, 2006 contract is negotiated, it is our intent to come back to the City Council with additional information including a contract that would outline the CAD components to be purchased, the costs associated with the new system, the financing alternatives and the implementation schedule or timeline. Preliminary estimates suggest that a new CAD system could cost up to $7.2 million. Already, the current budget appropriates over $1 million in debt service or repayment for costs associated with a new CAD and a new Station Alerting System. The staff would come back with a Mayor and Council Communication for City Council consideration that would approve the purchase and repayment for a new CAD system. This could occur as early as December 2006. A briefing of this proposed project is on the City Council Pre - Council agenda for November 7, 2006. If you have any questions prior to the November 7` meeting, please do not hesitate to contact Joe Paniagua, Assistant City Manager, at (817) 392 -6191, or Pete Anderson, Chief Information Officer, at (817) 392 -8781. Charles R. Boswell City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS