Cost averages out to $316 for every man, woman and child in county
LEONARDTOWN, Md. (July 3, 2012)—The St. Mary's County Board of County Commissioners has approved a staff recommendation to award a Contract for the design and expansion of the County's Emergency Communications System to Harris Corporation. The cost of the contract is $34,009,429.
The contract requires Harris to engineer, furnish, install and integrate an 800/700 MHz APCO P25 Phase II-compliant wireless dispatch communication system with the county's existing public safety operations. The new System will include fixed radio equipment, high-capacity microwave telecommunications network and backbone infrastructure, dispatch console electronics, towers, in-building enhancements and end-user radios. At the conclusion of this 6 year project, the county's emergency communications system will operate using 13 towers versus the current four, and coverage reliability will improve to 95% of the county.
Technical Specifications were developed and reviewed by a Technical Review Team. The team included the consultant firm RCC along with representatives from Fire/EMS, the Sheriff's Office, and Public Safety. Collectively, this team represents 650 years of experience in disciplines associated with the project.
The Contract is divided into three phases with Phase I consisting of expansion from 4 to 6 sites and an up to date emergency communications completed within 13 months. Phase II, slated for FY2015, will add an additional 4 tower sites, and Phase III (FY2018) will add the final 3 towers. All hardware and system software will be supported for 15 years as part of the proposed annual maintenance agreement with Harris.
The contracted system requires incremental coverage testing at the completion of each phase and comprehensive coverage guarantees validated through a rigorous testing plan.
Work is expected to begin this month.
Source: St. Mary's County Government