Cameron recommends $24.5 million contract

Last week, Assistant County Administrator Jerry Cameron recommended to St Johns County commissioners a $24.5 million contract for the purchase and installation of the much-ballyhooed 800 MHz radio system that was approved by the Board at their December 6 meeting.

Staff determined that Motorola Solutions, Inc. was the “highest qualified respondent” to RFP 11-84 — then Cameron was designated to negotiate with them to purchase the communications system.

Discussions regarding what benefits, if any, would be achieved by switching police, fire, emergency medical and other public safety employees to the 800 MHz frequency have been going on for years.

Because of the staggering cost and de minimis residual value of VHF components and infrastructure already owned by the County, past Boards have decided not to act on the request of public safety agency heads; who claim the Ultra High Frequency band is essential to achieving interagency communications and signal penetration to remote parts of the area.

The commission gave final approval for the multi-million dollar expenditure and instructed staff to execute the contract to migrate emergency services users from VHF mobile and handheld devices to those capable of operating on the 800 MHz UHF band.

Cameron said that the Motorola Solutions , Inc., proposal has been updated to include negotiated technical revisions, quantity revisions, additional discounts and the final system price; which was not shown in the initial proposal.

A copy of the RFP and the Motorola Solutions, Inc., response is in the County Commission Office and available for public inspection.

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