ORD-2013-010 Ordinance approving Budget Amendment #8-A for the purchase/replacement of Public Safety Radios

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ORD-2013-01 0 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: March 19, 2013 Action Agenda Item No. 5-f SUBJECT: Public Safety Radio Replacement/Purchase and Approval of Budget Amendment#8-A DEPARTMENT: Emergency Services PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) No ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: 1) Radio Quotes Darshan Patel;919-245-6135. Paul Laughton; 919-245-2152 PURPOSE: To approve the replacement of twenty-seven (27) current Motorola portable radios with the purchase of new APX model Motorola Radios, and approve Budget Amendment# 8-A, which appropriates $89,077 from the County's Unassigned General Fund balance for the purchase. BACKGROUND: The radios proposed for purchase were used at the 2012 Democratic National Convention and returned to Motorola. They are full featured radios which carry the full Motorola Warranty, are APCO-P25 compliant and are priced at a significant discount. The current Capital Investment Plan (CIP) for FY 2013-14 provides for the scheduled replacement of seven (7) portable radios and the purchase of twenty (20) new portable radios to replenish the disaster cache. These twenty-seven (27) radios would be removed from the CIP and purchased this fiscal year in order to obtain the discount. The APCO P25 standard is an open standard for digital radio developed in North America under state, local and federal representatives and Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) governance. The standard was developed to foster. the development and progress of the art of public safety communications. The current Motorola radios that would be replaced have been in service since 2006 and are scheduled for replacement in the current CIP in FY 2013-2014. This current fiscal year, Emergency Services also replaced a total of thirty-six (36) radios with the new Motorola APX model. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The standard price for these radios is $109,249, but with the discount, the current purchase price is $89,077, which represents a savings of $20,172. After this appropriation of fund balance, the current Unassigned Fund Balance of the.General Fund is $28,278,664. If this amendment is approved, the amount in the Manager's Recommended CIP in the Communications Systems Improvements project for 800 Mhz radios in FY 2013-14 can be removed. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve the replacement of twenty-seven (27) current Motorola portable radios with the purchase of new APX model Motorola Radios, and approve Budget Amendment #8-A appropriating $89,077 from the County's Unassigned General Fund balance for the purchase of these radios in the current fiscal year.