CITY OF

PORTLAND, OREGON

BUREAU OF COMMUNICATIONS AND NETWORKING

Nancy Jesuale, Director

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December 3, 2002

 

TO:    Mayor Vera Katz

   Commissioner Jim Francesconi

   Commissioner Randy Leonard

   Commissioner Dan Saltzman

   Commissioner Erik Sten

   City Auditor Gary Blackmer

   Tim Grewe, Chief Administrative Officer

 

FROM:  Nancy Jesuale

 

SUBJECT:  AGREEMENT TO PURCHASE SMARTZONE UPGRADE FOR THE PUBLIC

SAFETY RADIO SYSTEM  

 

 

The attached ordinance is being filed for Council consideration and approval on December 11, 2002. The ordinance authorizes an agreement with Motorola for the purchase of a Smartzone System Upgrade for the 800 MHz public safety radio system.

 

As you are aware, we have been working with Motorola to develop a plan for migrating our Smartzone radio system to a more current, better-supported version. Motorola has provided information to the City of Portland indicating their product lifecycle is terminating for the operating version currently installed. Our current version has reached the end of its useful life. We are beyond the point of being able to add new sites and channels.

 

The proposed agreement allows the City to insure that all components in our system will be supportable. The upgrade includes a full replacement of the channel banks, all database servers, and all firmware on the core and site equipment. The replacement of the channel banks will greatly reduce the need for labor intensive optimization to maintain voice quality. The new systems are much easier to maintain, troubleshoot, and support.

 

The proposal received from Motorola comes at the end of their fiscal year. There is a $350,472.50 discount incentive if we enter into an agreement prior to December 27, 2002. To further reduce costs, Mark Gray, ComNet’s Director of operations and Engineering, was able to negotiate with Motorola to allow our technical staff to do most of the work that they would normally outsource. Our estimates are that the City is saving as much as $1 million for this project as a result of the discount and our technical staff doing much of the work.

 

In addition to the financial benefits of moving ahead at this time, I’m sure we would all agree that it is prudent to ensure our system is supportable by the manufacture.

 

Please feel free to contact me (3-6971) or Mark Gray (3-4317), if you have any questions or require additional information.

 

NJ

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