Title
Transit Regional Radio System Maintenance/Support Agreement Extension and Amendment (Ordinance S-49185)
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to amend Agreement 149069: (1) to consent to the assignment of this Agreement, due to a company merger, from DFW Communications Inc. dba Mobile Communications America (formerly dba Crosspoint Communications) to Mobile Communications America, Inc.; (2) to provide equipment and component upgrades for maintenance and support of the regional public transit system’s radio system used by the City and its regional transit partners; and (3) to extend expiration of the Agreement’s term by three years until Dec. 31, 2026. Further request authorization for the City Controller to increase disbursement of funding by $1,056,232 for the Agreement, as amended, for a total amount not to exceed $1,950,220. The City recovers a portion of the associated costs through existing agreements with regional transit partners who utilize these transit support systems.
Summary
The Public Transit Department (PTD) uses an 800 MHz radio frequency network, which is integrated with the Computer Aided Dispatch/Automatic Vehicle Locator (CAD/AVL) system, to provide data and voice communications for its transit fleet, including live communications, vehicle maintenance support, and emergency communications between bus operators and the two bus Operations Control Centers in the region.
PTD entered Agreement 149069 with DFW Communications Inc. dba Mobile Communications America (formerly dba Crosspoint Communications), commencing Jan. 1, 2019 and ending Dec. 31, 2023, for continuous maintenance and support of this critical system. On Jan. 31, 2022, Mobile Communications America, Inc. and DFW Communications, Inc. d/b/a Mobile Communications America filed a statement of merger with the Arizona Corporation Commission. The merger was adopted and made effective on Jan. 31, 2022. As a result of this merger, the City has been asked to consent to assignment of all contractual rights, interests, and obligations in Agreement 149069 to Mobile Communications America, Inc. Accordingly, PTD is requesting to issue that consent by this amendment.
PTD is also requesting an extension to the term of Agreement 149069 for three years, through Dec. 31, 2026, and to upgrade the end-of-life mountain top radio repeater equipment/components. The limited availability of the parts has made ongoing maintenance of the equipment an issue.
During the CAD/AVL system’s initial implementation, DFW Communications Inc. dba Mobile Communications America coordinated with PTD's vendor for radio integration efforts, which included building and maintaining software adapters that are required for efficient communications with buses. Accordingly, that company (now merged into Mobile Communications America, Inc.) has proprietary knowledge of the Capacity Max radio system set up for PTD, along with the knowledge of the CAD system integration with the radio system. Under these special circumstances, PTD is requesting this upgrade and extension amendment to the Agreement on a sole-source basis for Mobile Communications America, Inc. to continue necessary maintenance and support of the radio system.
Procurement Information
Agreement 149069 expires Dec. 31, 2023. To keep the system under continuous maintenance and support, PTD is requesting to upgrade current equipment and to extend the Agreement for three additional years by amendment. The extension also provides for the support of additional communications consoles purchased by PTD using a state cooperative agreement.
In addition to extending the term for Agreement 149069, the amendment’s changes include upgrading communications equipment located on local mountaintops, adding six consoles to the support agreement, and adding back-end radio servers for regional support and maintenance. All other contractual maintenance and support items remain unchanged.
This item has been reviewed and approved by the Information Technology Services Department.
Contract Term
Agreement 149069’s current five-year term expires on Dec. 31, 2023. This amendment extends the Agreement’s term by three years until Dec. 31, 2026.
Financial Impact
This amendment adds $1,056,232 to Agreement 149069. The Agreement’s aggregate value shall not exceed $1,950,220 over the eight-year contract term.
Funds are available in PTD’s operating and capital budgets in the Transportation T2050 Fund. PTD will recover part of the total contract cost from its regional transit partners.
Location
Citywide
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Public Transit Department.