Kern County has approved a $177 million contract with Motorola for an overhaul of the county’s public safety radio network. It’s the second-largest contract in county history, with completion expected in 2031.
This project will be one of the costliest endeavors the county has ever undertaken. Total contract price is $177 million, though the system itself costs $89.2 million, an increase from 2019 estimates due to a 19 percent annual rise in cost of building materials since 2020, according to county estimates.
The county says it has earmarked $143 million, most of which will come from the general fund, as well as residual state and federal COVID-19 grant money. The Board of Supervisors approved the contract this week.
“Your board has been saving money for this for years,” County Administrative Officer Ryan Alsop said. “I think it’s extraordinary that for a $177 million project, that we are not incurring any debt. ... I think the Kern Taxpayers Association should put some value in that.”
Before Tuesday’s vote, several supervisors expressed frustration at what they felt was an abrupt process over a contract with a staggering cost that gave little time for discussion or study.
While the topic’s consideration began in 2016 for county staff, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff Flores pointed out that for some members of the board, it began last week. The final report, provided to the board days before the meeting, totaled about 6,000 pages. Supervisors Philip Peters and David Couch voiced similar concerns.
Supervisor Leticia Perez said it was clear the contract was the right choice.
“What’s going to happen in two weeks when we return?” Perez said to the rest of the board. “Are you going to read 6,000 pages in two weeks and delve into the mechanics and specifics of the world of Motorola? I seriously doubt that.”
Motorola will now be tasked with replacing a 23-year-old analog radio system with a P25 Phase Two network. Officers countywide will be assigned new mobile and in-vehicle radios equipped with GPS capability, and 51 new cell towers, including in Kern’s unincorporated areas such as Rosamond, Lebec, Onyx and Polonio Pass, will be constructed.
With an uptick in demand for public safety services, officials lament the current system: Its radios are unreliable, with most equipment past its “end of support” dates. Replacement parts, as iterated in past reports, are regularly picked up on eBay.
“We have situations where the current system is dead in many places and they can’t get backup,” Alsop said. He assured the board that this was the best choice going forward and that it’s not unusual for competing companies to protest, given the scale of the contract.
This approval comes after a competing company came forward Monday, saying it was purposefully excluded from the multimillion-dollar contract that ties in the city of Bakersfield, Kern County and Tejon Ranch.
In a letter dated Monday to Flores, L3Harris Technologies, a Florida-based defense company, claims that Kern County and the city of Bakersfield exhibited “vendor preference” throughout a vetting process they said lacked transparency. The process of acquiring the bid was unfair, representatives with L3Harris said on a phone call Monday, arguing it showed clear bias toward “the winning bidder.”
Documents received through a California Public Records Act request made in January and honored June 8 reportedly show that Motorola submitted non-compliant designs during the process, which should have led to its disqualification. But instead of removing Motorola from candidacy, L3Harris representatives said the county allegedly circled back and asked the companies to resubmit.
“(The county) came back and reiterated that you have to deliver a compliant design ... basically giving the selected vendor another chance when they should’ve been disqualified,” said Jason LaForge, director of L3Harris’ Southwest Public Safety Sales.
Scoring also didn't add up, LaForge said. Despite L3Harris' proposal being $15 million cheaper, the scoring matrix provided on the public document showed that L3Harris consistently scored lower than Motorola on pricing, with no explanation offered.
Complaints lodged by L3Harris echo a 2021 protest by E.F. Johnson — a subsidiary of the Japanese corporation JVCKenwood — which ultimately withdrew its bid after noticing changes within the request for qualifications (RFQ) process of accepting applications for the contract.
“Significant changes took place between RFQ and RFP, therefore, we did not bid,” E.F. Johnson executive Tammie Wojcieszak told supervisors at the time. “This new, narrow criteria eliminates the opportunity for the county to take advantage of the most modern technology available today.”
Alsop said at the time that it was within the county’s power to change requirements and that there was nothing in the new criteria that “precluded (E.F. Johnson) from submitting a proposal or being competitive.”
Numerous county officials, including a representative from Federal Engineering, a consulting firm involved in the vetting process, assured the board that beyond the cost difference, Motorola had the better system for Kern. Alsop added that Motorola was scored higher by each member of the deciding committee.
“If you look at the evaluation committee’s comments, there was some confusion about L3Harris pricing, because their impression was that it was incomplete,” said Kern County Attorney Brian Van Wyk. “The general impression was that (L3Harris) didn’t have as good an understanding as Motorola (did) as what was asked for.”
With its passage, the same resolution goes next to the Bakersfield City Council, which will look to pay a negotiated $27 million.
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