In a request for qualifications (RFQ) released Oct. 12, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department wants to hear from companies capable of assisting it in a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) implementation. Considered the largest sheriff’s department in the world, the organization has about 18,000 employees and patrols an area of around 4,084 square miles that’s home to 10 million residents. According to the department, that includes 42 contract cities; 141 unincorporated communities; 216 facilities, hospitals and clinics located throughout the county; nine community colleges; the Metropolitan Transit Authority; and 37 superior courts. The department also is charged with keeping secure, feeding and providing medical treatment to about 18,000 inmates in seven facilities. Among the takeaways:
- The county’s existing CAD system “is no longer meeting the needs of the department,” according to the RFQ. A new CAD solution is needed to “provide advanced functionality” and to let the county “leverage system enhancements and support” during the lifetime of a support agreement. The county seeks statements of qualification from companies that can deliver a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) CAD and “mobile computing” solution, plus long-term maintenance and support.
- Generally, the county seeks companies with “proven CAD software” and demonstrated experience deploying it in “large, complex 911 environments” as well as experience maintaining and supporting these systems. This RFQ, the county cautions, is not a solicitation; the organization will release a request for proposals (RFP) “in the near future.” Responses to this RFQ will be scrutinized to verify qualifications to respond to the RFP when it comes out. Only companies that successfully prove they meet the minimum mandatory requirements will be notified of the RFP’s subsequent release.
- Minimum mandatory requirements include respondent being an “established developer, proprietor and provider of CAD systems and solutions” now in production and being serviced by the respondent’s maintenance program, in at least “three U.S. public safety/law enforcement agencies” with an annual call volume of at least 300,000 and staffed by at least 400 sworn officers. Respondent must also have been successful during the last three years in having implemented its “proprietary CAD solution” in at least three public safety/law enforcement agencies in the U.S. of the size described above. References must be provided for these agencies. If the respondent’s compliance with a county contract has been “reviewed by the Department of the Auditor-Controller within the last 10 years,” respondent must not have “unresolved questioned costs identified” over $100,000 that are “confirmed to be disallowed costs” by the contracting department and “remain unpaid” for six months or more from disallowance. The exception would be if these costs are subject to “current good faith negotiations” to resolve them.
- The project’s cost and precise timeline are unclear. Requests for a “requirements review” are due by Wednesday. Written questions are due by Oct. 28; questions and answers will be released Nov. 4. Statements of qualification are due by 3 p.m. Nov. 18.
