From Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, CAL FIRE spent $16,766,508 on these five contracts, according to the State Contract and Procurement Registration System. That was significantly more than the department’s five largest buys of IT goods in 2023, which totaled $6.5 million.
CAL FIRE, as its name suggests, is “dedicated to the fire prevention, fire protection and stewardship of over 31 million acres of California’s privately owned wildlands” and provides various emergency services in 36 of the state’s 58 counties through contracts with local governments.
CAL FIRE’s five largest IT service buys were with four vendors. Three of the five contracts were awarded under cooperative agreements, wherein multiple government agencies collaborate to purchase goods or services together to get a better price.
Those five purchases were:
- $5.1 million for portable radios and related gear (“BKR-5000-T3BC-1 BKR5000 Portable VHF 5000Ch”) in a May 9 contract with Vincent Communications that was awarded under a cooperative agreement.
- $5 million for radio equipment (“BKR5000-T3BC-1 BKR 5000 CMD Radio Unit Model III”) in a May 9 cooperative agreement contract with Cross Connections Emergency.
- $4 million for radio equipment (“BKR5000-T3BC-1 - BKR 5000 CMD Radio Unit Model III“) from Cross Connections Emergency under a June 10 cooperative agreement.
- $1.6 million for Esri CAD software licenses, maintenance and support in a March 5 contract with System Solutions DVBE Inc., awarded in a non-competitively bid contract for proprietary software.
- $1.1 million for VMware Cloud Foundation 5 for a software subscription running from June 30, 2024, through June 29, 2026. The contract was awarded to NWN Solutions Corp. under the state Software Licensing Program.
