Washington State Patrol’s Recipe for Failurehttp://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2011/ ... r-failure/"The State of Washington has announced its intention to procure a multi-million dollar proprietary Motorola digital radio system without the benefit of a solid business plan or competitive procurement. The purchase is being made under the guise of the Federal government mandate for narrowband radio operation by 2013.
The State appears to intend to omit some of the most basic steps required for a successful large-scale radio project by short-circuiting a competitive vendor selection process that would include strong terms and conditions related to system performance and reliability. Instead of an open and fair process, the State has opted to spend approximately $54 million to augment a relatively small Motorola P25 radio system owned by the Federal government. There is no evidence of an independent needs assessment or detailed engineering study having been performed to support this decision.
The proposed radio system will replace the Washington State Patrol’s analog VHF radio system.
The new system reportedly will use proprietary Motorola encryption algorithms, effectively locking out competitors from providing mobile and portable subscriber radios. Budget documents show the State intends to pay as much as $7000 for each mobile and portable radio!"
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