Vivian Sade, The Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Bids for a new city-county emergency radio system are being evaluated and city and county officials expect a recommendation and decision by the end of the year.

Members of the Multi-Agency Communications Partnership, a city- county board that oversees the radio system, met Tuesday to discuss the status of the bid process for the new radio system, which has been estimated to cost from $10 million to more than $24 million.

The bid proposal includes radios, radio equipment, computers and software. The project total could increase if the board decides to include the upgrade of nearly 60 tornado sirens scattered throughout the county – estimated to cost $2.6 million.

There might be multiple contracts because the specifications allow vendors to bid on all or just portions of the radio system, said Mike Reichard, supervisor of the partnership’s radio shop.

Requests for proposals were received last week from Motorola Solutions, Watson Dispatch, Relm Wireless and J&K Communications.

Jim Howard, purchasing director for the city, will act as the partnership’s agent and serve as referee between the vendors and the technical staff during the negotiations, he said.

Unlike traditional bids, the requests for proposals do not have to be opened at a public meeting and are subject to negotiation, Howard said. “They also do not require the announcement of prices,” he said.

The bid process was delayed for about two weeks because of a letter from Raytheon, in which company officials took issue with some of the bid specifications, Howard said.

“We addressed those issues,” Howard said, “but Raytheon did not submit a bid.”

The new system can’t happen fast enough for some city and county officials, especially after two emergency alert failures at area fire stations within the last few weeks.

Reichard said the system is up and running, but the failures to sound the alarms at two local fire stations was indicative of the antiquated equipment.

In a second meeting, several representatives of the Consolidated Communications Partnership – which oversees the combined emergency communications systems – expressed concern that the county has yet to commit revenue from the E-911 fund, financed by phone fees, to cover a shortfall in its 2012 budget of $6.9 million.

In August, the city agreed to use about $1.3 million from its general fund to pay its portion of the shortage. The city pays 70 percent of the costs, and the county covers 30 percent.

The county has appeared reluctant to discuss the issue or have a meeting with the partnership, Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York said.

“If this is not resolved soon, we will have to look at other options for 2012,” York said.

Allen County Chief Deputy Dave Gladieux, president of the group, said he would try to schedule a meeting with the county commissioners in the near future to hash out the matter.

Copyright © 2011 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.