Tim Hrenchir, Topeka Capital-Journal (Kansas)

Two companies – Motorola and Cassidian – will compete for the multimillion-dollar contract to provide an emergency 911 radio system for Shawnee County.

County Commissioners Ted Ensley, Mary Thomas and Shelly Buhler voted 3-0 Thursday to waive the county’s purchasing rules and direct the Shawnee County Emergency Communications Management Board to negotiate with the two companies, then recommend to the commission which system to buy.

Local officials for about a year have been looking at acquiring a digital public safety radio system to replace the 800-megahertz analog system currently used by all law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical responders within Shawnee County.

Sheriff Dick Barta told commissioners last year the county had no choice but to replace its Motorola system, which is more than 15 years old.

Commissioners voted in February 2011 to postpone action on a proposal to “piggyback” onto a state of Kansas contract to buy a Motorola system for $17.9 million.

No figures were cited at Thursday’s meeting regarding how much a system purchased from Cassidian or Motorola would cost now.

But Topeka Police Chief Ron Miller, chairman of the management board, told the commission the county should be able to acquire a system for “several million dollars less” than the $17.9 million figure considered in February.

The commission’s decision to delay the purchase was “absolutely” a good move, Miller said.

He said the management board researched various options before narrowing the field to Cassidian and Motorola, which it considers the best two.

Management board members are Miller, Barta, Deputy Topeka Police Chief Walt Wywadis, Topeka Fire Chief Greg Bailey, Shawnee Heights Fire Chief Tom Garcia and Nancy Ganson, assistant director of the Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center.

County counselor Rich Eckert said the board has interviewed three corporations offering radio systems and heard from numerous other vendors.

Board members traveled to Sedgwick County and attended meetings involved recently when that county chose a Cassidian system, Eckert said.

Members also traveled to Johnson County to become familiar with the Motorola System it is installing and to Richardson, Texas, near Dallas, to learn about the Cassidian system in place there, Miller said.

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