PUBLIC SAFETY/City shares lessons learned from radio project

After 13 years of trial and error, Kansas City, Mo., finally has a public safety radio system that meets its needs. In 1988, the city decided to build a multimillion-dollar radio communications system, but it was not until last year that the system was perfected.

At the outset, the migration of public safety radio communications to the 800 MHz frequency, combined with digital technology that improved field efficiency, offered great promise. Kansas City’s old system was inefficient and lacked digital functions such as call encryption and data transmission. In addition to those capabilities, the city wanted trunking, and it wanted to integrate communications into one radio system managed by one staff.

In 1995, the Lynchburg, Va., operation of M/A-COM installed the system. The company followed the city’s specifications, but, as installation progressed, complications emerged.

The new system’s radios did not work in some buildings and in certain low-lying areas. The city commissioned Houston-based RCC Consultants to conduct a technical study, and results showed that the system worked precisely as designed.

Although the city had received what it had specified, it had not received exactly what it needed. The city, its vendor and its consultant worked to design and install a total system upgrade so the system would work properly in all areas.

As part of the upgrade, technology was updated to increase radio coverage from existing antennae without increasing interference. Additionally, two antennae sites were installed to address areas experiencing poor coverage. Mobile and portable equipment was upgraded, and a conventional sub-system was piggybacked on the trunked radio system.

The upgrade was completed last year. Today, users enjoy all the benefits envisioned when the system was conceived, and complaints are virtually non-existent. The 13-year journey offers lessons for any government involved in a lengthy, complex purchase of technical equipment.

• Issue a request for proposal (RFP) with multiple criteria, rather than an invitation for bid (IFB). In its original proposal, Kansas City issued a technically specific IFB, which discouraged vendors from offering the full value of their expertise and released them from liability for performance. An RFP would have avoided that.

• Involve users from start to finish. Police, fire and other public safety users ultimately decide if their radios work, regardless of radio physics. Their input is important, their training is critical and their satisfaction is essential because their lives might be at stake.

• Comparison-shop. Before the upgrade, Kansas City leaders and public safety personnel visited other cities to compare radio systems. Some cities experienced some of the same problems — and benefits — that Kansas City experienced. Carefully select and prioritize criteria, then visit and ask others how their systems and vendors perform against those criteria.

• Demonstrate confidence in the project. A few older portable units leaked and corroded when exposed to water, and Kansas City firefighters worried that replacements would do the same. Officials visited fire stations and demonstrated that replacement units would continue to receive even if they were dropped in a bucket of water. The demonstration helped restore the firefighters’ confidence not only in the equipment, but also in the commitment of the city, its consultant and the vendor to meet user needs.

• Make sure new radios meet old performance standards. If a firefighter’s radio transmission cannot reach the battalion chief on the scene, it does not matter that the radio can send encrypted data to a central computer 40 miles away.

• Manage the bells and whistles. Today’s public safety radios are to their predecessors as laptops are to typewriters. Start simple; add more sophisticated features later.

• Communicate often with elected officials, city management, vendors, users and the public. Communication cannot end when voters approve the bonds, the council approves the contract or the users open the box. Because communications upgrades inevitably take several years to complete, make a special effort to communicate with elected officials, users, vendor staff and the media.

• With careful planning and cooperative partners, a technically sophisticated radio system can be acquired and installed trouble free.

  — Richard Noll, assistant city manager, Kansas City, Mo.