Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Director's Name: Tracy Jackson
Department: Regional Emerg Svcs & Comm Division: Office of Regional Comm & Tech
Information
Requested Action
title
MOTION TO APPROVE Fifth Amendment to the Agreement Between Broward County and Fitch & Associates LLC, to extend the term of the Agreement for up to two additional one-year extension terms on the existing terms and conditions, and authorize the Mayor and Clerk to execute same.
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Why Action is Necessary
In accordance with the Broward County Procurement Code, Section 21.43 Board approval is required to extend the Agreement beyond five years.
What Action Accomplishes
Provides approval for the execution of the Fifth Amendment to the existing agreement to extend the term of the existing Agreement for up to two additional one-year extension terms to continue the engagement of services from Fitch & Associates. If both additional one-year extensions are exercised by County the Agreement, as amended will expire on January 4, 2023.
Is this Action Goal Related
Yes
Previous Action Taken
None.
Summary Explanation/Background
THE OFFICE OF REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY RECOMMENDS APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTION.
This item supports the Board's vision of "Consistently delivering responsive, efficient, quality services to the public and internal customers" and the goal to "Build into every process and service effective checks and balances that do not cause inefficiency, but rather ensure consistency, continuity, and quality."
As a part of the ongoing evaluation and optimization of Regional Communications, County staff met with the Broward County City Managers’ Association (BCCMA) along with their Fire and Police chiefs in January 2020 to detail the upcoming objective of potentially consolidating certain radio channels. In the meeting, the County expressed its intention to run a new channel usage study to support this objective, which would commence twelve months after cutover to the new radio system. Additionally, the Amended Participation Agreement states that the County will not make dispatch consolidation changes until a study is completed on no less than 12 months of usage data. The vendor, Fitch & Associates, LLC, is recommended due to their extensive knowledge of the system and its intricacies as well as its familiarity with the first responder community. Because the new study will commence no sooner than January 2021, an additional year on the current Agreement is needed to allow for planning and expeditious execution of the study.
On January 5, 2016, the Parties entered into the Agreement between Broward County and Fitch & Associates, LLC for the Assessment of Broward County’s Regional E911 Consolidated Communications Systems under (RLI No. N1388702R1). The total not-to- exceed amount of the initial agreement was $100,000, including Optional Services of
$3,000. The agreement provided for an initial one-year term, with two one-year renewal options.
On August 19, 2016, the Parties executed the First Amendment to the Agreement to increase the not-to-exceed amount for Optional Services by $16,500 to permit additional services relating to the contract scope. The total Optional Service and total not-to-exceed amounts were amended to values of $19,500 and $116,500 respectively. The First Amendment was executed under the delegated authority of the Director of Purchasing.
On June 23, 2017, the Director of Purchasing executed the Second Amendment to the Agreement to increase the not-to-exceed amount for Optional Services to permit additional services for a Phase III engagement relating to the implementation of the recommendations provided in the Fitch & Associates Final Report dated December 2016. The total Optional Services and total not-to-exceed amounts were amended to values of $97,600 and $194,600 respectively.
The Third Amendment to the Agreement, dated January 2, 2019, extended the term for one additional year through January 4, 2020, and further increased the not-to-exceed amounts. The scope of the Third Amendment included consultative and professional services in support of continued implementation of the recommendations provided in the Fitch & Associates Final Report to achieve best practices of the County’s Regional Consolidated Dispatch System.
The Fourth Amendment to the Agreement, dated May 18, 2020, extended the term of the agreement one year through January 4, 2021, which was executed under the delegated authority of the Director of Purchasing.
The proposed Fifth Amendment allows County to continue implementation of recommendations of best practices provided from the Fitch final report to incorporate improvements from the implementation of the new P25 Radio System, which requires a revalidation of the original findings, based on analysis of performance after 12 consecutive months of the new system being in operation.
Source of Additional Information
Tracy Jackson, Director, Regional Emergency Services and Communications, (954) 831-3908
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact/Cost Summary
At this time, this item does not increase the contract not-to-exceed amounts.