REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
SUBMITTED TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
SUBMITTED BY: Oliver Chi, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Julian Harvey, Interim Chief of Police
Brittany Mello, Deputy Director of Administrative Services
Subject:
title
Approve and authorize the Police Department Technology Modernization Project to include the execution of a five-year contract with Intergraph Corporation (dba Hexagon) to upgrade the City’s Computer Aided Dispatch / Records Management System (CAD/RMS); and appropriate funds for the purchase of laptops, closed-circuit television cameras, mobile printers, public engagement software applications, and conference room upgrades
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Statement of Issue:
The Police Department’s integrated policing system is in need of modernization. Following a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) process, staff is recommending approval of a five-year contract with Intergraph Corporation, doing business as a member of the Hexagon Group of Companies, to upgrade the Computer Aided Dispatch / Records Management System (CAD/RMS). The new policing system will require investments in new laptops and related software to operate effectively. Additionally, a variety of public safety related technology upgrades are proposed, including expanding the City’s network of closed-circuit television, buying mobile citation printers for field officers, updating conference room technology, and utilizing public engagement applications for recruitment and real-time communication with those requesting police services.
Financial Impact:
The City Council earmarked $3 million of ARPA funding to be used for the Police Technology Infrastructure Improvements. The largest component of these upgrades is for the new CAD/RMS system. In order to lock in the best long-term pricing, staff is proposing a five-year contract with Hexagon, along with five, one-year options to extend the agreement. The Hexagon agreement for software and consulting services totals approximately $1,032,108 in Year 1 expenses, plus a contingency of $106,107, which would utilize an estimated $1,138,215 in ARPA funding. Future year expenses will be incorporated into the annual budget approval process. A summary of the estimated project expenses is outlined in the table below:
|
Item Description |
Estimated Cost |
|
New Integrated Policing System |
|
|
Computer-Aided Dispatch, Records Management System, Analytics, and Mobile Responder Client |
$1,032,108 |
|
Configuration & Implementation Contingency |
$106,107 |
|
Ancillary CAD/RMS Items (New Laptops, Geographic Information System upgrades, ExpressRoute Connection) |
$1,026,000 |
|
Subtotal |
$2,164,215 |
|
|
|
|
Closed-Circuit Television System Expansion (New Cameras, New Networking and Storage Equipment, Video Analytics Tool) |
$669,107 |
|
Mobile Citation Printers |
$73,530 |
|
Public Engagement Applications |
$62,120 |
|
Briefing and Training Room Upgrades |
$30,000 |
|
Subtotal |
$834,757 |
|
|
|
|
Total Year 1 Project Expenses |
$2,998,972 |
Based on the initial ARPA guidelines, staff believes the proposed project expenses above will be eligible and is requesting appropriations totaling $2,998,972 from the ARPA fund (Fund 249). However, the final guidelines have not yet been released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Therefore, staff is requesting that the City Council delegate authority to the City Manager to appropriate any ineligible project expenses to the Technology Fund (Fund 323) in an amount not to exceed $2 million. Approximately $2 million had previously been earmarked in the Technology Fund for the CAD/RMS upgrade. Year 1 appropriations for the project will not exceed $2,998,972 in total without additional Council authorization. Sufficient funds are available in both funds to support the appropriation requests above.
Recommended Action:
recommendation
Approve and authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to take the following actions:
A) Execute an agreement between the City of Huntington Beach and Intergraph Corporation for the Integrated Policing System for Police Computer Aided Dispatch / Records Management System; and,
B) Appropriate American Rescue Plan Act funding for related Police Department Technology Modernization Project components described herein; and,
C) Authorize the City Manager to appropriate any project expenses determined to be ineligible under the American Rescue Plan Act guidelines to the Technology Fund in an amount not to exceed $2 million.
end
Alternative Action(s):
Do not approve the agreement with Intergraph Corporation or appropriate the proposed project funding and direct staff accordingly.
Analysis:
On September 7, 2021, the City Council approved a preliminary spending plan for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021, which will provide $29.6 million in stimulus funding to the City of Huntington Beach to offset fiscal impacts experienced from the COVID-19 pandemic. The recommended spending plan includes an estimated $3 million for Police Technology Infrastructure Improvements. Staff recommends utilizing these funds to modernize and expand a myriad of public safety related technology, as described below.
Integrated Policing System - A top priority for the Police Department is to upgrade its integrated policing system, comprised of Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), Records Management System (RMS), and Mobile Policing System (MPS). The CAD is a real-time response system coordinating calls for service. Communications Operators utilize the system for 9-1-1 calls, administrative calls, officer radio traffic, and monitoring the safety of patrol officers and other departmental resources. The MPS is utilized by field personnel to monitor calls, receive information regarding events, and enter crime, arrest, and information reports. The RMS is utilized by a vast majority of the Police Department, including the Records Unit to maintain and prepare reports for dissemination and mandatory criminal data compliance; the Jail Bureau to enter booking information; the Detective Bureau to track cases and add investigatory information; and the Property Unit to track evidence. Together, these tools are fundamental and absolutely critical to successful Police operations.
The Police Department has been on the same platform, the Intergraph Law Enforcement Automated Data System (I/LEADS), since October 2005. This product is at end of its useful life and unable to provide contemporary functionality and flexibility. Hexagon is also increasingly unable to provide support for the I/LEADs application, as Hexagon stopped selling the product in the marketplace over 10 years ago. Overall, there have been significant advancements in public safety technology since the City last invested in upgrading its public safety technology, including a migration to Next Generation 911 Internet Protocol based telephony integration, and advances in Geographic Information System (GIS) capabilities and data analytics.
In June 2017, the Department conducted a technology assessment to evaluate alternatives to this system and chart a path towards modernization. It was recommended the Department conduct a Request for Proposals (RFP) of current vendors who could provide a modern policing system. The Department hired a public safety consulting firm, Winbourne Consulting, to assist with the evaluation process.
In October 2018, the City released its first RFP and received five vendor proposals. In March 2019, the Department selected three vendors to participate in demonstrations of their product. The Department selected approximately 25 employees from various units to participate in the evaluation process. After the demonstrations, one vendor was selected to provide a more in-depth review of their product. Unfortunately, it was determined none of the vendors met the operational needs or contractual needs of the Police Department.
In March 2020, the City released a second RFP for a modern policing system and received eight vendor proposals. Due to the pandemic, the Police Department had to shift their evaluation techniques. Through interviews, reference checks, and contract negotiations, the Police Department determined Hexagon’s Integrated On Call CAD, RMS, MPS, and Analytics solution as the product that most aligned with the Police Department’s operational needs. On Call is fully integrated, highly configurable, has a single point of data entry, and numerous robust interfaces. The Analytics dashboard provides up to the moment information and makes data extraction and custom reporting simple.
This purchase will cost approximately $1,138,215 in Year 1 expenses to purchase the software, configure it to meet the Police Department’s needs, migrate data from the current system, train users, and integrate it with other front-end and back-end systems. The term of the proposed contract is five years with five additional one-year options to extend the agreement. ARPA funding is proposed for Year 1, with subsequent years funded through the budget approval process in the Police and Administrative Services Departments.
Ancillary CAD/RMS Items - In order to operate the new Integrated Policing System, there are additional hardware and software needs. The largest ancillary purchase is for new laptops that can be mounted in Police vehicles for mobile computing. The City currently has 110 specialized laptops that are shared amongst field officers. The entire fleet is at its end of useful life and must be upgraded in order to operate the new CAD/RMS system. As part of this upgrade, staff will transition from a shared model to being assigned their own laptop to both reduce wear and tear on each device and add operational flexibility. This purchase will cost an estimated $883,000 for 185 laptops, along with the necessary software, cellular service, and accessories to function. Additional funds are requested to upgrade our GIS system and establish an ExpressRoute connection totaling an estimated $143,000, for a total ancillary cost of $1,026,000.
Closed-Circuit Television Expansion - The City of Huntington Beach currently deploys closed-circuit television cameras at key locations across the community. Cameras are utilized to locate evidence of crimes taking place, locate missing people, monitor the flow of traffic, and direct first responders to locations of emergencies. The Police Chief has identified additional locations where cameras are needed for better coverage of pedestrian and vehicle traffic. The closed-circuit television network will assist the Police Department in developing a Real Time Crime Center, which would integrate and analyze information from multiple technologies in real time, so that field officers may better respond to crimes in progress, improve public safety, and aid in emergency response overall. As Huntington Beach regularly draws large crowds for special events, live video feeds are a critical tool to enhance visibility and match call-in information to activities as they are occurring. This purchase will cost an estimated $669,107 for cameras, installation, video analytics, and networking, server, and storage equipment.
Public Engagement Applications - The Police Department is looking to add two software applications to assist in customer service and recruitment efforts.
The customer service application is a modern approach to help maintain communication with citizens. Our proposed platform is specific to law enforcement operations, allowing us to utilize automatic text messages, emails and surveys to crime victims, reporting parties and community members. The platform relays real time, updated information to those requesting police services including approximate response time, what to expect and what information to gather. This helps alleviate citizens from having to call dispatch repeatedly asking for updates. When crime reports are taken, emails are regularly sent updating individuals of their case progress. The survey platform is sent to those who have utilized police services.
Additionally, police departments across the country are facing difficulty with recruiting individuals to apply, and an astonishing 98% of those who apply do not successfully complete the testing and background screening process to become a police officer. As part of a multi-pronged approach to address these challenges, a recruitment application would help the Police Department reach targeted recruits with conversational artificial intelligence. Traditional ways of recruiting make it difficult to reach many applicants, and the challenging and lengthy process to become a police officer can be difficult to understand. This application would help reach potential applicants via their smartphones, providing immediate responses to frequently asked questions, and providing information on which positions may be a good fit for the applicant. This would not replace the application process, but rather, would broaden our ability to connect with potential candidates and grow our qualified applicant pool. Together, these purchases will cost an estimated $62,120 in Year 1 expenses.
Mobile Citation Printers - Citations are moving towards a complete online application via the field officer’s City-assigned cellular phone. These citations are instantaneously sent to the court, eliminating the handwritten paper ticket, and streamlining the process. However, violators would still need a paper citation, creating the need for a ticket printer in each patrol vehicle. This purchase will cost an estimated $73,530.
Briefing and Training Room Upgrades - The Police Department’s training and briefing rooms are utilized daily for shift briefings and classes. The technology in these rooms has been pieced together over the years and is in need of an upgrade. The proposed upgrades would add “smart” technology with in-wall touchscreens, universal remotes, and a video system for ease of use between the rooms. These purchases will cost an estimated $30,000.
Together, these projects will help modernize and expand the Police Department’s operations in service of our mission to prevent, report, and solve crimes in Huntington Beach. Once implemented, these tools will improve transparency and community trust through timely data sharing and enhanced data-driven decision making.
Environmental Status:
Not applicable.
Strategic Plan Goal:
Infrastructure & Parks
Community Engagement
Attachment(s):
1. Request for Proposals
2. Request for Proposals Rating Summary
3. Agreement between the City of Huntington Beach and Intergraph Corporation
4. Scope of Work