From Jan. 1-June 30, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) spent $25,357,049 on its five most expensive purchases of IT goods. Here’s more information, with rounding, on what the office spent:
• $12.4 million with Nokia of America Corp. for CAPSNET Conversion Services during the 2019-2020 Fiscal Year ending June 30. That’s a reference to the state-owned and operated California Public Safety Microwave Network, which is used for “emergency and routine operation communication needs” but according to a CAPSNET Roadmap prepared in 2013, lacked at that time “the capabilities of a modern network and (needed) to be upgraded.” A network of more than 300 sites, CAPSNET features radio communications; remote management of radio equipment and site assets; and emergency telephone service designed to ensure staff at dispatch or emergency command have services in a disaster when commercial service might flag. It’s unclear exactly what Nokia is providing CalOES, but it’s doing so on a 25-month contract that began March 1.
• $5 million with Direct Apps Inc. (now Direct Technology) for ES-T1-MIS ECATS MIS reporting, year one. That’s likely a reference to an Emergency Call Tracking System, which typically enables governments to develop actionable intelligence from emergency call data. The state’s agreement began May 11 and has no end date. Direct Apps evolved into Direct Technology in 2008, per the company’s website; the state’s use of the older name here could reflect a longstanding relationship.
• $3.2 million with Allied Network Solutions Inc. for “205-0026 Customer Community Plus (CCP) logins,” in another open-ended contract that began April 3. Per Salesforce, CCP is “more powerful” than the Customer Community license and offers 1 MB additional storage for login-based licenses and 2 MB additional storage for member-based licenses.
• $2.5 million with Allied for Year 1 Salesforce Service Cloud – Unlimited Edition. An open-ended contract, this one began May 5.
• $2.3 million with Allied for “405-100-0001 MuleSoft Anypoint Platform Base Subscription.” Typically, Anypoint offers governments a quick, single platform on which to design and build APIs and do integrations. With rounding, three of these top five purchases represent a state spend of around $8 million with Allied in April and May.
