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State Emergency Agency Seeks Vendor for Radio Services

A contract for frequency coordination has ended, and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services has issued an Invitation for Bid, seeking responses.

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The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) issued an Invitation for Bid (IFB) March 13, seeking respondents to provide radio frequency coordination services statewide. Bids are due at 1 p.m. March 30 and will be opened at 10 a.m. April 1. Among the takeaways:

• Governments and agencies at all levels around California still rely heavily on radio, which informs the need for this IFB. But the state is somewhat congested in terms of radio usage, and CalOES needs frequency coordination services to ensure that first responders and officials using radio frequencies don’t create disruptions to other radio systems.

• CalOES has had a contract with APCO International for frequency coordination services; that contract expired at the end of February. The new contract’s initial award is not to exceed $300,000; it’s slated to begin April 1 or on final approval, and end March 31, 2023.

• The winning bidder may be called on to assist CalOES in standing up a "proposed system,” according to the IFB. CalOES will show “one or more proposed frequencies on its application based upon its own knowledge of frequency use in California” and the agency’s needs, the IFB said. The successful bidder’s responsibilities will include, generally, ensuring agency frequencies don’t “cause unacceptable interference into a radio system operated by any other entity, including another state system.”

“Existing systems operated by any entity, including another state system, and any planned system whose application would take precedence over CalOES application will not cause unacceptable interference into the propose [sic] state system,” CalOES said in the IFB.

• The agency said in the IFB it seeks “qualified contractors,” noting respondents must meet all required licenses and certifications. Among them, bidders must be certified by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) “to coordinate FCC Rules and Regulations Section 90.20 frequencies” — a series of frequencies and regulations in the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations pertaining to the “public safety pool.”

Theo Douglas is Assistant Managing Editor of Industry Insider — California.