BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Bill No: AB
946
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Senator Roderick D. Wright, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
Bill Analysis
AB 946 Author: Lowenthal
As Amended: August 24, 2011
Hearing Date: August 25, 2011
Consultant: Paul Donahue
SUBJECT : Public contracts: solicitations - joint powers
authorities
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable
Communications System Authority (LA-RICS), a joint powers
agency, to procure a regional interoperable communications
system by utilizing a solicitation process to award a
contract for the design and build out of a regional
interoperable communications system and related
infrastructure.
Existing law :
1) Authorizes governmental agencies to utilize a
solicitation process for proposals and contracts for the
design, financing, construction, maintenance, or operation
of fee-producing infrastructure projects. (Govt. Code §
5956.5)
2) Specifies that powers which may be exercised by a joint
powers agency can be no greater than the powers shared by
each of the agency's constituent members. (Govt. Code §
6502)
This bill :
1) Authorizes the County of Los Angeles, or the Los Angeles
Regional Interoperable Communications System Authority
(LA-RICS) to solicit proposals and enter into agreements
with private entities for the delivery of a regional
AB 946 (Lowenthal) continued
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interoperable communications system and all related
infrastructure to be used by public safety agencies and
emergency responders located in the County of Los Angeles,
including:
a) Studying, planning, design, developing and
financing of the system;
b) Delivery and installation of equipment;
c) Architectural and engineering design of the
improvements to real property; and
d) Maintenance, rebuilding, repair or operation of the
regional interoperable communications system.
2) Requires the solicitation process to ensure that the
contractor is selected in compliance with the "procurement
by competitive proposals" process specified in applicable
federal regulations governing federal grants and
cooperative agreements to state and local governments.<1>
3) Contains legislative findings and declarations that a
special law is necessary because of unique requirements for
a regional interoperable communications system in the
County of Los Angeles.
COMMENTS :
1) Need for the bill : According to the County of Los
Angeles, this urgency legislation is needed because over
$270 million in federal grant funding allocated for the
LA-RICS Authority project must be utilized within a
specified time. In addition, the FCC has reserved
specific, desirable radio frequencies, and if LA-RICS does
not put these into use in a timely manner, the FCC may
release them for use by other entities.
In addition, the bill would allow LA-RICS to conduct a
turn-key procurement with a single contractor responsible
for all aspects of the project and implementation, which,
according to LA County, will help decrease the overall
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<1> 15 CFR 24.36. The regulation contains conflict of
interest prohibitions for employees of the grantee agency,
specific requirements for competency of contractors,
restrictions on use of time and materials contracts, and
the like.
AB 946 (Lowenthal) continued
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project risk and time required for implementation, and
reduce overall costs. LA County states that the Public
Contract Code requires LA-RICS to conduct three separate
procurements for radio equipment, radio site engineering
and radio site development, instead of simply managing a
single project/contractor.
2) Background : To date, over $270.0 million in Federal
grants have been budgeted for the project. Last year, the
U.S. Department of Commerce awarded the LA-RICS a Broadband
Technology Opportunities Program grant of $154.6 million to
cover the infrastructure costs in deploying a broadband
public safety network for the project.
In July, the project was put on hold indefinitely 3 years
after the LA-RICS launched the massive project. The plan
to construct the system had reached its final stage as
negotiators spent the last several months in private
contract talks with the technology company Raytheon. In
early June, however, county attorneys raised concerns that
the nearly completed contract violated state rules on how
contracts for publicly funded projects must be structured
and awarded. In light of this, negotiations with Raytheon
were suspended.
The County and LA-RICS discovered that, to comply with
state contracting rules, the project should be divided into
three separate contracts - one to design and implement the
technological component of the system, a second to design
the signal towers and other structures that need to be
built, and a third to build the towers and other
structures.
Apparently, this issue did not surface during the 3 years
of planning. Not all of the entities comprising the JPA
have the statutory authority to enter into a contract using
a solicitation process, yet the project was procured
through one, all-encompassing solicitation meant to lead to
a single contract. This bill would authorize the JPA to
proceed in this fashion on this project without running
afoul of state contracting laws and the limitations set
forth in the Joint Exercise of Powers law.
3) LA-RICS : The LA-RICS Authority, established in 2009, is
a joint powers agency comprised of the County of Los
Angeles, the 81 cities in the County, the Los Angeles
AB 946 (Lowenthal) continued
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Unified School District, and UCLA. The Authority would
serve over 34,000 first responders in the Los Angeles
region through voice and data communication systems. There
are over 50 law enforcement agencies and 31 fire
departments that serve the County.
4) Related Legislation :
SB 828 (Governmental Organization) of 2009 would have
vested responsibility in the California Emergency
Management Agency for daily operations of California's
interoperability efforts. It specified the State Chief
Information Officer's responsibility to develop policies,
standards, and public safety communications technology
solutions. (Died in Assembly)
AB 1848 (Bermudez) Chapter 728, Statutes of 2006 provides
for a state strategic plan for establishing a statewide
integrated, interoperable public safety communications
network.
SUPPORT:
Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System
Authority
County of Los Angeles
OPPOSE: None on file
URGENCY CLAUSE : Yes
FISCAL COMMITTEE: No
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