BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 2149
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          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
          AB 2149 (Atkins)
          As Introduced  February 20, 2014
          Majority vote 

           LOCAL GOVERNMENT    9-0                                         
           
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          |Ayes:|Achadjian, Levine, Alejo, |     |                          |
          |     |Bradford, Gordon,         |     |                          |
          |     |Melendez, Mullin, Rendon, |     |                          |
          |     |Waldron                   |     |                          |
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           SUMMARY  :  Exempts a contract for a Regional Communications  
          System (RCS) for San Diego and Imperial Counties from  
          contracting law that otherwise applies to counties.   
          Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)States that, notwithstanding any other law, the provisions of  
            the Local Agency Public Construction Act that apply to  
            counties shall not apply to a contract entered into by the  
            County of San Diego with a private entity for the delivery of  
            an RCS and any related infrastructure to be used by public  
            safety agencies and emergency responders located in the  
            Counties of Imperial and San Diego.

          2)Allows the County of San Diego to use any competitive  
            procurement method to procure the RCS and related  
            infrastructure described in 1) above, including provisions of  
            the Local Agency Public Construction Act that apply to  
            counties that would otherwise apply to the County of San  
            Diego.

          3)Finds and declares that a special law is necessary and that a  
            general law cannot be made applicable within the meaning of  
            Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution  
            because of the unique public safety needs in the County of San  
            Diego.

           EXISTING LAW  establishes, under the Local Agency Public  
          Construction Act within the Public Contract Code, the procedures  
          counties are required to use when soliciting and evaluating bids  
          or proposals for the construction of a public work or  








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          improvement, which generally require contracts to be awarded to  
          the lowest responsible bidder after a competitive bidding  
          process.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  None

           COMMENTS  :   

          1)Purpose of this bill.  This bill seeks to allow the County of  
            San Diego to contract for the RCS without having to comply  
            with provisions of state law that govern the contracting  
            practices of counties.  This bill is sponsored by the County  
            of San Diego.

          2)Author's statement.  According to the author, "Due to  
            technology obsolescence and the need to support significant  
            user growth, San Diego County must replace the RCS in the next  
            few years.  State law requires construction projects over a  
            certain dollar threshold to be procured through a competitive  
            bid process and awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.   
            However, the RCS has unique requirements because it is most  
            importantly a technology project.  The project's construction  
            components represent a very small percentage of the overall  
            project cost.

            "To ensure that the system can be selected that best meets the  
            region's diverse emergency communications requirements would  
            be to procure the RCS contract through the solicitation of  
            competitive proposals that would allow San Diego County to  
            consider price, among other factors, in its selection."

          3)Background.  The RCS is a public safety voice communications  
            system that provides radio communications for 21 911 dispatch  
            communications centers and thousands of first responders  
            throughout the Counties of San Diego and Imperial.  The RCS  
            serves law enforcement, fire services, emergency medical  
            providers, and a variety of public service agencies.  The  
            system not only supports local agencies, but also state,  
            federal, and tribal agencies operating in the region.  The RCS  
            provides a high level of interoperability enabling public  
            safety agencies in the two counties to communicate in all  
            types of emergencies and disaster responses.

            The RCS also provides interoperable communications with public  








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            safety systems in surrounding areas to support mutual aid and  
            coordinated responses with multiple agencies. This type of  
            interoperable regional communication is essential not only for  
            the daily emergencies that first responders handle, but for  
            catastrophic events, such as the wildfires of 2003 and 2007,  
            that require all of a region's first responders to work  
            together and receive the same information.  The current  
            system, commissioned in 1998 with a life expectancy of 15  
            years, operates as a wide area network with more than 50 radio  
            sites throughout the two counties.

            The proposed project includes replacing obsolete technology,  
            both hardware and software, that will address redundancy of  
            critical components, improve radio system coverage in areas  
            without complete coverage, and increase system capacity to  
            support existing requirements and accommodate future growth.

          4)State contracting law generally requires local agencies,  
            including counties, to procure services for construction  
            projects over a certain dollar amount through a competitive  
            bidding process that awards the contract to the bidder who  
            offers the lowest responsible bid.  According to the sponsor,  
            the County of San Diego, "While generally, the competitive  
            bidding requirements of current law are important mechanisms  
            for protecting the public's interest in fair and cost  
            effective government contracting, in this particular instance,  
            they would unreasonably delay completion of the communications  
            system.  In addition, the bidding requirements of current law  
            do not contemplate such a technologically advanced project.   
            The standard low bid arrangement simply will not yield the  
            best product."  Supporters note that this project is primarily  
            a technology project that includes construction components  
            that represent a small percentage of the overall project cost.  
             They contend that the County of San Diego needs the authority  
            to consider price among other factors in its selection.

          5)Previous legislation.  AB 946 (Bonnie Lowenthal), Chapter 400,  
            Statutes of 2011, authorized the Los Angeles Regional  
            Interoperable Communications System Authority (LA-RICS), a  
            joint powers agency, to use an alternative solicitation  
            process to award a contract for the design and build out of a  
            regional interoperable communications system and related  
            infrastructure.  AB 946 required the solicitation process to  
            ensure that the contractor was selected in compliance with a  








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            "procurement by competitive proposals" process pursuant to  
            federal law.  

            This bill, however, provides a blanket exemption from state  
            contracting law, stating that the County of San Diego may use  
            any competitive procurement method to procure the RCS and  
            related infrastructure including provisions of Local Agency  
            Public Construction Act that would otherwise apply to the  
            County of San Diego.  According to the author, the intent of  
            this bill is to "procure the RCS contract through the  
            solicitation of competitive proposals that would allow San  
            Diego County to consider price, among other factors, in its  
            selection."  The Legislature may wish to consider whether  
            minimum requirements for a competitive process should be  
            included in this legislation.

          6)Arguments in support.  Supporters contend that this bill is  
            necessary to allow the RCS to proceed in a timely and  
            cost-effective fashion.

          7)Arguments in opposition.  None on file.

           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Angela Mapp / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958 

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