BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2149 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 2149 (Atkins) As Introduced February 20, 2014 Majority vote LOCAL GOVERNMENT 9-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Achadjian, Levine, Alejo, | | | | |Bradford, Gordon, | | | | |Melendez, Mullin, Rendon, | | | | |Waldron | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 AB 2149 Page 2 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 AB 2149 Page 3 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 AB 2149 Page 4 "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 FN: 0003117