BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2149| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 2149 Author: Atkins (D), et al. Amended: 5/20/14 Vote: 21 SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 6-0, 5/14/14 AYES: Wolk, Beall, DeSaulnier, Hernandez, Liu, Walters NO VOTE RECORDED: Knight ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 4/10/14 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : The Local Agency Public Construction Act: County of San Diego SOURCE : County of San Diego DIGEST : This bill exempts, from the provisions of the Local Agency Public Construction Act that apply to counties, a contract entered into by the County of San Diego with a private entity for the delivery of a regional communications system (RCS) and any related infrastructure to be used by public safety agencies and emergency responders located in the Counties of Imperial and San Diego. ANALYSIS : The Local Agency Public Construction Act requires local officials to invite bids for construction projects and then award contracts to the lowest responsible bid-der. This "design-bid-build" method is the traditional, and most widely-used, approach to public works construction. This approach splits construction projects into two distinct phases: CONTINUED AB 2149 Page 2 design and construction. During the design phase, the local agency prepares detailed project plans and specifications using its own employees or by hiring outside architects and engineers. Once project designs are complete, local officials invite bids from construction firms and award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder. This bill exempts, from the provisions of the Local Agency Public Construction Act that apply to counties, a contract entered into by the County of San Diego with a private entity for the delivery of a regional communications system and any related infrastructure to be used by public safety agencies and emergency responders located in the Counties of Imperial and San Diego. This bill allows the County of San Diego to use any competitive procurement method to procure the regional communications systems and related infrastructure, and requires the county to use a best value, as defined, procurement if the county does not use a procurement method otherwise available under specified provisions. Comments The RCS is a public safety voice communications system that provides vital radio communications for twenty-one 911 dispatch communications centers and thousands of first responders throughout San Diego County and Imperial County. 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, which 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. Updating the RCS to replace obsolete components, improve system coverage, and increase system capacity involves unique technological requirements, requiring integration of the project's software, hardware, and constructed infrastructure elements. As a result, a traditional lowest-responsible-bidder contract process is not the best procurement method for upgrading the RCS. Similar to the authority granted by AB 946 (Lowenthal, Chapter 400, Statutes of 2011), this bill grants San Diego County officials the autonomy to contract for a new RCS through a competitive procurement process that allows for the consideration of the project's specialized emergency communications technology requirements. AB 2149 Page 3 FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 5/21/14) County of San Diego (source) American Medical Response Bonita-Sunnyside Fire Protection District Calexico Fire Department Carlsbad Police Department Chula Vista Police Department City of Coronado County of Imperial El Cajon Police Department Escondido Fire Department Escondido Police Department Imperial Valley Emergency Communications Authority La Mesa Police Department National City Police Department Oceanside Police Department Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department San Diego County Fire Chiefs' Association San Diego County Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Association San Diego County Sheriff San Diego Police Department Urban Counties Caucus ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 4/10/14 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Salas, Vacancy AB 2149 Page 4 AB:nl 5/21/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****