TITLE
Title
LEASE PURCHASE OF REPLACEMENT MOTOROLA RADIOS
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SPONSOR
Sponsor
Jim Albright, Don Warn, Fran Cameron and Toy Beeninga
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BACKGROUND
Background
Guilford County has operated a simulcast 800 MHz trunked public safety radio since 1996, in partnership with the City of Greensboro. The subscriber units (portable and mobile radios) used by the County staff have a useful life of approximately 7-10 years. The radios currently being used are twelve (12) years old (purchased in FY 2011) and have reached end of service life with the vendor, and will not migrate to Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) to maintain compatibility with enhancements made to the state Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders (VIPER) system as of July 1, 2025. Total radios to be replaced is 1,100.
While the current radio system infrastructure remains reliable, the radios themselves are outdated, end of life, and do not utilize the latest technology that is required for the state VIPER system. The state is requiring all public safety agencies have TDMA ability in their radios by July 1, 2025 to continue to work on this system. None of the current radios are able to upgraded to this standard. The County departments are currently having to consistently fix broken radios and no longer can get parts to these. Upgrading to new 800 MHz radios will provide several key benefits for multiple County departments:
1. Improved Coverage and Clarity: The updated radios will offer better coverage, have LTE coverage in areas where the 800 MHz system does not reach (such as in buildings where BDAs do not currently exist) and ensuring clear communication, even in remote or challenging areas. The microphones have enhanced noise reduction to assist public safety resources when on the scene of calls to allow ease of listening to communications and other responders.
2. Enhanced Interoperability: The new radios facilitate better communication and coordination between different public safety agencies, including police, fire and EMS, especially during multi-agency responses to emergencies. They will allow more talk groups to be programmed into the radio for more coordination with other agencies. The LTE function allows for communications back to the home 800MHz on deployments or when low coverage exists.
3. Increased Security: Advanced encryption features will safeguard communications, protecting sensitive information and ensuring secure transmissions.
4. Reliability and Durability: The modern radios are built to withstand harsh conditions, reducing the likelihood of failures during critical situations. While these have new technology with some touch screen, they have been proven durable for the conditions experienced by public safety and other departments.
5. Advanced Features: The new radios come with features such as: GPS tracking for improved location accuracy of personnel, emergency alerts, text messaging capabilities, LTE SmartConnect, WiFi and others which enhance overall situational awareness and response efficiency. The new radios will integrate into the newly purchased CAD system by Guilford Metro 911 to allow interoperability with these features. The current radios are not capable of this feature.
6. Improved Battery Life: The updated radios have longer battery life, reducing the need for frequent recharging and ensuring they are operational during extended incidents. During testing, this has shown to be 18-24 hours compared to the current, which are around ten (10) hours. The current batteries can no longer be purchased.
7. Future-Proofing: Investing in the latest technology ensures the radios will be compatible with future upgrades and advancements in communication systems.
Approving this investment will equip our public safety departments, animal services, security, transportation, parks and recreation and juvenile detention facilities with state-of-the-art communication tools. This upgrade is crucial for maintaining efficient operations, enhancing interoperability and ensuring the safety and well-being of both our personnel and the community we serve. Without this replacement of critical equipment, County staff would operate with radios that have been in service for greater than a dozen years and beyond anticipated lifespan with increased maintenance expense (and the likelihood of unrepairable devices) and the potential for critical failures, and the inability to operate on the state VIPER system for out-of-county response and as a redundant back-up for the Guilford-Greensboro system. Current radios are experiencing a ten (10) percent annual repair rate, and this equipment serves as the primary communications link to all public safety in daily operations and perilous situations.
As such, the County has engaged with Motorola for a replacement plan for all County departments. Each department did a needs assessment of current and future operations, as well as reviewed all current product offerings to select radios best suited for their operations.
Below is a listing of each department and radios for purchase:
Sheriff's Office 601
Emergency Services 366
Security 50
Juvenile Detention 40
Parks 20
Transportation 6
Animal Services 17
TOTAL 1100
The purchase reflects NC State contract #725G pricing, plus additional discounting due to volume. The vendor has met with Purchasing, Finance, Budget and public safety departments, and has been vetted by the MWBE department. Please see the attached table for the cost of radios, accessories and subscriptions, by department. Subscription costs would begin after year 1 and subsequent years, if renewed. The first year of these costs are included in the price of the radios.) Subscriptions are not mandated in future years, but offer additional functionality (back-up LTE, faster AVL polling and over-the-air reprogramming) that will be evaluated in Year 1 for future year considerations for renewal, and can be decided at the individual radio level within each department.
Command Central Aware - $209,862.78 - A five (5) year subscription includes all radios above to allow GPS functionality into CAD for emergency location and cloud-hosted by Motorola. The hardware server will be placed at Guilford Metro, operated and maintained by Motorola, that will not touch any outside systems. The hardware server is to allow a physical connection between Command Central software and the secured 800 MHz radio system.
Total Cost: $7,942,975.54
Staff evaluated bank financing and lease-purchase options for funding the radios, and it was determined the most favorable option was a lease-purchase contract with Motorola Solutions, Inc. The radios will be financed for fifty-nine (59) months at an annual interest rate of 4.560%. The first annual payment is due October 1, 2025, with the final payment due September 1, 2029.
Remaining funds in the prior 800 MHz Infrastructure Upgrade capital project total $2,052,512 will be used to make the first payment. These funds will be re-appropriated into a new project ordinance, Motorola Radio Lease Purchase, funded with this initial $2 million and then requiring future General Fund transfers totaling $1.751 million per year between FY 2027 through FY 2030. This funding is not built into our base budget and additional revenues will need to be identified starting in FY 2027. This lease will be impacted by GASB 87 and the Board of Commissioners will see a year-end agenda item to account for the lease on year-end financial statements. Before GASB 87, operating leases were budgeted and expended annually based on the schedule of lease payments. The new standard now requires the County to report an expenditure and an offsetting revenue (other financing source) in the period the lease is initiated for the total amount of all future lease payments. Future lease payments are then budgeted and accounted for as debt service principal and interest expenditures like long-term debt rather than as an annual operating expenditure. The contract has been reviewed and approved by Guilford County Legal and Motorola prior to submission to the agenda.
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BUDGET IMPACT
Budget Impact
County Building Construction Fund
800 MHz Infrastructure Upgrade
$2,052,512 decrease in appropriation to the project
$2,052,512 decrease in appropriated fund balance
Motorola Radio Lease Purchase
$9,056,830 increase in appropriation to the project
$2,052,512 increase in fund balance
$7,004,318 increase in transfers from other funds (General Fund)
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REQUESTED ACTION
Requested Action
Approve the lease-purchase of 1,100 replacement radios, accessories, hardware, software and subscriptions from Motorola Solutions, Inc., in the principal amount of $7,942,976 without competitive bidding, as authorized by state statute exemption G.S. 143-129(e)(9). Authorize a contract, in substantial form, with Motorola for financing of the lease-purchase over a term of fifty-nine (59) months for total repayment of $9,056,825 (Principal = $7,942,976 and accumulated interest = $1,113,849) with annual payments to commence on October 1, 2025 and approve the associated funding plan. Adopt the Motorola Radio Lease Purchase project ordinance in the amount of $9,056,830 with $2,052,512 in appropriated fund balance and $7,004,318 in future transfers from other funds (General Fund) and amend the 800 MHz Infrastructure Upgrade project ordinance to reduce the project ordinance by $2,052,512 and decrease appropriated fund balance by $2,052,512.
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