News

By Sallie James

    Boca Raton is spending about $3.5 million to replace, install and maintain a state-of-the-art public safety radio system.
    City Council members in March voted to contract with Motorola Solutions Inc. for the system. Both the city and county are replacing their radio systems with hi-tech wireless communications systems.
    Boca is piggybacking on a county proposal for the radio system’s installation. The contract includes 15 years of maintenance and other costs.
    The new system is “P25 compliant,” a standard for the manufacturing of wireless communication systems that can work with other systems.
    “The new P25 radio system will afford us total interoperability throughout the county,” said Boca Raton Police spokeswoman Sandra Boonenberg. “The current system, although 16 years old, is and has been extremely reliable, but the new system will give us better coordination with the other agencies, which in turn will enable us to be more efficient and effective.”
    According to the city, the “public radio system provided by Motorola through this contract is a turnkey project that includes equipment, services, software and installation.”
    A breakdown of the costs follows:
    • $1.7 million for equipment, software, services and installation;
    • $1.5 million for annual maintenance for years two through 16 of the contract;
    • $300,000 for lifecycle costs, including software upgrades and technology updates. Ú