Jul 26, 2000 - 09:21 PM

Com-Net snatches Fla. deal
By Chris Flores
The News & Advance

Industry analysts call it "the battle of the burgs." Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola has always had a dominant land mobile radio market share and has won the big contracts over Lynchburg-based Com-Net Ericsson Critical Radio Systems.

Now the battle has turned into a war.

Com-Net has been awarded a $300 million contract to complete a statewide radio system in Florida that was started by Motorola more than 10 years ago. Motorola has sued Florida over the deal, claiming the Department of Management Services violated open-meeting laws by meeting privately.

"This is the largest deal in the history of land mobile radio ever," said Com-Net CEO Steve Savor, "and one of the largest contracts ever awarded by the state of Florida."

The contract has not been finalized because specifics are still being worked out, said Com-Net spokesperson Beth Jones. Motorola completed the first two phases of the project at a cost of $60 million. So far, it covers 40 percent of the land area in the southern and eastern parts of the state, said Motorola spokeswoman Pat Sturmon.

Savor cited a letter sent in December 1999 to management services by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, saying he was "concerned that the cost of public safety radio communications for the state of Florida continued to rise while there is a corresponding decrease of prices for increasingly sophisticated telecommunications equipment in the private sector that would be used to support the 800 MHz system."

A "request for proposal" was issued and a meeting was held June 22 between the department negotiating team, Motorola and Com-Net. Motorola's suit claims that the team met in secret that night, and the following day decided to enter into negotiations with Com-Net.

"The state said there would be sequential negotiations," said Sturmon. "They said if the contract fell through with Com-Net, they'd go back to Motorola."

After a July 6 public meeting, the team told Motorola they could not attend subsequent meetings. Savor said this was legal because the meetings concerned trade secrets. Motorola contends that much more was discussed at the meetings.

"We have no interest in their trade secrets and they have no interest in ours," said Sturmon. "What we're saying is they didn't just address trade secrets."

Savor said the proposal will save Florida taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

"Our proposal cuts deployment time for the system in half," said Savor. "In open presentations in 1999, Motorola stated it would take them five years to complete the system. Motorola has been beaten fair and square and they are doing everything they can to disrupt the process."

Motorola believes it should have been negotiated with first because the first part of the project has performed well, said Sturmon. While Com-Net will own the system once it's installed, Motorola had an agreement similar to traditional communications systems.

"Motorola proposed a public/private partnership where Motorola would operate and maintain the system," said Sturmon. "But it would be owned by the state, so they could make the key decisions on key issues."

The system will be designed to the specifications of law enforcement agencies in Florida, said Savor, and will be leased to public safety agencies in counties and municipalities. Under this unprecedented ownership configuration, the system might also be leased private companies.

"If they saw a benefit to the state of Florida," said Savor, "and it wouldn't cause any degradation of services, it's possible."

Don Bishop, editorial director of Mobile Radio Technology magazine, said people in the industry have known for years that Florida was unhappy with Motorola. The ownership configuration is a big first step in Com-Net's announced strategy to own and operate critical communications systems, he said.

This would be a big change from the traditional model.

"Public agencies' predisposition is to own their own assets," said Bishop. "They don't want to go to another agency. They look upon this control to ensure availability and reliability."

As technology has advanced and communication systems have become more reliable, agencies have more faith in a system like Com-Net is proposing, said Bishop. Rather than spending large sums to install a system and subsequent payments to consultants, agencies will only need to budget an annual lease.

"Politicians can win votes by voting for projects where taxpayers see a tangible benefit," he said. "Spending money on a telecommunications project is invisible. So it can be difficult to get a locality to spend money to install a system, but it is easier to get them to pay a lease."

This will not be the first Florida project for Com-Net. Last month Com-Net acquired TransTech Systems, a data systems consultant based in Florida. Com-Net has worked with TransTech to install a mobile data system for the Miami-Dade Transit Agency and installed systems in seven counties.

"The Dade system is one of the busiest in the world," said Savor.