Deltek pulse: Justice/public safety and homeland security October review

The most common terms appearing in justice/public safety and homeland security solicitations during October were fire alarm, camera/surveillance and radio. The below word cloud provides a visual interpretation of key-term frequency.

• Number of public safety bids: 1,077
• Top three states (by number of solicitations released): California (118), Virginia (79) and Texas (63)
• Keywords: fire alarm, camera/surveillance and radio

Frequency of terms:

• Surveillance: 31 (five state; 26 local)
• Radio: 12 (three state; nine local)
• 911 : 4 (one state; three local) 

The below graph provides information on the break-down of the entities purchasing justice and public safety technologies.

Trends

• October was a slow month compared to the fervor of September, with far fewer projects released for state and local entities across all regions of the country, and the majority of RFPs released came out toward the end of the month
• Numerous projects released in September closed throughout October and are now under review to determine the most suitable vendor(s)
• Several local governments confirmed large radio and 911 projects are moving forward with solicitations planned in the near future

Notable projects

• Los Angeles, Calif., released a request for proposals (RFP) for a CAD-to-CAD consultant to draft an RFP for vendors to construct and implement a system for connecting four separate fire departments’ CAD systems
• Massachusetts released an RFP for next generation 911 products and services to hire a contractor to design, install, operate, monitor and maintain a turnkey NG911 system throughout the commonwealth
• Travis County, Texas, released a solicitation for an electronic monitoring system with the ability to determine a person’s specific location as well as verify their compliance with any curfew restrictions
• Maine is currently working on its court case management system project and intends to spend the next year securing funding and developing project specifications

Analyst’s Take

The number of canceled opportunities sharply increased in October, though the reasons and ways in which the projects were canceled varied significantly. Numerous entities simply chose to cancel projects due to budgetary constraints or priority shifts. Lafayette, La., canceled its next generation 911 system for these reasons; while South Carolina canceled its long-planned incident-based reporting system (SCIBRS) website project, as it no longer requires these services. Further entities chose to sole source projects, such as Effingham County, Ill., which determined that only its existing vendor, Motorola, could provide a suitable replacement for its aging radio system. 

 The cancelation of so many projects, particularly ones that had been in the planning stages for several years, indicates that many purchasing offices are working to clean up their files and prioritize for the rest of the year. Given the large number of projects that have begun moving forward in recent months, it is not surprising that many entities found projects they are no longer interested in pursuing during this review.