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

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

• Number of public safety bids: 1,284
• Top three states (by number of solicitations released):
• California (117), Texas (113) and Pennsylvania (85) Keywords: fire alarm and alerting and camera/surveillance

Frequency of terms:

•  Surveillance: 9 (two state; seven local)
• Radio: 9 (three state; six local)
• 911: 4 (one state; three local)

The below graph provides information on what types of entities released JPS solicitations in July

Trends

•  July saw two very different trends when it came to solicitations, with both an influx of solicitation releases (especially toward the end of the month) and cancellations
• Corrections technologies were popular in July with Florida, Georgia and Miami-Dade all releasing solicitations for inmate telephone systems. Massachusetts extended its current contract to give the state more time to review proposals
• Next generation 911 projects were also widespread, with cities and counties of all sizes beginning work on NG911 projects, including releasing solicitations for consultants and systems, and awarding projects

Notable projects

• In Sarasota County, Fla., a regional radio system project is moving forward quickly; an RFP for a consultant is expected to be released in early August
• The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office released an RFP in late July for a multimodal biometric identification system that will replace the existing Los Angeles Fingerprint Identification System (LAFIS). This system will be used by the sheriff’s office and all other law enforcement agencies in the county
• In late July, Minnesota released an RFP for a public safety wireless data network. The contractor will be expected to work with the division of emergency communications networks to develop a plan for the network to help the state obtain grant funding
• The city of Palo Alto, Calif., released an RFP for a mobile audio visual replacement for the police department. The new equipment will be outfitted in 30 police cards and 14 fire apparatuses. The video feeds from this project will ultimately be placed on cloud-based servers for easy access for city personnel

Analyst’s Take

As expected, states and localities with fiscal years starting July 1 were quite active in the procurement realm, with many releasing solicitations for long-awaited projects. This quick turn-around suggests that many entities had previously written solicitations and been through the approvals process; they were simply awaiting final funding approval before releasing an RFP. 

Likewise, many projects were canceled in July as funding was denied (yet again, in many cases) for projects not deemed essential at this time. Funding still remains the primary issue for agencies looking to pursue new projects, and many will have to seek grant funding to augment or replace government funds.

Vendors should pay particular attention to approved budgets for those entities they are interested in doing business in, as well as budget requests as it is likely that agencies denied funding this year will request again next year.