[TrunkCom] Fw: [800interference] M/A-Com gets ok to move ahead with Nevada State Patrol radio system fix

Wed, 15 Oct 2003 07:45:53 -0500

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nick Ruark" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 12:25 AM
Subject: [800interference] M/A-Com gets ok to move ahead with Nevada State
Patrol radio system fix


>
>
>
>
> Panel OK's funding
> to fix Nevada troopers' flawed radio system
>
> By BRENDAN RILEY
> ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
>
> October 14, 2003
>
> CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP)
>
> An agreement enabling the Nevada Highway Patrol and other agencies to
> quickly move ahead with about $11 million in equipment purchases to
replace
> a flawed radio communications system was approved Tuesday by a state
panel.
>
> The state Board of Examiners, chaired by Gov. Kenny Guinn, approved the
> agreement with Massachusetts-based M/A-Com Inc., which will provide nearly
> 1,800 radios to the NHP and the other agencies. The exact amount of the
deal
> is still being negotiated.
>
> Besides the radios, radio towers and other equipment will bring the total
to
> about $15 million to get rid of the old system and comply with a Federal
> Communications Commission order to stop using more than 140 unauthorized
> radio frequencies.
>
> The NHP had spent $14 million on a contract with Motorola to build the
> existing computer radio system linking troopers with one another,
> dispatchers and other police agencies. That system was activated in 2000 -
> but nobody applied to the FCC for the frequency licenses.
>
> NHP Chief Dave Hosmer, who inherited the flawed system, has overseen a
> massive investigation to determine whether prosecution is warranted. After
> Tuesday's Board of Examiners meeting, he said about 1,300 pages of reports
> and back-up materials will be turned over to Attorney General Brian
Sandoval
> by Friday.
>
> Asked whether he thought criminal charges could result, Hosmer said he
> thought so when the probe opened but with the investigation nearly done
> there's "no smoking gun to it."
>
> By January, the state hopes to have the new system operating in the major
> population centers of Las Vegas and Reno. Outlying areas of Nevada should
be
> linked to the new system by next fall.
>
> The FCC had threatened to levy big fines unless Nevada quickly set up the
> new system, and Hosmer said that even with the progress that's been made
he
> doesn't expect the federal agency to be "totally happy."
>
> "The ball's clearly in our court," Hosmer added in stressing that a rapid
> resolution of the problem should improve the state's chances of avoiding
> penalties.
>
> "Nobody is pleased or proud we're in this situation," said Greg Smith of
the
> state Purchasing Division, who explained the M/A-Com agreement to the
Board
> of Examiners.
>
> "Everbody learned a lesson here," Guinn said as he joined with Sandoval
and
> Secretary of State Dean Heller, the other two Board of Examiners members,
in
> endorsing the deal.
>
> More discussion of the spending is expected at next month's Interim
Finance
> Committee meeting. The legislative panel is chaired by Assemblyman Morse
> Arberry, D-Las Vegas, who has said the state "boondoggled" the $14 million
> system that started up only a few years ago.
>
> Arberry said his concerns about the NHP radio system stem in part from a
> major change in the state's computer system for welfare programs several
> years ago - a project that started out at about $13 million and wound up
> costing more than $100 million.
>
> Source: The Associated Press
>
>
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