Commissioners Approve $24.4 Million Radio Contract

In an anticipated 2-1 vote, Washington County Commissioners finalized the contract awarding a nearly $24.5 million dollar contract to Motorola Solutions, Inc. for the county’s new emergency radio system. It is an all inclusive system that includes subscriber radios and system management. The contract will take into account all changes recommeded by system consultant Mission Critical Partners, LLC, and the County Solicitor. Commissioner Larry Maggi was the dissenting vote calling the contract process “flawed” saying the contract was awarded and then price negotiations began. Commissioner Nick Sherman disputed that saying that the county had all of the contract numbers weeks ago. The county is now working on trying to recover approximately $8 million from MRA, Inc, the company awarded the contract initially to rebuild the radio system. According to Sherman, after nearly two years, consultants were unable to verify that the system MRA, Inc proposed would be able to be built.