In a June letter to the county’s General Services Division, E.F. Johnson, a Minnesota-based radio manufacturer, claimed county officials violated Kern’s procurement policies in a way that risks first responder safety and harms the company.
E.F. Johnson, a subsidiary of the Japanese multinational corporation JVCKenwood, had begun the process of bidding on an estimated $78 million radio and microwave system upgrade before pulling out unexpectedly.
The contract, which would overhaul the aging public safety communication infrastructure countywide, is the largest in recent memory, and a bid protest could delay a process that has already taken more than four years.
The dispute arose from the way in which the county has moved through the procurement process, which E.F. Johnson says favors its competition.
The first step of the process involves the county seeking qualified applicants for the contract. This is known as a request for qualifications.
In the request for qualifications, the county describes the project and invites companies to apply for the next phase, known as the request for proposals, which invites companies to submit plans and an expected cost for the project.
Three companies met the criteria of the request for qualifications: Motorola, L3Harris Technologies and E.F. Johnson. However, when the county issued requests for proposals, the requirements were different.
“Significant changes took place between RFQ and RFP, therefore, we did not bid,” E.F. Johnson executive Tammie Wojcieszak told supervisors on Tuesday. “This new, narrow, criteria eliminates the opportunity for the county to take advantage of the most modern technology available today.”
Furthermore, she claimed the county’s actions drove the contract toward one bidder, although she did not name the bidder.
The county is in dire need of a public safety radio upgrade. The system is so old, city and county officials have turned to eBay to buy replacement parts, as the companies that used to provide those parts have gone out of business. But lately, even eBay searches are turning up empty.
Therefore, a partnership among three of Kern’s largest entities seeks to modernize the emergency communication network. One of the largest contracts ever devised in Kern, estimates for the cost have reached up to $100 million.
The county says it is well within its rights to change aspects of the contract between the request for qualifications and request for proposals.
“The RFP was put out, and the three companies that were selected in the RFQ process were expected to submit proposals. Two of them did and JVCKenwood didn’t, and we don’t know why they didn’t,” Chief Administrative Officer Ryan Alsop said in a phone interview. “There was nothing in the RFP that precluded them from submitting a proposal or being competitive. At the end of the day, they decided not to submit a proposal. So there was no proposal. That’s really the end of the story.”
A representative for JVCKenwood told county supervisors on Tuesday the company did not submit a proposal to the county because the company knew it would score poorly compared to its competitors due to the changed criteria.
One of the changes to which the company objected was the shift from 95 percent coverage in population centers outside of Bakersfield to 98 percent coverage. JVCKenwood claims the increase was erroneously added and would only serve to increase to the costs with limited benefits.
In addition, JVCKenwood protested the county’s requirement that bidders have a minimum of 10 years experience in the design and installation of certain types of radio systems, which the company called arbitrary and restrictive.
Alsop said the county was “kind of shocked” JVCKenwood did not submit a proposal.
“They made a business decision for whatever reason, (that) to this day, isn’t clear to us,” he said.
Supervisors chose to take no action on Tuesday, allowing the process to move forward as planned.
Chief General Services Officer Geoffrey Hill told supervisors on Tuesday his department expected to bring a contract to the board before the end of the year.
© 2021 The Bakersfield Californian (Bakersfield, Calif.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
