23-037 Calgary Municipal Radio Network (CMRN)

Notice is hereby given by The City of Calgary (“The City”) of its intent to enter into contract with Motorola Solutions Canada Inc. . for the provision of hardware, firmware, software, software licensing, support and maintenance, service, lifecycle management and operator system administration training. Motorola provides the system infrastructure for the Calgary Municipal Radio Network (CMRN) which is The City's primary dispatch network. The CMRN system consists of a Motorola controller, radio towers, Motorola radio consoles, and portable and mobile radio units in the field. Motorola has been providing Public Safety Radio services to The City of Calgary for many years. The CMRN provides excellent levels of service to Calgary First Responder and other essential staff. The radio consoles are required to support The City’s 911 emergency communication requirements. Calgary 911's has Motorola MCC7500dispatch radio consoles for interoperability with the CMRN system. Motorola is the sole proprietary of the CMRN system infrastructure, equipment, and professional services. The City does not have the ability to source support and system augmentation and management from other vendors as only Motorola can provide support to this proprietary system. The contract has an anticipated term length of four (4) years ending December 31, 2027, and the estimated budget over the term is approximately $4,310,000.00 inc. GST. It is the intent of The City to award this contract for the following reason(s): 1. In accordance with the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) Article 506, 12(a) and as exempt under the Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) Article 513, 1(b), (v). to ensure compatibility with existing products, to recognize exclusive rights, such as exclusive licenses, copyright and patent rights, and/or to maintain specialized products that must be maintained by the manufacturer or its representative. 2. The Calgary Municipal Radio Network (CMRN), formerly called the Digital Subscriber Radio (DSR) system was originally installed in 1995 at sites in Calgary by Motorola. The DSR core was updated in 2011 to Motorola’s ASTRO 25 System release 7.11 which supported a APCO Project 25 (P25) Standard system core. The system core was updated in 2017 from 7.14 to 7.17. The Motorola MCC radio consoles includes proprietary software and firmware that ensures interoperability with proprietary Motorola legacy components, such as the site controllers, repeater channels, network managed terminals, sub-system integrator, and core infrastructure. In 2022, the system core was further refreshed from 7.17 to the A2020.1 baseline as part of the APCO P25 Upgrade project which replaced the end-of-life SmartZone Site Converters to those that support the APCO P25 Standard. In 2023, City’s 911 Emergency response technical expert on MCC infrastructure reviewed and advised on the risks and advantages of continuing working with Motorola over a third party. 3. The CMRN is a Motorola ASTRO 25 trunked radio system that is currently operating in APCO P25 Standard mode. 4. Motorola is the only authorized provider of system management services to support Motorola’s Astro 25 System. 5. Only Motorola trained and certified technicians are authorized to conduct ongoing optimization maintenance, repairs, component replacement, and system upgrades to the Motorola radio infrastructure. 6. Since implementation, The City has made significant investments to ensure the CMRN is in optimal operational condition to deliver safe and effective response. In addition, The City requires a single point of contact for the complete network system due to the importance in complexity of the operational consistency. 7. All proposed equipment must be tested and certified by Motorola for operation with existing 3600 baud network elements to maintain a radio infrastructure network that is fully supported and backed by Motorola as the manufacturer. These elements include core infrastructure, site controllers, repeater channels, network managed terminals, interoperability sub-system integrator and dispatch consoles which are proprietary to Motorola.