Public safety agencies should jointly procure land mobile radios to...
Public safety agencies should jointly procure land mobile radios to save money, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bms8wf). GAO recommended that the Department of Homeland Security facilitate joint purchasing. “The price of handheld LMR devices…
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is high -- often thousands of dollars -- in part because market competition is limited and manufacturing costs are high,” GAO said. Also, public safety agencies “cannot exert buying power in relationship to device manufacturers, which may result in agencies overpaying for LMR devices,” GAO said. Joint procurements would allow “agencies requiring similar products to combine their purchase power and lower their procurement costs,” it said. While the national public safety broadband network -- set up under legislation passed last week by Congress -- should improve interoperability and data transfer rates, it likely won’t support mission-critical voice for “10 years or more,” GAO said. As a result, “first responders will continue to rely on their current LMR systems for the foreseeable future.” GAO cited several challenges slowing deployment of the public safety broadband network, including governance, getting adequate funds and ensuring interoperability, reliability and security. DHS agreed with GAO’s recommendation, GAO said.