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Brentwood City Commission Agenda

Meeting Date:	04/11/2022
Authorization to Purchase Cube Devices for Dual SIM Connectivity from Utility Associates, Inc. with Installation from CommTech
Submitted by:	Brian Goss, Fire & Rescue
Department:	Fire & Rescue

Information

Subject

Authorization to Purchase Cube Devices for Dual SIM Connectivity

Background

The Fire & Rescue Department has mobile laptops in each apparatus that utilize the AT&T cellular network for connectivity back into the City’s network. This vital communication link is used for call dispatching, status monitoring, mapping, and relaying of essential information. The bombing that took place on December 25, 2020, in downtown Nashville took out AT&T communications for the Southeast. When this happened, mobile data for the fire department went offline. One of the recommendations that came from the after-action review was that emergency services should have two separate cellular connections for redundancy. The Cubes proposed for purchase will allow for both Verizon and AT&T cellular service availability. In the event that one of the services fails, staff can immediately switch to the other service.

The City currently partners with the vendor Utility to provide mobile data gateways with AT&T SIM cards for their cellular connectivity. At the time, Utility did not support dual SIMs. However, after the AT&T outage several of their customers requested that capability. Utility promised a solution by the fall of 2021. With the anticipation of this being in place by the fall, the Fire Department budgeted for the cost of adding Verizon cell service in addition to AT&T.

The solution that Utility developed is an add-on appliance they refer to as an LTE Cube. This device monitors connectivity of both networks and seamlessly transfers from one to another should the primary network become compromised in some way. This redundancy will help minimize disruptions in communications due to outages, poor signals, or other system failures. Utility is the only one that makes this solution for our system. Therefore, this purchase is considered sole source.

The cost of this device for 11 apparatuses is $12,125.00. Providing installation training and certification to CommTech, Utility’s local authorized vendor, is $2,940.00. Given that Brentwood is currently a customer of both Utility and CommTech, they are discounting this certification by 50% to $1,470.00. This brings Utility’s price to $13,595.00. CommTech’s per-unit installation charge is $275.00 (X 11 = $3,025.00) which brings the total project cost to $16,620.00.

Please contact Dan Harrison in Technology or Chief Goss with any questions you may have.

Staff Recommendation

Staff recommends approval to purchase and install Utility's Cube appliance at a total project cost of $16,620.00.

Fiscal Impact

Amount :	$16,620.00
Source of Funds:	Annual Operating Budget
Account Number:	110-42200-83555

Fiscal Impact:

Funding is available in the Fire and Rescue Department's FY 2022 operating budget.

Attachments
Utility Purchase Quote
Commtech Install Estimate
Sole Source Letter
Cube Description