AUGUSTA, Maine — The $32 million job of upgrading Maine’s emergency 911 system and replacing it with an upgraded, Internet-based system that can accept emergency calls from a range of devices will fall to FairPoint Communications.
The North Carolina company, which operates the state’s current 911 system, was awarded the job last month shortly before Thanksgiving. The period for losing bidders to appeal the award expired Wednesday with no appeals filed.
That means FairPoint and the Maine Public Utilities Commission can move ahead with installing a so-called NextGen 911 system that allows emergency dispatchers to accept and pinpoint the location of emergency notifications that come by phone, text message, notification services such as OnStar, and other devices.
The award to FairPoint ends a yearlong process for the PUC, which awarded FairPoint the job twice earlier this year only to have both of those awards appealed by losing bidders and overturned. The commission sought to have the upgraded 911 system in place by August 2013, but Chairman Thomas Welch said last month that the multiple successful appeals have delayed the project by a year.
The state’s contract with FairPoint for the current 911 system expires in October 2013.
After the most recent award was overturned last month following an appeal, the commission rescored the existing bids and, within 11 days, again scored FairPoint’s bid the highest.
“FairPoint will provide a fully integrated turnkey solution that will not only link voice, data and video elements to E911 call facilities, but will transfer data seamlessly, and it will provide the capability to read text messages and view video when the industry standards are developed,” Karen Romano, FairPoint’s vice president for government, education and research, said in a statement.
The PUC issued a request for proposals last year for a NextGen 911 system. Nine companies responded, and the commission settled on FairPoint in January.
Two of the losing bidders, Colorado-based Intrado and Lewiston-based Oxford Networks, appealed the award and a state appeals panel overturned it, concluding there were irregularities in the scoring process and violations of Maine bidding law.
The PUC then convened a new review team, rescored the nine existing bids and again awarded FairPoint the contract in June. FairPoint bid $32.4 million for the project while Intrado bid $27.8 million and Oxford bid $24.9 million.
Intrado and Oxford successfully appealed the June award as well. After that award was overturned, the PUC again rescored the existing bids and awarded FairPoint the job.
Spokeswomen for Intrado and Oxford didn’t immediately comment Thursday regarding the companies’ decisions against appealing the most recent FairPoint award.
No!
Yes !
Fairpoint stinks… they got in trouble years ago for screwing up 911
Maine , Open For Business !!
Open for business? This is taxpayer money you’re talking about and frankly it’s a waste.
The door to the “Candy Store” is open for those with good lobbyists
and shrewd lawyers.
A friend in office doesnt hurt either.
Which part is a waste, the upgrades to include text messages and video? It may sound that way on the surface, however I would imagine that the 911 caller who cannot verbalize their emergency would differ. There are times when a victim of a home invasion or abused spouse cannot “talk” on the phone, but can send a text. In some areas you can’t talk on a cell phone, but a text will get through. A bystander capturing a photo or video of a crime, a suspect or suspect vehicle or other emergency could be sent through in almost real time to assist dispatchers in determining the most appropriate response. Will it get abused? Most certainly, just as the current system in place is on an almost daily basis. How would I know any of this? I am a 911 dispatcher here in Maine and have had calls where the new technology would have been a great asset for information gathering.
The system “works” now, or at least as well as Fiarpoint permits it. How many times has a victim of a home invasion or abused spouse not been able to talk but could send a text? This is merely fanciful thinking to find an excuse to waste even more tax-payer money, especially in a time when we’re running a deficit.
MPUC and Fairpoint, stuck like glue, up each others rears, sleeping in the same bed, whatever you want to call it. Maybe this is what the end of the world means, allowing Fairpoint to run the 911 systems. You really didn’t think the PUC would allow someone else the contract after all the screw ups Fairpoint has done had you?
I’m sure that if the state tried they could probably find a worse provider than Fairpoint for this. But they’d have to try pretty hard, and they probably wouldn’t be all that much worse. Fairpoint adheres to the lowest possible standard for crappy service.
Why any telecommunications company would bid against FairPoint for any upgrades in the telephone system in Maine with the current Maine Public Utilities Commission members is beyond my comprehension. Even if their bids are substantially lower (e.g., FairPoint bid $32.4 million for the project while Intrado bid $27.8 million and Oxford bid $24.9 million.), FairPoint will still be awarded the project. I have said it before, It appears that the MPUC members are in cahoots with FairPoint and they are not truly representing the residents of Maine. An independent investigation of the MPUC needs to be initiated sooner rather than later.
This ought to be good. I’ve not seen them succeed in doing the simple things. If I have an emergency, I plan to yell loudly, and hope my voice carries.
Why go out to bid if you already know who you will pick? Maine “the way life should be” NOT.