Treasury, Justice award $3 billion radio contract
Six companies have been awarded a joint $3 billion contract to supply Project 25 digital land mobile radio technology to support federal law enforcement and public safety agencies.
Sharing in the contract are Daniels Electronics, Victoria, British Columbia; Datron World Communications; Vista, Calif., E.F. Johnson Company, Waseca, Minn., M/A-Com Private Radio Systems, Lynchburg, Va.; Motorola, Schaumburg, Ill.: and Thales Communication, Clarksburg, Md.
The U.S. Departments of Treasury and Justice made the step in what their announcement said is “another step toward increasing information sharing and synergy between law enforcement components. The standards-based technology will provide improved capabilities for law enforcement officers and agents from different agencies to communicate with each other in the field utilizing compatible land mobile radio subscriber units.”
The units purchased by the government include portable and mobile radios, portable repeaters and base stations, encryption key loaders and ancillary support accessories.
“The new Project 25 digital technology was specifically designed to improve communications interoperability among different government agencies and will greatly enhance coordination and cooperation among many different branches of law enforcement including ATF, the Customs Service, the Secret Service, INS, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and DEA,” a statement from the Treasury Department’s office of public affairs reads.
“Open lines of communication are vital to tapping into all of the government’s resources when investigating illegal activity and protecting the homeland,” Treasury Under Secretary for Enforcement Jimmy Gurulé said on Sept. 13 in a prepared statement. “Today’s contract is another step toward increased cooperation and communication between law enforcement components.”
The government did not give a breakdown of the contract award by company. It described the contract as “multiple awards of Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite-Quantity contracts with a combined ceiling amount of $3 billion over a five year contract life cycle.”
The Project 25 standard activity has been pursued by a partnership among public safety radio users at various levels of government and industry to develop standards, based on user needs, for two-way radio equipment operating at VHF, UHF and higher bands. Project 25 has been adopted as a standard by various federal and state agencies in the procurement of radio equipment.
“The utilization of the standards-based open architecture provided by Project 25 will foster competition among manufacturers of land mobile radio equipment and systems, which should provide additional cost-effective solutions to both Treasury and Justice, as well as other government agencies that utilize this contract vehicle,” the Treasury Department statement reads.
