Florida ends talks with Motorola Solutions on P25 contract, will seek ‘next-generation system’

Motorola Solutions declined to sign a contract honoring its $687.8 million bid to build a statewide Project (P25) network in Florida, so the state will “move toward the new procurement of a next-generation system,” according to a state letter sent yesterday to Motorola Solutions Chairman and CEO Greg Brown.

Written by Florida Department of Management Services (DMS) Secretary Jonathan Satter, the letter apparently marks a formal end to Motorola Solutions’ opportunity to win the largest pending land-mobile-radio (LMR) contract in North America—the P25 upgrade of Florida’s Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System (SLERS).

“Unfortunately, Motorola has opted not to execute the contract the Department sent on December 23, 2019, that includes clarifications and the terms negotiated during the competitive procurement and agreed to by Motorola in its Best and Final Offer,” according to Satter’s letter to Brown, which was made available to IWCE’s Urgent Communications after 8 p.m. Eastern time yesterday.

“The Department has a responsibility to the citizens of the state of Florida, the first-responder community, and other stakeholders to move beyond this state of uncertainty.

“Since Motorola has failed to execute a contract as a result of the competitive procurement, the Department will initiate conversations with stakeholders to evaluate options and move toward the new procurement of a next-generation system.”

On Dec. 23, Satter sent a letter to Brown stating that Motorola Solutions needed to sign the approved contract prepared by the state of Florida by Dec. 31, or the state would pursue other options. The state confirmed last week that no contract agreement had been reached by the Dec. 31 deadline, but the state did not respond to multiple inquiries from IWCE’s Urgent Communications whether talks with Motorola Solutions were ongoing. Satter’s latest letter represents a formal end to the DMS contract discussions with Motorola Solutions.

Motorola Solutions provided the following statement about the situation to IWCE’s Urgent Communications:

“Motorola Solutions had hoped to provide the state of Florida with a new mission-critical Project 25 (P25) radio network for first responders, but ultimately we could not come to terms on an agreement with the Department of Management Services (DMS),” according to the Motorola Solutions statement. “We hope to work together in the future.”

Florida DMS announced in March 2018 its intent to award the P25 SLERS contract to Motorola Solutions, which was selected after submitting a $687.8 million bid to build a 144-site LMR system for the state. The Motorola Solutions bid was $300 million less than the bid submitted by Harris—now known as L3 Harris—which owns and operates the existing SLERS network that uses aging EDACS technology.

With the support of Florida DMS, Motorola Solutions’ bid withstood a protest from L3Harris and a judicial appeal that concluded last fall. But the cooperation to secure these public victories did not translate into successful contract negotiations between Florida DMS and Motorola Solutions.

In a Dec. 12 letter to Brown, Satter indicated that Motorola Solutions had not been willing to accept the terms of its bid in contract negotiations. One key condition that all vendors seeking the P25 contract were required to accept was a “termination for convenience” clause, which would let the state to back out of the potential 20-year deal whenever it wanted with little advance notice.

“Pursuant to the authority granted to the Department by the Florida Legislature during the 2019 legislative session, the Department [DMS] is authorized to enter into the contract with Motorola,” Satter states in the Dec. 12 letter. “To date, Motorola has consistently expressed a desire to modify substantive terms negotiated during the competitive procurement and agreed to by Motorola in its BAFO [best and final offer], including termination for convenience. Moreover, Motorola has represented to Department personnel that those terms are ‘deal breakers.’

“The Department will enter into a contract with Motorola that includes all substantive terms and conditions negotiated during the competitive procurement. The Department is requesting that Motorola work toward the finalization of a contract for execution by Friday, December 20, 2019, so that the Department and the state of Florida can move forward with the new System.

“If the Department and Motorola are unable to finalize and execute a contract by the date above, the Department will move forward with the evaluation of other options to procure a next-generation system.”

That Dec. 20 deadline was extended to Dec. 31, based on Satter’s Dec. 23 letter to Brown.

Florida DMS included a “termination for convenience” language in its procurement documents, making acceptance of the language a condition of a qualified bid. Motorola Solutions representatives were reminded of the condition last year, when Administrative Law Judge Bruce Culpepper recommended dismissal of a procurement protest by Harris in favor of the Motorola Solutions bid.

“This [termination-for-convenience] provision authorizes the Department [DMS] the right to terminate the SLERS contract for any reason, or no reason whatsoever,” according to Culpepper’s opinion. “One example of how the Department might cancel the contract ‘for convenience’ would be if the Legislature determined that the state no longer needed, or wanted, the SLERS. The Termination for Convenience clause would allow the Department to terminate its agreement without incurring any financial obligation.”

Such a “termination for convenience” clause is not new to LMR contracts—in fact, similar language is included in the existing SLERS deal with L3Harris—but most of those agreements were signed at a time when there was not any practical technological alternative to LMR that could provide reliable mission-critical voice communications, according to industry sources.

That scenario could change in the near future. AT&T officials have vowed to make mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT)—the 3GPP standard for push-to-talk over cellular that is designed to mimic P25 performance—is scheduled to be offered to FirstNet subscribers by the end of March.

In addition to the “termination for convenience” clause, other issues associated with the P25 SLERS contract talks were the compressed timeline to build the network—less than 18 months, compared to the 48 months that was cited in the procurement process—a need for additional funding and uncertainty surrounding the use of 21 existing SLERS sites that are owned by L3Harris. There also were questions whether the state legislature would approve the extra funding needed to support the P25 upgrade for SLERS.

Meanwhile, exactly what the state of Florida will do next to provide mission-critical voice to state first responders is unclear.

What is known is the current SLERS agreement with L3Harris is set to expire at the end of June 2021, leaving the state less than 18 months to implement an alternative. Extending the existing deal with L3Harris is an option—and could be a short-term necessity—but continuing to rely on older EDACS technology probably is not considered a long-term solution, according to industry sources.

Satter’s latest letter states that Florida DMS will “move toward the new procurement of a next-generation system.” To date, Florida DMS has not responded to multiple inquiries from IWCE’s Urgent Communications seeking clarification about what technology would be used in a “next-generation system.”

A new procurement of a P25 system theoretically is an option, but many industry observers note that P25 is not really a “next-generation” technology and the same contractual language that bothered Motorola Solutions likely would be a problem with other venders—in fact, L3Harris expressed concern with it early in the bidding process. In addition, LMR procurements typically take years to complete, and the buildout time for a statewide network like SLERS also would be lengthy, unless existing towers were utilized almost exclusively.

LTE-based technologies like PoC and MCPTT are much newer and fit the “next-generation” mold and could be implemented more quickly than an LMR system, because the LTE networks with public-safety priority and preemption capabilities already are in place. However, MCPTT is not available yet in the U.S., and PoC is generally unproven as a mission-critical voice technology in public-safety scenarios.

Next Tuesday, the Florida Legislature will begin its annual 60-day session. If the Florida DMS alternative to the proposed P25 SLERS network requires any additional funding, getting that authorization from state lawmakers could be crucial.

Below is the full body of the letter from Satter to Brown:

“The Department of Management Services (Department) has diligently worked with Motorola Solutions, Inc., (Motorola) to finalize and execute a contract for a Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System. Unfortunately, Motorola has opted not to execute the contract the Department sent on December 23, 2019, that includes clarifications and the terms negotiated during the competitive procurement and agreed to by Motorola in its Best and Final Offer.

“The Department has a responsibility to the citizens of the state of Florida, the first-responder community, and other stakeholders to move beyond this state of uncertainty.

“Since Motorola has failed to execute a contract as a result of the competitive procurement, the Department will initiate conversations with stakeholders to evaluate options and move toward the new procurement of a next-generation system.

“We appreciate the professionalism and courtesy your team has expended during these efforts.”