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Middlesex County Awards Federal Engineering Contract to Assist in Radio System Upgrade
FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA, September 21, 2015 — Middlesex County, VA has awarded Federal Engineering, Inc. (FE) a contract to assist in the analysis, procurement, and upgrade of its public safety mobile radio system. The new system will support radio users in 4 fire departments, 2 rescue squads, and the Sheriff’s Office.
Mr. Ronald F. Bosco, FE’s President, provided an overview: “The current VHF radio system was installed in 2000. It is reaching end-of-life and becoming both costly and difficult to maintain. In addition, there are coverage gaps and interoperability issues that must be resolved.”
Mr. Bosco continued: “The County is taking an innovative approach and has chosen to acquire the new radio system under the Virginia Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002 (PPEA) . PPEA grants public entities authority to create public-private partnerships for development of a wide range of projects for public use. The benefits of private involvement may include a more timely completion, more cost-effective implementation, productivity or efficiency improvements in the delivery of services, risk sharing including guaranteed cost or completion guarantees, shared debt or equity investments, a dedicated revenue source, or other economic benefits.”
Mr. Matt Walker, County Administrator, said: “We are entering the Detailed Stage of a PPEA process which will establish the contractual obligations of a potential public- private partnership. The County wants to make sure the radio system that is eventually built meets the current and future needs of our first responders and citizens. In addition, economics are very important for a county of our size. FE’s expertise and consultation during contract negotiations will be critical in achieving the most advantageous, comprehensive purchase agreement with our PPEA contractor. Our neighboring counties have used Federal Engineering and have spoken very highly of the firm. The firm has completed over a thousand similar projects and we look forward to FE sharing their lessons learned. In addition, FE has completed numerous projects here in the Commonwealth and understands our unique environment.”
Federal Engineering provides analysis, design, procurement, and implementation support for NG9-1-1, PSAPs, ECCs, and EOCs. These services complement FE’s wide range of consulting services in public safety and public service communications involving LTE as well as traditional VHF, UHF, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 4.9GHz mobile radio systems. FE also supports FirstNet planning in anticipation of the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network. Since 1983, FE has completed thousands of communications projects for 40 state governments, as well as numerous local and federal government clients.
In addition to its public sector work, Federal Engineering provides design and implementation support services for voice, data, and video networks used in the transportation, utilities, aerospace, finance, education, publishing, and computer services industries. FE’s certified independence ensures that clients receive objective, unbiased consulting services that are not influenced by any particular technology, product, vendor, or approach.