Utah’s emergency communications may be on the brink of collapse, lending urgency to a planned massive system upgrade. But the project is on hold while two industry giants brawl over the taxpayer-funded contract for new two-way radios and equipment.
Florida-based Harris Corp. won the contract with a bid of some $50 million — a price that the state says is $30 million below that of the losing bidder, Motorola.
But Motorola, which has supplied Utah’s radios and emergency technology for decades — since before the creation of the Utah Communications Authority (UCA) — is nowhere close to giving up the fight. The Illinois-based company has filed three protests alleging bid-rigging, including “price manipulation.”
UCA, an independent state agency overseeing 911 as well as interagency communications, has rejected each of the protests. But Motorola has now appealed to the state’s Procurement Policy Board. If it loses there, the next step for Motorola would be taking the dispute to the Utah Court of Appeals.