Emergency communicationHarris protests FBI’s Motorola radio upgrade contract

The Harris Corp. has become the second contractor, afterRELM Wireless Corp., formally to protest the FBI’s decision to award a $500 million non-bid contract to Motorola Solutions Inc., claiming the contract to upgrade the FBI’s 30-year-old two-way radio network was “factually unsound, legally unwarranted and wholly unnecessary.” The FBI’s procurement office insists that Motorola Solutions offers the only option for upgrading the service’s emergency radio systems while working with legacy equipment; adding that its contract with Motorola could save $300 million in legacy equipment and avoid $1.2 billion in expenditures from switching to another vendor.

Motorola Solutions dominates the domestic emergency communications market and controls an estimated 80 percent share of the two-way radio market. Many FBI agents still use conventional Motorola analog radios that require twice as much bandwidth than is allowed under a 2008 National Telecommunications and Information Administration mandate.

McClatchy DC reports that in a filing with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Harris refuted claims that proprietary features in the existing Motorola system would preclude interaction with products from other vendors. “Harris’ infrastructure and portable radio equipment can work with legacy Motorola equipment until such legacy equipment is replaced,” lawyers for Harris wrote, adding that for years, the FBI has used Harris equipment that connects with Motorola equipment. Harris cites a 2007 contract in which the firm installed infrastructure to upgrade two-way radios for multiple departments in Washington, D.C.

Harris, Motorola’s biggest rival in the domestic market, claims that the contract in question would allocate up to $170 million to eleven other agencies within the Justice and Homeland Security departments for the purchase of Motorola equipment over the next five years. The proposal “renders improper any sole-source award to Motorola,” because those agencies currently use Harris equipment, Harris stated. The GAO has authority under the Competition in Contracting Act to halt unjustified sole-contracts.

Two years ago, auditors for the Justice Department’s Inspector General’s Office questioned a $500 million no-bid contract that the Drug Enforcement Administration issued to Motorola in 2009 to upgrade and maintain its legacy equipment. According to the auditors, the contract, “may be violating procurement regulations by not using fair and open competition” in the purchase of radios.

Last month, Representatives Henry Waxman (D-California), ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Anna Eshoo (D-California), ranking minority member on the committee’s Communications and Technology subcommittee, along with Diana DeGette (D-Colorado), ranking minority member on the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, asked DHS Inspector General John Roth to investigate allegations of unfair contracting tactics deployed by Motorola. Roth has not confirmed if his office will conduct a formal investigation.