Procurement for land mobile radio (LMR) systems that provide emergency communications usually follows a standard process, whereby agencies, like municipalities and federal and state entities, prepare a single request for proposal (RFP) that covers all phases of the project. While this approach may seem efficient, it can lead to longer deployment times, higher implementation costs, more change orders, and reduced signal quality. For this reason, forward-thinking agencies are separating the site development phase from the RFP, choosing instead to contract directly with site development specialists like Black & Veatch. By engaging experts, agencies avoid the potential pitfalls of vendor outsourcing, says Paul Scutieri, Sales Director, Connected Communities. 

“One vendor authorized a change order on behalf of the customer because it seemed simple.” In this case, he says that a tower needed to be relocated to the opposite side of a road. “The soil conditions were very different at the new location, and they encountered corrosion, which in turn impacted signal quality."