Countywide : $73.2-Million County Phone System Approved

After four years of study and months of heavy lobbying, county supervisors Tuesday agreed to spend $73.2 million over 10 years to give county public offices their own telephone system.

Contel, an Atlanta-based company, won the contract after submitting the lowest bid among three firms seeking to install the Orange County Telecommunications Network.

Centel, a Chicago-based firm, bid $73.8 million, while GTE, headquartered in Stamford, Conn., bid $81.4 million.

Ralph B. Clark, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said before the vote that the county’s switch to its own phone system--rather than leasing telephone lines and equipment--would save from $181,000 to $263,000 per month for the next 10 years.

County officials said they expect to issue bonds to pay for the new system.

The board made the award to Contel contingent on the company’s agreeing to lower the cost by up to $1 million if installation is late or faulty.

“The telecommunications industry as a whole has an unfortunate history of failing to perform as promised,” Supervisor Roger R. Stanton said. Thus, the possible financial penalty for late work was “an absolutely necessary element” of the agreement, he said.

R.A. Scott, head of the county’s General Services Agency, said the new telephone system, which will serve the county headquarters at the Civic Center complex in Santa Ana and a host of other offices scattered around the county, will take 26 months to install and will be implemented in three phases.

The supervisors began studying the possibility of a new county telecommunications system four years ago and ultimately narrowed down a field of competing firms from nine to three.

In recent months, the firms spent heavily on promotional activities, including equipment displays on the ground floor of the Hall of Administration, according to supervisorial aides. Contel and Centel also hired outside lobbyists to woo supervisors and their aides.

Although the contract will be one of the largest awarded by the county, Scott said there have been bigger awards for data processing equipment.

The board Tuesday also extended contracts with three consulting firms for the new system, thus boosting the total spent on consultants on the telecommunications network past the half-million-dollar mark.