Anaheim Firm Wins Pact for Freeway Telephones
Ending three years of frustrating delays, stalled starts and legal threats, a San Diego County agency on Friday tentatively awarded a $5.3-million contract to an Anaheim firm to install emergency telephones on local freeways.
By a unanimous vote, the San Diego Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies (SAFE) showed its intention to award the much-postponed contract to Cellular Communications Corp., which plans to begin installing the call boxes next month and to have the 883-phone system in place by late this year or early 1989.
Roger Walsh, SAFE’s deputy director, said that the final contract between the agency and Cellular is expected to be signed within two weeks.
‘Final Decision’
“This is the final decision, it’s just that there’s some paper work to dress up . . . to make it official,” Walsh explained.
SAFE officials hope that Friday’s action marked the end of the series of legal and procedural problems that have plagued the project since its inception in early 1985, when it arose out of the outrage over one woman being killed and another being raped at gunpoint after their cars broke down on freeways.
“It’s been very frustrating, but it’s gratifying to finally reach the point where we can start seeing some call boxes on our freeways,” said county Supervisor and SAFE member Leon Williams. “The delay was aggravating, but as a result, it looks like we’re going to get a better system for less money, so things seem to have worked out.”
Last summer, SAFE awarded a contract to Anaheim-based Comarco Inc.--a subcontractor to Cellular--calling for the installation of call boxes along the county’s 300-mile freeway system to make it easier for motorists to telephone for help in the event of automobile problems or other emergencies.
Contract Challenged
That contract was challenged in court, however, by Cubic Corp., a San Diego-based firm that had bid about $500,000 less than Comarco. Ruling that SAFE’s action violated competitive-bid procedures, a Superior Court judge nullified the contract with Comarco and ordered the agency to award the project to the lowest responsible bidder.
In appealing that decision, SAFE officials argued that the state legislation creating the agency specifically exempted it from competitive bidding guidelines, adding that Comarco was selected because it was viewed as having more experience with the cellular phone system envisioned for the San Diego project. Last February, the 4th District Court of Appeal sided with SAFE, saying competitive bidding was not necessary for the call box project, which is to be financed by a $1 annual fee on all registered automobiles.
In March, SAFE planned to reapprove the Comarco contract, but those plans were dashed at the eleventh hour when the company revealed that it was involved in a since-resolved patent dispute. With its members visibly exasperated--Williams so much so that he suggested scuttling the troubled project--SAFE then voted to solicit new bids, starting a process that culminated in Friday’s action. (Although the bid went to Cellular, SAFE officials explained that it is an updated version of Comarco’s 1987 bid and that the two firms have simply altered their own contractural arrangements.)
$5.2 Million Bid
Cellular’s $5,271,820 bid, which covers both the cost of installing the call boxes and maintaining them over the next 10 years, was about $122,000 less than that of Cubic, the next-lowest bidder.
However, a technical advisory committee that reviewed the bids stated that the price difference was “not a decisive factor” in Cellular’s selection, Walsh explained. Rather, the company’s previous experience in the installation and maintenance of similar call boxes, its projected timetable and the general design of its equipment figured more prominently in that decision, he said.
The reason for the approximately two-week delay in the signing of the contract, Williams said, is to allow time for SAFE officials--perhaps overly cautious in light of the project’s troubled past--to review it to ensure that there will be no final legal snags.
“We think the possibility of any potential litigation is closed, but we’re going to be careful so we don’t have any more problems like we’ve had in the past,” William said. “It’s taken a long time, but things finally look good.”
