Bidder Asks City to Delay 911 Contract

Citing alleged flaws and irregularities in bidding procedures for a new Los Angeles 911 computer system, a giant Orange County firm is demanding an indefinite delay in the award of a critical $10-million-plus contract to upgrade the outdated emergency dispatch system.

In two letters to city officials obtained by The Times, Fluor Daniel Telecom complained that a Los Angeles Police Department evaluation team was not objective in considering the firm’s bid, in part because it employed a consulting company whose staff includes several allegedly disgruntled ex-Fluor Daniel workers.

Fluor Daniel, which has designed and built emergency dispatch systems in Chicago and Los Angeles County in recent years, is asking the city to bring in a new team to evaluate bids from three major firms--a process that took more than four months the first time.

Meanwhile, council members Tuesday said city officials must focus on interim measures to upgrade 911 services in the wake of a Times report last week on serious failings in the city’s antiquated dispatch system.

Last year, The Times reported, a record 198,000 emergency calls went unanswered by 911 operators through September, even though the total number of calls to the center declined nearly 10%. Meanwhile, officials have not yet decided where to locate one of two new dispatch centers promised under a $235-million bond issue approved by city voters in 1992. Nor have they determined how to link them.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who heads the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, vowed Tuesday to immediately resurrect a months-old Police Department request for 177 additional dispatch operators that apparently got lost in the bureaucracy.

“This City Council wants to know what the department can do now to make the 911 calls answered in a very prompt and adequate way,” Chick told LAPD officials at a City Council meeting.

Peter A. DiCarlo, principal administrative analyst for the City Administrative Office, acknowledged later that he has held off forwarding the hiring request until the completion of an independent study of the LAPD’s support staff needs. He estimated that 170 new positions would cost $10 million annually, and said the private consultants might find ways to reform emergency dispatch with a leaner, less expensive staff roster.

Councilman Mike Hernandez also urged quick action. “I think this should be a major priority,” he told his colleagues. “When somebody has an emergency, the city should be able to respond. Not to answer the call is a tragedy.”

To help implement the long-term 911 update, Police Chief Willie L. Williams last month asked the Police Commission to award a contract for the new computer dispatch system to TRW, which submitted an $11.5-million bid for a project that it estimated would take 3 1/2 years to complete.

Fluor Daniel’s bid was for $14.3 million and over four years of work.

In mid-December, a day after Williams recommended TRW, Fluor Daniel Telecom President William W. Coplin wrote Police Commission President Dierdre Hill to complain about the bidding procedures. Coplin said he had previously warned LAPD officials that four people who worked for RAM Consulting Group, a city consultant for 911 improvements, left his firm under unfavorable terms.

“Even if Fluor Daniel won the award, other vendors . . . would likely protest because of the individuals’ prior relationship,” Coplin wrote. “If Fluor Daniel lost, we would have grounds to protest.”

Receiving no written response, Coplin sent a second letter to Hill and other city officials Jan. 10. In it, he lashed out at the city for failing to provide an opportunity for his firm to provide written responses to questions asked at an October oral bid presentation.

In a telephone interview, a spokesman for Fluor Daniel did not rule out the possibility of a lawsuit that could result in further delays if the city refuses the firm’s request. In seeking the new bid evaluation, Coplin wrote: “Fluor Daniel does not pursue actions such as this frivolously.”

Hill said Tuesday that notwithstanding the allegations, the commission may act on the contract at its next meeting in early February.

Times staff writer Jim Newton contributed to this story.