At Last, City Opens Bids on 911 Dispatch Centers

More than six years after voters approved a bond measure to build two 911 dispatch centers for the Los Angeles Police Department, the city finally opened bids on the project Wednesday, setting the stage for construction to begin in June.

That is, if city officials can agree on the site in the San Fernando Valley.

Three companies bid, with Tutor-Saliba Corp. of Sylmar submitting the lowest combined bid of $37.7 million to build one 911 center downtown, next to Parker Center, and another in West Hills, on land formerly used by Hughes Missile Systems.

“We’re on the threshold of really delivering,” said Rich Hecht, the LAPD’s project manager for the two dispatch centers. “They are going to be really nice facilities.”

The Public Works Department will evaluate the bids and plans to award the contract in June, even though there still is a competing proposal to move the 911 center to the Department of Water and Power’s Anthony Building in Sun Valley.

The bids submitted Thursday are specific to the West Hills site, so any change of location would require redesign of the project.

“We have real reservations about moving it over there [to Sun Valley] at this late hour,” Hecht said.

Former City Councilman Richard Alarcon, now a state senator, proposed last year that the DWP building be considered, because using it could save on construction costs. The proposal is still under consideration by Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton, according to Hecht.

Alarcon said Wednesday that he wants the city to give the DWP building serious consideration before a final decision is made.

“I’m not ruling it out and I don’t think the city should, either,” Alarcon said.

All three bids were under the $40-million estimate for the project by the city engineer. The new 911 centers will replace the antiquated and cramped dispatch center currently located in the basement of City Hall East.

Voters approved money for the project in Proposition M, a 1992 bond measure that provided $235 million to upgrade a 911 system.

But delays in choosing and designing a new system have pushed the project back. Then the City Council changed its mind on the location of one of the sites, deciding it should be built downtown next to Parker Center rather than in Westchester.

If a contract is awarded in June, the downtown dispatch center would probably begin construction that month, with the Valley center breaking ground three months later.

The city has tentatively decided to stagger construction on the identical buildings so that any problems found in the downtown project can be fixed early for the Valley project, Hecht said.

As a result of the staggered schedules, the downtown construction project would be completed by January 2001 and the Valley center would be completed by April 2001.

Then, the LAPD will begin installing the new computerized dispatch systems.