NextGen911 – Strathcona County (Part 2)
Strathcona County began procuring next-generation 911 standard (NG9-1-1) technology solutions once its business case was approved by County council in 2019.
At the time, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) planned to turn off the existing emergency services network in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023. The CRTC’s deadline has since shifted to March 2025.
The project team’s procurement timeline consisted of:
- Business requirements defined by the end of Q1, 2020
- RFP posted during Q2, 2020
- Vendor selection completed by Q3, 2020
- Contract awarded by Q4, 2020
The project team kept an open mind throughout the procurement process. It was willing to consider either a ‘best of suite’ solution (i.e., a collection of solutions from a single vendor) or a ‘best of breed’ approach (i.e., a collection of different solutions from different vendors that required to be integrated) to meet the county’s business requirements.
After thorough analysis, the municipality took a ‘best of breed’ approach and awarded contracts to multiple solution-providers on December 22, 2020.
With procurement complete, Strathcona County embarked on this transformational project – the outcome of which would implement leading emergency services solutions, integrating with the new provincial emergency service network operated by TELUS, and creating a ‘backup’ site should an emergency event adversely affect the municipality’s primary site.
Check next week's issue for Part 3 of this NextGen911 series, which will describe how Strathcona County implemented its technology solutions. [To part 3]
For more information, please contact danb [at] abmunis.ca (Dan Blackburn), Senior Director of Growth & Innovation.
