Committee advances Motorola maintenance contract and Central Square extension for city computer-aided dispatch system

The Budget and Finance Committee on March 13 voted to forward two items that move the city toward replacing and maintaining its computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system.

Michelle Geddes, chief information officer at the Department of Emergency Management, said Item 4 would approve the first amendment to a new Motorola Solutions contract to extend into a long-term maintenance agreement and increase the not-to-exceed authority from $9.6 million to $44.8 million to cover annual maintenance and optional system components. Item 5 would extend the current maintenance contract with Central Square (formerly Tiburon Inc.) for three years to keep the existing system online through the target implementation of the new CAD.

The Budget and Legislative Analyst said the annual maintenance cost for the new system is estimated at $1,800,000 — about $1.4M more than the current annual maintenance — and that this additional ongoing cost would need to be funded starting in fiscal year 2026–27 through savings or new general fund money. BLA recommended approval of both items.

Supervisors asked about transition planning. Geddes said staff expect about a year of overlap between systems, will keep Central Square online to preserve data access, and have built substantial staff training and an organizational-change-management program with major stakeholders, including police, fire, the sheriff and SFMTA.

There were no public speakers on these items. The committee voted to forward both resolutions to the full Board with a positive recommendation.