BATON ROUGE, LA - On Thursday, August 13, Louisiana lawmakers will consider a $54 million, no-bid contract for disaster communications services, body-worn and dashboard cameras, and other technology state law enforcement agencies use on a daily basis.
In July, Governor Jeff Landry's administration recommended that the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget endorse an exclusive 10-year deal with Motorola to provide all that equipment, News From The States reported.
Evelina Broussard, Landry's chief information officer, told lawmakers that the Motorola contract would be worth about $54 million at a July 23 committee meeting. Broussard and other administration officials said the contract would save the state between as much as $70 million by locking in discounts on Motorola technology for a decade, officials said.
Under the current proposal, Motorola's integrated system would be used by the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Louisiana State Police, State Fire Marshal, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Department of Corrections, Department of Probation and Parole, and the Office of Juvenile Justice.
The contract would allow the state to negotiate discounts on Motorola equipment for local law enforcement agencies to purchase as well, Broussard said. "You’re striking while the iron’s hot,” she said.
Motorola has the state's current business for some, but not all, of its public safety equipment and services. The company helps run the Louisiana Wireless Information Network, a statewide communication system first responders use during natural disasters. Its contract for that service does not expire until 2030, according to state officials.
Axon Enterprise Inc., previously known as TASER International for its signature stun gun, has been the Louisiana State Police body camera supplier since troopers started wearing them in 2017. The company's contract ended this year, according to LSP chief administrative officer Robert Burns.
In July, legislators alluded to other vendors potentially being upset that Motorola was being given an exclusive deal. Several warned the Landry administration not to rush the contract through the process and questioned why it hadn't been competitively bid.
"There might be some other vendors who feel they can do that,” Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette, said after hearing about the advantages of an all-Motorola system. "It shines a bad light that we’re rushing through something that is so important,” he added.
Burns said a fully integrated system, such as the one Motorola can provide, should result in fewer circumstances of missing body camera footage. In some cases, the Motorola body cameras would be able to turn themselves on based on activity picked up by Motorola radios or because they can sense other officers' body cameras in the immediate area have been activated.
"It provides a very robust picture of what’s going on at that time and provides a lot of video evidence,” Burns said. While the state didn't solicit bids for the contract through a competitive process, Burns said State Police reviewed other vendors' products over a nine-month period before determining it wanted to work with Motorola.
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