Columbus, Georgia

Columbus Consolidated Government











DATE: February 1, 2002



TO: Hon. Bobby G. Peters, Mayor

Mr. Carmen Cavezza, City Manager

Members of Columbus City Council

Andrea McCorvey, Purchasing Division Manager



FROM: R. Riley Land, Deputy Director

Emergency Management Division, Columbus Fire and Emergency

Medical Services



SUBJECT: OUTDOOR EMERGENCY WARNING SIREN SYSTEM UPDATE



This memo is intended to inform interested parties of the status of the

current outdoor emergency warning siren system and the progress being made on

the purchase of the new system. The emergency outdoor warning siren system

that is currently in place is extremely old. This system, because of its age,

has become difficult if not impossible to purchase repair parts for. This has

left us with a couple of the sirens being out of service for extended periods

of time. The city radio shop has made every effort to acquire parts to make

these repairs but in some cases to no avail.

The best solution to this problem is to replace the current system with

a new, state of current technology system. At this moment in time an RFP to

solicit bids on a new system is in the purchasing department. The purchase

will be made with S.P.L.O.S.T. money already allocated for this purpose. I

have requested that the RFP be sent out as soon as possible and that it be

?fast tracked? requesting bids be returned within 10 days of receipt by the

identified vendors. This will not be a problem as one RFP has already been

sent out and bids were returned by two well known vendors. Unfortunately, both

bids were disqualified due to irregularities in the bids. It is my hope that

the new RFP can be sent out as soon as possible. Once this is done we could

expect to select a qualified vendor within a day or two of receiving the bids.

Once a vendor is selected we will expedite the installation of the new system.

In pre-bid conference with a vendor it was stated that the system could

be installed and up and running within approximately 20 weeks from the time of

contract and purchase.



cc: Chief Roy Waters, Columbus Fire and Emergency Medical Service