City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: April 23, 2024
Agenda Item: 5.H
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Ramon Batista, Police Chief, Police Department
Subject: Award Bid and Enter into Agreement with Flock Safety for Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras and Award Bid and Enter into Agreement with Constant Technologies for SMART Center Room Build-Out Services Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines;
2. Award RFP #394 to Flock Safety for the installation, leasing, maintenance, and support for 54 ALPR cameras for the Police Department;
3. Award RFP #393 to Constant Technologies for the design, installation, and integration of video displays and workspace consoles for the Santa Monica Analytical Real Time Center (SMART Center) for the Police Department;
4. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Flock Safety, for the leasing of 54 ALPR cameras in an amount not to exceed $494,100. This sum includes installation, maintenance, and support through December 31, 2026, with future year funding contingent on Council Budget approval; and
5. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Constant Technologies, in an amount not to exceed $649,401 (including a $59,000 contingency) for a term of three years, with future year funding contingent on Council Budget approval.
Summary
In 2023, the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) was awarded a grant of $6.125 million under the Board of State and Community Correction’s (BSCC’s) Organized Retail Theft grant. The City’s acceptance of this grant on behalf of SMPD requires that a Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) be established and is used as an 2 of 8
approach to reduce, detect, and deter Organized Retail Theft (ORT), vehicle theft, and catalytic converter theft. This RTCC will be located in the Santa Monica Public Safety Facility and will be referred to as the “SMART” Center (Santa Monica Analytical Real Time Center). The SMART Center aims to be the central hub for the various technologies relied upon by all Santa Monica City departments, including the Police Department. SMART Center personnel will utilize these technologies to support safe, efficient, and comprehensive police responses and investigations.
Council’s approval of staff’s recommendations will allow the Police Department to contract with Constant Technologies to design and build the SMART Center. This project will include multimedia components such as video displays, video distribution devices, and operator consoles, and it will be developed in coordination with the City’s selected construction and architectural contractors. Council’s approval will also allow SMPD to contract with Flock Safety to add 54 Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras to SMPD’s existing ALPR camera network.
This service will be covered for the life of the grant period until December 31st, 2026, with future year funding contingent on other funding sources and Council budget approval.
Staff recommends proceeding with awarding contracts to Flock and Constant Technologies as the next significant step towards the fruition of the SMART Center project for the Santa Monica Police Department. Finalizing this project aligns with the Department’s goal of embracing emergent technologies and being a benchmark for excellence, as well as advancing the Clean & Safe Santa Monica council priority.
Discussion
The Santa Monica Police Department began taking advantage of the numerous benefits of ALPR technology in 2018 with cameras installed on patrol vehicles. The devices aided in locating stolen vehicles, apprehending violent suspects, and proved vital to the development and successful resolution of many criminal cases.
This practical experience also allowed the Department to identify and embrace best practices, which led to Santa Monica Police Policy 429, which governs use of 3 of 8
ALPR technology. The ALPR program was expanded following successful grant awards in 2020 and 2022 through the deployment of 25 fixed ALPR cameras in the City, where emphasis was given to the Santa Monica Pier and Downtown areas.
These cameras have been instrumental in producing investigatory leads and solving numerous robbery, murder, burglary, and other property crimes cases, which otherwise would not have had successful outcomes. However, the cameras were purchased without a maintenance support program. As a result the City’s network has never been fully operational due to numerous hardware problems.
In 2017, SMPD staff began its research into the Real Time Crime Center concept and the integration of technologies such as ALPRs. SMPD staff, in partnership with Information Services Department (ISD) staff, attended technology and security trade shows and visited over 30 law enforcement and critical infrastructure security centers in order to assess various RTCC designs, missions, workflows, and technology platforms, including the ALPR cameras. Staff’s research led to the expectations and requirements written into the ALPR Request For Proposals (RFP) #394 and the SMART Center Build Request For Proposals (RFP) #393. The RFPs were publicly released on January 31, 2024, and February 2, 2024, respectively.
Eight proposals were received for the ALPR RFP and six were received for the SMART Center build RFP.
When SMPD was awarded the BSCC grant, a full-service ALPR solution with professional installers and maintenance support was the desired model to ensure a reliable ALPR network. In addition, the Department’s RFP requires the ALPR devices to function as stand-alone units that rely on solar power and without the need to tap into City power supplies. SMPD staff developed a map of 54 additional camera locations in the City where ALPR cameras will be used to provide a comprehensive network to support not only SMPD investigative efforts, but realtime applications for other City departments as well. Despite the City’s relatively small existing ALPR network, the system frequently detects stolen vehicles within Santa Monica. However, SMPD currently lacks the ability to vet and act on these detections in real-time and as a result the Department’s efforts to locate and recover these vehicles has been frustrated. The BSCC grant’s goal of impacting 4 of 8
motor vehicle theft, coupled with the safety and security benefits of quickly contacting stolen vehicles within the City, make ALPRs and the SMART Center’s real-time alert monitoring capabilities an impactful combination.
SMPD and ISD rated Flock Safety as the winning bidder due to its full-service ALPR deployments, proven reliability, integrated data sharing capabilities, and intuitive user interface and alert system. Because the 54 ALPR cameras are leased, at the conclusion of the grant period, Flock Safety will remove the cameras at no additional cost to the City. If the City decides to continue this service, the estimated annual subscription cost for 54 ALPR cameras is $189,000.
Flock ALPR Camera Photo
SMPD and ISD staff raters also independently reviewed six proposals from vendors bidding for the contract to design, furnish, and integrate audio-video capabilities into the SMART Center site. Staff raters reviewed each proposal, contacted vendor references for prior projects, and arranged live remote presentations from each vendor. The individual presentations allowed staff to get a sense of each vendor’s concept, philosophy, and technical capabilities 5 of 8
pertaining to the build out of a 24/7 command center and RTCC. This process resulted in staff’s selection of Constant Technologies as the highest rated and winning bidder. See the image below for their conceptual rendering of the SMART Center based on an SMPD’s provided layout.
SMART Center Conceptual Design (Constant Technologies)
Staff recommends awarding contracts to Flock Safety and Constant Technologies to further the development of the City’s SMART Center project and to affirm the Santa Monica Police Department’s goal of embracing emergent technologies and being a benchmark for excellence.
Bidder Recommendation
Best Qualified Person/Firm Flock Safety
Evaluation Criteria Training/credentials/experience, competence/skill, capacity/ability to perform services promptly, sufficiency of financial/other resources, character/reputation, ability to provide future services as needed and price.
Municipal Code SMMC 2.24.190
RFPs Received
Flock Safety A3 Communications
DBA Blue Violet
Network
Convergint
Technologies
EYEP Solutions
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High Tech Security Paladin Technologies SOV Security Utility Associates RFP Data
Posted On Posted On
Advertised In
(City Charter & SMMC)
Vendors
Downloaded
Date Publicly
Opened
1/11/2024 City's Online
Bidding Site Santa Monica Daily Press 44 1/31/2024
Justification to Award
Based on the evaluation criteria and criteria in SMMC 2.24.190 staff recommends Flock Safety, Inc as the best qualified firm. Flock Safety has a long history of providing ALPR technology as a service and the company’s capabilities in the Real Time Crime Center environment are expanding with the release of their integration platform FlockOS. Flock provides a unique, full-service approach to their ALPR technology including hardware manufacture, installation, configuration, active monitoring of system health, and repair or replacement of problematic or underperforming cameras. Flock also provides a user friendly, intuitive, browser-based interface compatible with all Santa Monica City hardware. Flock’s system has an excellent and fast hotlist notification interface, uniquely delivered directly through the browser interface. Flock’s proprietary network of other law enforcement agencies ALPRs including Beverly Hills PD and Culver City PD, provides access to a data-sharing network in real time, allowing rapid development of criminal investigations and leads.
Bidder Recommendation
Best Qualified Person/Firm Constant Technologies
Evaluation Criteria Training/credentials/experience, competence/skill, capacity/ability to perform services promptly, sufficiency of financial/other resources, character/reputation, ability to provide future services as needed and price.
Municipal Code SMMC 2.24.190
RFPs Received
Constant Technologies AVI-SPL EIDIM Group, Inc Vector Resources, Inc DBA Vector USA
One Diversified, LLC IREX
RFP Data
Posted On Posted On
Advertised In
(City Charter & SMMC)
Vendors
Downloaded
Date Publicly
Opened
1/11/2024 City's Online
Bidding Site Santa Monica Daily Press 53 2/7/2024
Justification to Award
Based on the evaluation criteria and criteria in SMMC 2.24.190 staff recommends Constant Technologies as the best qualified firm. Constant Technologies proposal was the most comprehensive, thoughtful, and demonstrative of their experience building and configuring Real Time Crime Centers designed to operate in a 24/7 environment. Constant’s thoroughness in their visual design, layout, and component proposal for the SMART Center demonstrated their understanding of modern law enforcement RTCC demands and applications. Constant Technologies’ customer reviews were encouraging not only regarding 7 of 8
their design and building of other RTCCs but also regarding their in-house made consoles and continuing support their customers have received.
Environmental Review
The proposed contracts are exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines. The awarded agreements are covered by the common-sense exemption which states that CEQA does not apply, “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The contracts will provide the SMPD with new technologies including cameras. Therefore, it is reasonably certain that the awarded contracts will not result in adverse physical impacts on the environment, and as such, are exempt from CEQA.
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
10/24/23 (attachment A) Authorization to Accept Grant from the BSCC for the Organized Retail Theft Prevention Grant Program
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve available funding from the Miscellaneous Grants Fund to award an agreement with Flock Safety for the installation, leasing, maintenance, and support for 54 ALPR cameras. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Contract Request- Flock Safety
FY 2023-24
Budget Request Amount Department/CIP Account #
Total Contract
Amount
$494,100 20180001.556631 $494,100
Staff also seeks authority to approve available funding from the Miscellaneous Grants Fund to award an agreement with Constant Technologies for the furnishing and installation of visual displays, video distribution, and workspace consoles for the SMART Center. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval. 8 of 8
Contract Request- Constant Technologies
FY 2023-24
Budget Request Amount Department/CIP Account #
Total Contract
Amount
$649,401 20180001.556631 $649,401
Prepared By: Jose Arroyo, Senior Administrative Analyst Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. October 24, 2023 Staff Report (Web Link)
B. SMART Center Info Item
C. Oaks Initiative - Flock Safety
D. Oaks Initiative - Constant Tech
E. Levine Act Disclosure Form_CONSTANT TECH
F. Levine Act Disclosure Form_FLOCK
G. Written Comments