Regional dispatch centers rush to file Feb. 28 grant for Central Square ProSuite CAD upgrade

Milford-area public-safety leaders said Feb. 12 they will pursue a federal congressional spending grant due Feb. 28, 2025, to fund a cloud-hosted Central Square ProSuite computer-aided-dispatch (CAD) conversion for multiple regional dispatch centers.

The upgrade would pay for buildout, data conversion and five years of maintenance, proponents said, but towns must provide ballpark costs in the application even though final pricing is not yet available. "The grant for the congressional spending grant is due on the 28th of this month," Captain Craig Fry said during the meeting, noting a high-paced effort to assemble paperwork and rough cost estimates.

The request matters because a cloud-based CAD would let neighboring dispatch centers share databases and provide faster redundancy during local outages: if Milford dispatchers evacuated, they could log into another center’s Windows profile and keep using the same CAD database, participants said. The ProSuite demonstration shown to area chiefs also included GIS mapping, unit tracking and reverse 9-1-1 calling, features officials said would improve incident response and situational awareness.

Officials said the grant could fund a multi-town cloud that reduces per-agency annual costs as more agencies join. Participants discussed a model in which Hillsborough County or another lead agency would run the grant and build a shared cloud, like an approach used in Rockingham County. "They're kicking around the can of having Hillsborough County Sheriff's run the grant and build the cloud for all of us," Fry said.

Speakers gave rough price ranges during the discussion. One estimate described the upfront package, including data conversion and first-year costs, as between $500,000 and $750,000; speakers said figures could approach or exceed that range depending on scope. The grant proponents emphasized that while the subsidy would fund early years, towns will need to plan for maintenance charges after the five-year period. "The aim of the grant is to fund the upfront cost and also five years worth of maintenance," Fry said.

Participants also weighed technical trade-offs. ProSuite’s cloud architecture reduces the number of local VPN and static-IP connections agencies must maintain and can simplify redundant Internet arrangements. Officials discussed using a satellite link such as Starlink as a secondary Internet source for dispatch workstations during outages. At the same time, one chief warned that not all CAD demonstrations met every operational need: a preview of another system showed dispatch logs could not be edited on the dispatch side, creating problems for fire and EMS reporting that depend on accurate, editable timestamps exchanged through the CAD-to-EMS interface. "If it's not 100% perfect and accurate the minute and second that it happens, we can't go back and edit it. And that's detrimental to our fire and EMS agencies," a meeting participant said.

Central Square representatives were expected to provide cost estimates to the group; officials said a quote was due to be delivered to them before the end of the week following the Feb. 12 meeting. The committee planned to submit an application representing three neighboring towns so the proposal would be competitive and on time for the Feb. 28 deadline. Officials said actual implementation and funding awards would likely extend into 2026, with many projects not active until 2027 or later even if the grant is awarded.

The meeting underscored trade-offs for towns: a cloud CAD can improve redundancy and reduce some local hardware costs but also shifts ongoing maintenance obligations to participating agencies after the grant period. Several chiefs and administrators expressed support for pursuing the grant while acknowledging uncertainties about long-term maintenance charges and exact final costs.