Washington County severs contract with Next Generation Services, moves to contract with InDigital for 9-1-1 core services

The Washington County Board of County Commissioners on a motion accepted a letter from Next Generation Services (NGA) terminating its contract to deliver the county's Next Generation 9-1-1 core services and directed staff to reallocate grant funds and pursue a replacement vendor.

County emergency communications director Clint Erickson told the board NGA had been the county’s contractor since Feb. 1, 2022, and the project had not been completed within the original schedule. Erickson said remote testing, delivery of required data and a canceled on-site operational readiness test prompted NGA to ask the county to “move on and find another partner.” He recommended several motions: accept NGA’s termination letter, return a remaining grant balance for grant S20211262-16 to the state, reassign a second grant’s funding to a new vendor, piggyback off Alachua County’s procurement and contract with InDigital (also styled “indigital” in the packet) to finish the implementation.

The board voted to accept NGA’s resignation, to approve a change request returning $28,431.14 from the first grant to the state, and to approve a second change request that reduced the amount reserved under the county’s second NG9-1-1 grant to $74,439.95 so it could be used with a replacement vendor. Erickson presented two replacement quotes: InDigital (first-year cost $74,439.94; years 2–5 at $35,397.24 per year) and Motorola (first-year cost $91,840.40; years 2–5 at $35,593.92 per year). Erickson said both vendors are known to the county; InDigital’s proposal fit the available grant funds.

On subsequent motions the board authorized staff to piggyback on Alachua County’s procurement for NG9-1-1 services and approved contracting with InDigital, contingent on required state approvals for the grant change requests and DMS requirements noted by staff. Commissioner Corbin and other commissioners asked that the InDigital contract remain contingent on the state approving the transfer of grant funds so the county is not left with an unfunded contract. Erickson said the county will need to request additional maintenance funding for years beyond the initial grant period through routine grant or maintenance requests because ongoing system maintenance is expected to be roughly $50,000 per year.

Erickson and staff emphasized urgency: the county remains on legacy copper infrastructure that is being retired industry-wide and the text-to-9-1-1 routing problems and misrouted messages previously observed under NGA’s service created operational risk. Erickson said moving promptly would preserve the county’s ability to receive text-to-911 and other next-generation call features.

The board’s motions were procedural and limited to accepting NGA’s termination, moving the specified grant amounts, authorizing piggyback procurement and approving the proposed InDigital contract under the contingency described. No other programmatic changes or new expenditures beyond the grant amounts were approved at the meeting.

Erickson said the county uses both vendors in other parts of its public safety stack, and commissioners indicated they expect staff to coordinate with legal and state grant managers as the procurement and implementation proceed.

Erickson’s presentation, the quotes from InDigital and Motorola, and the letters from NGA are in the meeting packet.

The board took the following formal actions related to the NG9-1-1 project: acceptance of NGA’s termination letter; approval of a grant change request to return $28,431.14 to the state for grant S20211262-16; approval of a second grant change request reducing the second grant allocation to $74,439.95; authorization to piggyback on Alachua County’s procurement; and conditional authorization to contract with InDigital for the county’s NG9-1-1 core services.