Waukesha City IT board approves Central Square CAD contract, forwards to City Council

The Waukesha City Information Technology Board unanimously approved a contract with Central Square on June 4 to purchase an enterprise computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system and forwarded the contract to the City Council for final approval at its June 17 meeting.

The board approved the contract after more than a year and a half of procurement work that included a coordinated request for proposals, scripted vendor demonstrations and evaluation by police, fire, dispatch and IT staff. Chris (IT staff) said the procurement process and contract negotiations were lengthy: “this is a year and a half in the making to get to this point.” Tom Murrell, vice president of Windborne Consulting, said the project attracted multiple bidders: “we had 6 vendors respond.”

Why it matters: The purchase is part of a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) project approved in 2022 and budgeted at roughly $3,000,000. City staff said the upgrade is intended to replace the city’s existing Phoenix CAD—installed about 2008—which staff described as outmoded and a contributing factor in documented operational failures during a prior major fire. The board’s vote clears the way for the contract to go to the Common Council on June 17.

Key contract and technical details - Vendor and scope: The contract covers the Central Square enterprise CAD software and related implementation services. The law-enforcement records management system (RMS) selection is Axon; staff indicated the Axon RMS will be handled separately and is…