Carroll County waives bid to replace Hikvision cameras, authorizes up to $45,000 for cybersecurity upgrades

The Carroll County Commission authorized a limited procurement to replace campus security cameras after county IT staff warned existing cameras are a cybersecurity risk.

The IT Director told commissioners that the county’s cameras are “all Hikvision, which was part of the federal executive order stating about dangers of Hikvision being a Chinese company,” and said those devices are considered an attack vector on the county network. He said the county needs to replace roughly 135 cameras and that some vendors require third-party codecs that complicate integration; the proposed replacement devices are compatible with the county’s video-management system.

Because of the security concern and timing to encumber supplemental budget funds before year-end, the IT Director asked the commission to waive formal competitive bidding and authorized direct purchase. The motion, which commissioners approved, authorized the IT Director to spend up to $45,000; the motion explicitly cited “security reasons” as the rationale for waiving the bid process.

Commissioners discussed an alternative two-week direct-solicit process to obtain quotes and asked staff to confirm federal-grant compliance; the IT Director said initial pricing checks placed likely total cost in the low-to-mid thirties of thousands of dollars. The board approved the waiver and authorized staff to proceed with an award sufficient to encumber funds by the next meeting.

The county said staff will attempt to standardize purchases and complete installations with internal resources where possible to save on contractor costs.