State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

A New Way of Procuring Radios? Roger That.

Route Fifty: LEXINGTON, Ky. — It may sound quaint and old fashioned to some, but for state procurement officials, purchasing radios is a current and vexing problem. State entities use radios and radio networks today for many reasons, including critical emergency services, expending millions of taxpayer dollars annually to procure radio technologies.

Even in the modern age of cell phones and social networks, you wouldn’t want a firefighter texting the stationhouse if you were involved in some type of emergency.

However, buying radios and the associated equipment is a challenge for procurement departments, who must balance the needs and wants of the users—police, fire and transportation, to name a few—and the complexity of the products against the ever-present need to keep costs as low as possible.

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