The regional district board awarded a $48,919 contract to PlanetWorks Consulting for an emergency radio telecommunications study at the August 2 board meeting.
Five submissions were received in answer to a Request For Proposal, which was released on June 21. The submissions ranged in price from $29,884 to $75,500.
The regional district used an evaluation team made up of two regional district fire chiefs ( Jody Woodford of Tulameen and Oliver Deputy Fire Chief Bob Graham, as well as Penticton Firefighter Rod Kenney, RDOS Staff Engineer Lisa Bloomfield and RDOS Emergency Services Supervisor Dale Kronebusch.
PlanetWorks bid was selected because the evaluation team felt they had the best value. PlanetWorks bid was second lowest, but it was felt that the lowest bid (ICT) did not offer as comphrehensive a study as the other bids.
The study would have been required even if dispatch services had remained in Penticton. The regional district moved 911 dispatch service to Kelowna in November of 2011.