The Dallas City Council approved on May 13 a two-year cooperative purchasing agreement with Federal Engineering, Inc. to provide independent project management and implementation oversight services for the city’s replacement of its Computer-Aided Dispatch, mobile, and Records Management systems.
The initiative is important because it aims to modernize mission-critical public safety technology that supports 911 call taking, dispatch, police, fire, emergency medical services (EMS), records management, field operations, and court-related enforcement functions. The new systems will impact several city departments including the Dallas Police Department, Dallas Fire-Rescue Department, Dallas Marshals, and the Department of Municipal Court and Detention Services. The project will be completed in collaboration with Information and Technology Services.
Federal Engineering will be responsible for tracking milestones; monitoring vendor compliance; overseeing system configuration; reviewing data migration activities; coordinating testing and user acceptance; supervising training activities; managing cutover coordination; and monitoring post go-live issue resolution and stabilization.
Federal Engineering has more than four decades of experience as an independent consulting firm with over 3,500 consulting projects nationwide. After interviewing three firms for the role, city officials determined that Federal Engineering offered the best combination of experience, staffing resources, and cost effectiveness. “This agreement provides the City with independent project oversight for two of our most important public safety technology transitions,” said Chief Comeaux, Chief of the Dallas Police Department. “Modernizing these core systems will strengthen the technology that supports our dispatchers, officers, firefighters, marshals, and public safety personnel every day while helping ensure the project is implemented in a coordinated and accountable way.”
City officials say this agreement is expected to reduce implementation risk by strengthening vendor accountability while supporting operational continuity throughout the transition process.
