Title
An Ordinance approving a cooperative agreement between the City of Lee's Summit, Missouri and ICOR Technology Inc. for the purchase of the ICOR Technology’s Caliber Flex Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Robot and accessories, and authorizing the City Manager to execute the same of on behalf the City. (F&BC 6/5/23)
Body
Issue/Request:
An Ordinance approving an agreement between the City of Lee's Summit, Missouri and ICOR Technology for the purchase of the ICOR Technology’s Caliber Flex Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Robot and accessories, and authorizing the City Manager to execute the same of on behalf the City.
Key Issues:
1. The Lee’s Summit Police Department Bomb Squad part of a Kansas City Urban Area regionally enhanced explosive ordnance disposal team and they must maintain advanced training and specialized equipment to conduct render safe techniques and post blast investigations. One gap in our current capability is the ability to respond to an incident that requires a larger platform robot equipped with robotic arms.
2. The existing large platform EOD Robot utilized by the Lee’s Summit Police Department has reached its end of life and the technology is antiquated. It will no longer be supported by the manufacturer, REMOTEC. The parts that frequently break cannot be replaced, are difficult to find, and can be expensive to purchase due to the lack of availability.
3. The EOD Robot is one of the main tools deployed by Bomb Technicians during calls for service. Most responses to a bomb or bombing call requires the deployment of a remotely operated robot unit. These tools greatly enhance the bomb technician’s safety by minimizing the time a bomb technician is required to be exposed to a suspect device.
4. Replacing the large platform robot will continue to provide the bomb technician with multiple capabilities, improve a bomb squad’s efficiency and decreases the time bomb squads are on calls.
5. Replacing the large platform robot will ensure The Lee’s Summit Police Department remains an FBI accredited bomb squad that can respond to bomb incidents in our city, state and region.
To acquire a solution to replace our current large platform EOD Robot, research was conducted and a review of best practices among the regional teams was conducted. It was concluded that the ICOR Technology’s Caliber Flex Robot would provide the best solution. The ICOR robots have been tried and tested and have met the expectations of bomb technicians in the region. The have also been deployed with several other EOD teams nationally and internationally. Utilizing this particular solution will also ensure the large and small robots are compatible and can deploy wirelessly on an incident without any interference.
Our current Bomb Technicians have had significant training and are familiar with the ICOR Technology EOD Robot platform due to the fact that we also currently utilize the small platform robot.
The ICOR Bundle will include the robot, accessories, support, warranties (3yr), and additional training at a cost of $261103.05.
A Co-op agreement was reviewed and approved by the law department.
Impact/Analysis:
If the City does not upgrade the Bomb Squad Robot platform:
1. The department's current robot will continue to age. Support and parts will no longer be available for purchase and those that are broken cannot be repaired.
2. The department risks having officers respond to dynamic situations without the proper tool to handle the situation or a tool that may or may not function when needed.
3. Public trust could diminish if officers do not have the proper tools to handle a critical incident.
4. The department’s Bomb Squad may not be able to meet the basic requirements to be an accredited Bomb Squad.
A line item was added to the FY24 budget to utilize the Public Safety Sales Tax Fund to account for payment of a replacement robot. The police department will plan to replace antiquated equipment such as the bomb squad robots in the future through use of the PSERP account.
Proposed City Council Motion:
FIRST MOTION:
SECOND MOTION:
Presenter
Nicole Walters, Police Department Major
Recommendation
Committee Recommendation