Of the seven vendors who had submitted proposals for the Fullerton Downtown Wireless Network six-month pilot project, two had been selected to return to respond to additional questions by the TWG: CDCE/Tropos and Wireless Hotspot/Firetide. CDCE/Tropos were scheduled for August 12 and Wireless Hotspot/Firetide were scheduled for August 19.
Attachment 1 to these minutes is a copy of the 17 follow-up questions the TWG provided to CDCE/Tropos and Wireless Hotspot.
Paul Stover pointed out that maintenance of the project needed to be confirmed. Helen Hall noted that the CDCE/Tropos proposal stated ongoing maintenance and support - $3,450, but there was no indication whether the $3,450 was monthly, annually, or for the six-month duration of the pilot project only. Ms. Hall stated that needed to be clarified.
Paul Stover informed the TWG that Hermosa had launched their wireless on August 11 and encouraged the committee members to take a look at what Hermosa was doing because it was the exact model that the committee was considering. He also mentioned that Hermosas initial phase was downtown only, with the plan to eventually cover the entire city, and to always have free access for the public.
The Q&A discussion began with Mike Contois, Account Executive with CDCE, introducing the members of the CDCE/Tropos group in attendance. They included: Brian Solomon, Co-founder, CDCE; Amir Sheikhan, Pre-sales Engineer, CDCE; Jim DeFreeuw, Senior Account Executive, Tropos; Jim Wang, Technician, Tropos; and Anthony Mack, Western Region Sales Engineer, Blue Socket.
Attachment 2 to these minutes is a recap of the Q&A discussion with Tropos/CDCE.
After CDCE/Tropos/Blue Sockets presentation, the committee members discussed their opinions of the vendors capabilities.
Scott Price pointed out that the important factor was to make the system the easiest and most user-friendly in order to get people to use it, removing as many barriers as possible.
Dick Bednar stated he thought the critical step in the process was to be very pedantic about who does what, because it did not appear to him that the CDCE/Tropos team was entirely clear as to what their scope is, and suggested that each function of the project and who is responsible for each function of the project be clearly defined in the contract process.
Helen Hall pointed out that CDCE/Tropos fully understands that they have to create a turnkey solution by working with her, other city staff, and/or other vendors, and without that cooperation, contract negotiations would cease.
Dave Bailey questioned whether the 100 concurrent users would be adequate. Helen Hall pointed out that Long Beach has had their system in for more than a year, and they get five or six users a day, noting that if Fullerton got 100, the system would be booming. Norm Thorn stated that it was important to plan for peak periods not 100 users per day, but 100 concurrent users. Dave Bailey suggested initially opening the system up during the pilot period, monitoring the peak periods, and determine later whether it needed to be upgraded to accommodate more users.
Paul Stover stated that the committees focus needed to be on the vendor. He informed the committee that it was his opinion that CDCE/Tropos proposal and their follow-up Q&A did not meet his expectations. He further stated that it was his opinion that CDCE/Tropos interests were not the same as the Citys, and they needed to refocus their efforts on the Citys needs.
