P25  |  2018-01-08

Gainesville Regional Utilities Extends Federal Engineering Contract To Support Radio System Implementation

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

GRUCom, the telecoms division of Gainesville Regional Utilities in Gainesville, Florida has extended the Federal Engineering, Inc. contract to provide tech support during the upgrade of its current radio comms system to an interoperable P25 system.

GRUCom Wireless Services provides portable and mobile radio coverage to public safety agencies and Governmental entities throughout Alachua County. The GRUCom public safety radio system began operation in 2000.

Lewis Walton Chief Business Services Officer for GRU

“Federal Engineering personnel have been providing radio technical consulting to GRUCom for over 10 years. They have done an outstanding job helping us to develop a plan to upgrade our existing legacy system and assisting with contract negotiations with the radio equipment vendor. We consider them a valued partner and look forward to working with FE during the implementation phase of this important project.”

Brad Barber, Director at FE provided a brief overview of the project and said that the company will provide a wide range of services to GRUCom to deliver a successful radio system upgrade including:

  • Overall project management
  • Detailed review of the radio system vendor’s design
  • Assessment of the delivered equipment for contract compliance  Staging inspections and testing
  • Subscriber radio template guidance
  • Coverage testing review
  • System optimization assessment
  • Delivered documentation review
  • Cutover support guidance
  • Final system acceptance testing

"Because of our many years of experience with GRUCom, and our multiple projects in Florida, we understand the unique needs of GRUCom and what it will take to implement a successful radio system upgrade.” he said.