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Item I2 MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: _10_/_17-'_01_ Division: Sheriff's Office Bulk Item: Yes L No Department: Training AGENDA ITEM WORDING: Approval to waive Monroe County Purchasing Policies and Procedures and issue a Purchase Order to Caswell Detroit Armor Companies, as a sole source vendor, for the purchase of a mobile firearms range for $207,520.00 ITEM BACKGROUND: The mobile firearms range is a self-contained 53' over-the-road trailer with three shooting lanes, and a controller room, This can be used for law enforcement training and qualifications with duty firearms. The MCSO Training Division has researched the request to purchase the Caswell Road Range from a single source, as they are the only maker of any type or portable range. PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION: On April 9, 2001 an Impact Fee Expenditure Request was submitted to the Board for approval. CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES: Not applicable STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Approval TOTAL COST: $ 207,520 COST TO COUNTY: $ -0- (IMPACT FEES) BUDGETED:Yes_X_ No REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes No N/A DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL: anagement N/A APPROVED BY: County Attorney YES (Sheriff Richard D. Roth) DOCUMENTATION: Included: L To Follow: DISPOSITION: Not Required: _ Agenda Item #: / -%t>L Monroe County Sheriffs Office Internal Memo To: Sheriff Richard D. Roth, via chain of command From: Lieutenant Mitch Snider, Director of Training CC: Date: 08121/01 He: Vendor Research on Mobile Range Mobile Range Feasibility OvervIew As our attempts to secure a permanent firearms pistol range to train and requalify our deputies over that last several years have not been successful, the alternative strategy of a portable range was researched. The benefits of such a system would indude the ability to train every day of the week in all types of weather that presently limit our outdoor shared range use with the US Navy. The training could be transported to the area where the deputy works instead of having them come to a permanently placed facility saving wasted travel man-hours. Training could be done at night on the actual shift a deputy works instead of being limited to operational hours of the shared range ownerS. While a portable range has limitations because of reduced qualification distances (which can be compensated to a large degree by reduced sized targets) and is limited to three shooting lanes, which would limit the practicality of using it for law enforcemenUcorrections academies, these factors lose their significance as the option of acquiring an outdoor range have been denied to us. Caswell Road Range From my personal experiences of attending numerous national training conferences throughout the county for both the American Society of Law Enforcement Instructors (ASLET) and the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (IALEFI) over the last 6 years, I have had the opportunity to tour the portable range faculties set up as a vendor display by Caswell numerous times, I have never seen a vendor with a similar product at any of these national conferences. I contacted Caswell and obtained the following specifications: Caswell Road Range http://www.caswellintI.comlproduct/rr/introduc.html Phone (612) 379-2000 The bid faxed to me for the Law Enforcement Mobile Facility (LEMF-I) is $169,925.00 and does not include taxes, bonds or trailer licenses. The basic LET -I facility has the following standard equipment: · 53' DOT over the road Trailer · Handgun ballistics on floor, ceiling and walls · Rubber Granular-bullet trap, model LE7500 · General and target lighting system . REP A filtered exhaust system · Separate Rangemaster's room with entrance door and view window · I" thennal insulation on walls and ceiling · 2" sound absorbent foam on walls and ceiling · 1. 75" bullet absorbent rubber flooring · OSHA approved stairs and storage compartment . 100 amp master power panel · 10,000 BTU heater/cooling unit in Rangemaster's room · Bi-directional monorail target systems, model BVIOB · Range communication system, model EG37/41 · Visual communications system with F/L security, model EM8/15/30 . Freight to your site · One day checkout and training at your site There are many options that may be added on to this package. The ones that I recommend are: · Storage box under trailer 36" X 30" X 100" (for targets and cardboard backers storage) $4,600 · Built in REP A range cleanup vacuum system (This must be done daily and you would have to buy a system anyway. I don't understand why this is an option.) $3,550 · Gun safe built into Rangemaster's room (to safely store weapons for Corrections Officer's use and ammunition storage) $1,750 · Split-level front jacks for range leveling (needed for a non-permanent mounting of the trailer, many users just mount them permanently on cinder blocks) $1,775 · Spare tire and rack for trailer $475 (as ours would not be permanently mounted in one location) The total price with these recommended options is $181,600 (not including taxes, bonds or trailer license). There are other options available that are not absolutely necessary, in my opinion, but are listed here for your consideration: · Rifle ballistics on walls, ceiling and floor $33,500 (The distances are too short for practical rifle work. The range is rated for ALL handgun and 12 gauge shotgun ammunition including the pistol caliber 9mm and 45 cal. rounds fired from an MP5. If the SWAT team needs to qualifY with .223 rifles, such as the MI6 or .306 sniper rifle, then this option must be purchased) · 20 KW fuel generator $25,000 (It would be much cheaper to prepare 4 'semi-permanent' sites set up with 240 volt 3 Phase plugs but would limit the use of the system to these semi-permanent sites) · Additional 50 gallon fuel tank $920(to run the above generator system) · Two infrared heaters at the firing line (The few cold days of weather each year do not warrant this expense) · Live fire video tape simulator $17,000 (If additional funding is available, this would be the one option that would be nice to add, but the current FATS system performs most of this function for us already, less the live-fire aspect) The command staff at the Sheriff's Office, after review of these recommendations, elected to retain the options I originally requested with the addition of the generator system and fuel tank. This will add a greater level of flexibility to where we can operate our system and the final cost would be - (not including taxes, bonds, or trailer license) I spoke with the vice-president of sales, Brian Danielson, for additional questions that I had. He stated that the delivery time from when the order is submitted is typically 5-6 months. Operating expenses for replacement of range backing materials should average out to $300 per year with standard maintenance. A 1 year service contract is available for $2,700. Pre-filters must be changed every 4 months and HEPA filters every 2 years. A filter package costs $500. The lead would need to be mined from the backstop every 2 years, and supposedly, most users would recoup the mining costs with the lead that is then sold. I would recommend the use of strictly non-lead ammunition and primers only for ANY indoor range operation to keep lead contaminate levels down. This system includes turning targets. I was concerned about the lack of an AC system for the shooting lanes in the South Florida heat but Danielson said that this is not an option. He stated that on hot days, it is cooler in the lanes with the filter system running than standing outside in the shade. As the entire volume of air inside the trailer is replaced every 60 seconds, the air conditioning system to cool the interior would be quite large and definitely not be a mobile system. I contacted a user of this system after an Internet search showed its use by Southborough PD in MA. He is a private commercial enterprise who rents it out to law enforcement agencies. Frederick P. Mabardy F. P. Mabardy Company P.O.Box 276 Southboro,~ 01776-1410 (508) 460-9742 They charge $100 per officer to use the system. They average 12 officers a day. each of the three lanes being used by one officer for approximately 2 hours. This nets him $1,200 per day. For comparison purposes, Miami-Dade recently sent a letter charging each agency $500 per day to use their range, not counting the overtime that would cost us for travel. He has had the system in use for 5 years without problems. Mabardy also supported the claims of temperature made by Caswell above. As it is only 10 meters (32 feet or 10 yards) from shooting position to target, he has been using reduced sized targets to simulate longer distances achieved at a full sized range facility, He was also not aware of any similar product offered by any other vendor. other Vendor's Products As previously stated, from my extensive contacts in the law enforcement training industry and attendance at national conferences, I am aware of no similar product. The closest I have found is an Italian modular unit that is put in place in many pieces with a crane and, despite this, still claims to be a portable range at a base price of $1 million dollars US. I subscribe to several law enforcement publications such as The Police Marksman, Law and Order, International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors, and other law enforcement training specific publications. I have never seen a similar unit advertised by another manufacturer. I checked the annual buyer's guide of each publication and could find no similar product. As mentioned above, the private company owned by Mabardy knew of no competitor to Caswell. I then also contacted the NRA Range Department, products. 11250 Waples Fairfax, VA 22030, to see if they were aware of any similar Mill Road USA Toll-Free: Phone: 703-267-1340 800-672-3888 Ext 1417 They_went over the list of vendors they had and could not find~nother mobile range configuration other than Caswell. They gave me the contact numbers of two range design companies, listed below, who I contacted to detennine if they were aware of other mobile range products. · Sport Shooting Consultants 912-826-0072 GA · C. Vargas and Assoc 904-296-0041 FL Mr. Vargas was only aware of the Italian designed modular container system that I mentioned earlier at $1 million for a 8 lane, 50 meter range that can be taken down and transported by crane and is considered semi-permanent. Sport Shooting knew of no other vendors. An internet search using multiple search engines could find no other mobile ranges described, Conclusion There appears to me to be no other option than to consider the Caswell Corporation as a sole source vendor for this type of product. Therefore, I will be unable to obtain competitive bids for a portable range.