For City Council Meeting September 22, 2026
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Tanya Williams, City Manager
AUTHOR: Mark P. Kling, Chief of Police
Title
Request City Council to: (1) Approve Amendment No. 1 to Consulting Agreement #2024-2000 with National Public Safety Group, LLC, a North Carolina Limited Liability Company, for Continued Project Management Services Related to the Police Department’s Public Safety Software Implementation for a 12-month Term in the Amount of $120,000; (2) Authorize the City Manager or Designee to Execute Future Annual Purchase Order Increases Not to Exceed $100,000; and (3) Authorize the City Manager or Their Designee to Execute All Documents Including Any Changes or Increases in Service.
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1) Approve Amendment No. 1 to Consulting Agreement #2024-2000 with National Public Safety Group, LLC, a North Carolina Limited Liability Company, for continued project management services related to the Police Department’s public safety software implementation for a 12-month term in the amount of $120,000;
2) Authorize the City Manager or their designee to execute future annual purchase order increases not to exceed $100,000; and
3) Authorize the City Manager or their designee to execute all documents including any changes or increases in service.
BACKGROUND
The Police Department has been working to modernize its public safety software systems, including Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), Records Management System (RMS), mobile data, and related integrations. These enterprise-level systems are complex, affect the Department’s day-to-day operations, and require coordination with sensitive law enforcement systems and state and federal reporting requirements.
On September 28, 2021, the City Council approved a service agreement with National Public Safety Group (NPSG) to provide specialized public safety software consulting and project management services. National Public Safety Group (NPSG) has assisted the Department throughout the CAD/RMS modernization effort, including vendor evaluation, procurement, implementation planning, system integrations, and project oversight.
Following difficulties with the Department’s prior CAD/RMS vendor, the City discontinued that relationship in December 2023 and moved forward with an alternative solution, CentralSquare Enterprise. NPSG continued to provide consulting services through the vendor selection and implementation process. On August 13, 2024, the City Council approved a service agreement with NPSG in the amount of $240,000 to continue project management services through September of 2026.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
The CAD/RMS implementation remains an active and highly technical project requiring continued coordination, project management, system configuration, testing, training, implementation support, and go-live assistance. The Department is now in the final phase of implementing the CentralSquare Enterprise CAD/RMS platform, with the current project schedule anticipating “go-live” in August 2027. As the project moves toward completion, maintaining continuity and experienced project oversight is increasingly important to ensure outstanding milestones are completed and implementation remains on schedule.
NPSG has been instrumental throughout the CAD/RMS project, providing the Department with specialized public safety software expertise and project management support during vendor selection, contract development, system design, implementation, and coordination with CentralSquare. NPSG's familiarity with the Department's operational requirements, project history, system configuration, integrations, and implementation objectives provides an important level of continuity as the project enters its final stages. This institutional knowledge would be difficult to replace without requiring a new consultant or internal staff to become familiar with several years of project decisions, technical requirements, and outstanding implementation items.
Transitioning to a new CAD/RMS platform is an extremely complex and detailed undertaking that requires significant technical and operational knowledge to implement successfully. These systems serve as the foundation for many of the Police Department's daily operations, including emergency dispatching, records management, field reporting, mobile operations, and the exchange of critical public safety information. Because CAD/RMS systems typically remain in service for many years, even experienced law enforcement professionals may participate in a full system replacement only once during their careers. As a result, agencies can become heavily dependent upon the software vendor to guide the implementation process.
NPSG provides the City with an independent public safety technology consultant whose responsibility is to represent the Department's operational interests throughout the implementation, rather than relying exclusively on the software provider to manage the process. This additional oversight is particularly important given the history of complex and, in some cases, unsuccessful CAD/RMS implementations within the public safety industry, where agencies have invested significant resources into systems that ultimately failed to achieve their intended operational objectives.
At this stage of the project, transitioning away from NPSG's project management services would create a significant loss of project knowledge and continuity. Bringing another consultant or project manager into the process would require substantial time to become familiar with the project's history, contractual requirements, system configuration, integrations, outstanding issues, and implementation schedule. Such a transition would likely slow the project and could jeopardize the Department's anticipated August 2027 go-live date. Maintaining NPSG through the remaining implementation period provides the most effective means of preserving continuity and keeping the project moving toward completion.
Amendment No. 1 to Consulting Agreement #2024-2000 provides for continued project management services at a total cost of $120,000 for an additional 12-month term, with fixed monthly payments of $10,000. NPSG will also provide onsite project management support of up to one day per month until training and go-live, along with up to six onsite days for training and three onsite days to support go-live activities.
The amendment further provides flexibility should additional services be required beyond the amendment term. In that event, the City may continue NPSG's services on a month-to-month basis at the same payment rate for up to 12 months following expiration of the amendment, with the ability to cancel extended services upon 60 days' notice.
Approval of Amendment No. 1 will allow the Department to retain the project management team that has guided the CAD/RMS project through its critical development and implementation stages and maintain that continuity through the final phase of the CentralSquare Enterprise implementation. Continuing NPSG's services will help protect the City's investment, minimize the risk of unnecessary delays, and position the Department to achieve its anticipated August 2027 go-live date.
Staff worked closely with the City’s Procurement Division throughout the amendment process to review the proposed extension of services with National Public Safety Group (NPSG). Procurement reviewed the amendment and determined that the continued services are acceptable as an extension of the existing services previously procured through a cooperative purchasing agreement (piggyback). The procurement remains consistent with Rialto Municipal Code Section 2.48.210, Cooperative Purchasing Agreements (Piggybacking), and Procurement has approved proceeding with the amendment for the extended services.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The proposal is not a “Project” as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Pursuant to Section 15378(a), a “Project” means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. According to Section 15378(b), a Project does not include: (5) Organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY
The City of Rialto’s General Plan has outlined guiding principles and goals relating to public safety. This action is consistent with the City of Rialto’s General Plan Guiding Principle 1, “Rialto is a Family First Community.”
Our neighborhoods will be a safe place to call home.
Approval of this action is also consistent with the City of Rialto General Plan Goal and Policies:
Goal 5-8: Provide effective and comprehensive policing services that meet the safety needs of Rialto.
Policy 5-8.4: Initiate proactive crime suppression and prevention strategies throughout the community.
LEGAL REVIEW
The City Attorney's Office has reviewed the staff report.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS
Operating Budget Impact
Funding in the amount of $120,000, is available in the FY2026-2027 Information Technology Account No. 10106151 52021, for the contract agreement for project management services with National Public Safety Group, LLC, a North Carolina Limited Liability Company.
Capital Improvement Budget Impact
There is no impact on the Capital Improvement Budget.
Licensing
National Public Safety Group, LLC, a North Carolina Limited Liability Company has a current City of Rialto Business License. No additional administration or state fees are due at this time.
ATTACHMENTS
1. NPSG Amendment No. 1- 2024-2000
2. National Public Safety Group COI