Pillsbury Advises City of Orlando in Launch of Cutting-Edge 911 Dispatch Technology

The new platform, developed by Texas-based Tyler Technologies, will help the city significantly increase efficiencies and first responder safety by reducing communication redundancies, improving response times and offering adaptive features for emerging methods of reporting information, such as text messaging, photos and videos.

This complex, $1.5 million project spanned approximately three years and involved replacing two different legacy dispatching systems and integrating the new technology with Orlando first responder agencies’ existing infrastructure, all within a deal structure that prioritized avoiding any failures in essential 911 services.

The matter also is notable because it is the city of Orlando’s first solicitation leveraging Florida's "Invitation to Negotiate" (or "ITN") statute, which is intended for complex transactions and allows for competitive negotiations with a short list of suppliers, enabling the city to select a solution that provides the best value.

This transaction demonstrates Pillsbury’s market leadership in advising state and local government entities on technology transactions of high importance. Pillsbury advised Orlando officials on a comprehensive basis, from assisting the city in amending their procurement code, to developing the city's solicitation (including scope of services, performance terms, pricing terms and legal/commercial terms and conditions that govern the transaction), leading competitive negotiations on the city's behalf, developing all contract documents and assisting the city with various amendments to accommodate changes in the deployment strategy.