CenturyLink protests communications contract

Community members and CenturyLink employees recently gathered at a Flathead Emergency Communications Center Board meeting to protest the contract awarded to an out-of-state vendor of communications equipment necessary for processing 911 calls.

However, the Flathead Emergency Communications Center Board moved not to reopen the bidding and will honor its current contract with Positron Public Safety, based in Colorado.

“It’s a done deal,” said Office of Emergency Services director Mark Peck in a later interview. 

Lisa Kelly, CenturyLink account manager and emergency-number professional, along with about 10 other local CenturyLink employees and community members, spoke to a packed conference room Feb. 10, accusing the Flathead Emergency Communications Center Board of being inconsistent in the evaluation process and of failing to choose the lowest-cost service provider.

Kelly called the evaluation process “subjective rather than based on quantifiable criteria.”

In a later interview, Debbie Dillon, business sales manager for CenturyLink, said that although the company is “disappointed that the board could have saved taxpayers $92,000” by choosing CenturyLink instead of Positron, CenturyLink is not planning to pursue any legal action.

She said she wished the board had acknowledged it made a mistake.

However, Peck said that was not the case and called a majority of the comments made during the meeting “grossly misinformed.”

He called the board’s selection process, “the most exhaustive process on a purchase of a high-dollar item that I’ve gone through in my professional career.”

The Flathead Emergency Communications Center Board drafted a rebuttal to a protest letter received from CenturyLink on Jan. 18.

In the rebuttal, the board wrote its reasons for choosing Positron, which included:

• Expertise from Ryan Olson, the former technical coordinator for the state of Montana’s public safety services bureau, who was hired to help evaluate offered services from CenturyLink, Positron and a third vendor;

• That CenturyLink was unprepared to provide a service demonstration on the appointed day and had to make it up about two weeks later;

• Concerns with the speed at which CenturyLink could respond to technical difficulties;

• That CenturyLink’s bid was not the least expensive option;

• That Positron “remains the most logical from a technology perspective, considering the information and factors.”

The letter also states that CenturyLink will continue to provide connectivity and services amounting to over $10,000 per month under an existing contract, regardless of the chosen vendor.

In response to public concerns regarding the bid going out of state, Peck said that CenturyLink’s headquarters are out of state as well.