(The Center Square) – Louisiana lawmakers have approved a 10-year statewide communications contract with Motorola, expanding the company’s role in the emergency radio network it already operates despite questions over outages, coverage gaps and the lack of a competitive procurement.

The Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget approved the agreement Thursday, clearing the way for Motorola to provide equipment including portable radios, body-worn cameras and in-car video while continuing maintenance of the Louisiana Wireless Information Network, or LWIN.

State officials have valued the agreement at roughly $56 million, though lawmakers stressed that the state is not necessarily committed to spending that amount — or remaining with Motorola for the entire decade.

Under the contract, agencies and local governments can purchase equipment from an established price list as funding becomes available. LWIN maintenance would be folded into the agreement and funded through annual appropriations.

If lawmakers decline to appropriate the money in a future year, the contract can be terminated.

“It’s a 10-year contract as long as we fund it for 10 years,” Senate President Cameron Henry said during Thursday’s hearing, noting lawmakers retain a “pretty big stick” if Motorola or the state fails to deliver.

The approval comes after state officials defended their decision to negotiate directly with Motorola rather than conduct a new competitive solicitation.

Office of Technology Services Chief Information Officer Evelina Broussard said the process began after Louisiana State Police determined it could no longer afford a proposed renewal with Axon for body cameras. Officials then evaluated alternatives and ultimately decided Motorola offered an opportunity to bundle cameras, radios and other communications products.

Broussard said the state used its purchasing power to negotiate broader discounts after realizing Motorola already supplied LWIN and other state services. She said purchasing through an existing cooperative procurement contract would have produced a smaller discount and required the state to pay a reseller.

“So we asked Motorola to come back and give us a discount on everything while we had the leverage,” Broussard told lawmakers.

Louisiana State Police Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Robert Burns said State Police separately contacted law-enforcement agencies around the country while searching for an alternative to Axon.

Burns said that review narrowed the realistic choices to Axon and Motorola. Both could meet State Police’s technical requirements, he said, but Motorola won on price.

“The tiebreaker for me when I put these two companies side by side … was the dollars,” Burns said. “Motorola wins on the price.”

That evaluation, however, was not an open competition for the statewide contract. Longtime radio engineer and contractor Dominic Tusa has argued that other communications companies could provide interoperable equipment and should have been given an opportunity to compete.

Tusa submitted rebuttal testimony opposing the Motorola agreement, but it was not presented to or addressed by either the Committee on Technology and Cybersecurity or the budget committee.

“LWIN’s consistently abysmal downtime performance statistics amplify the need for a fresh design, an open approach, and spirited competition for earning the State’s business,” Tusa wrote.

Motorola secured its original role in LWIN after Hurricane Katrina through another no-bid contract and now supplies and maintains technology at the heart of the statewide network.