Washington Co. releases heavily redacted copy of Motorola radio contract

Washington County has released a heavily redacted copy of its public safety radio contract with Motorola Solutions Inc. that offers few details about the scope of the multimillion-dollar project.

Assistant county solicitor Sarah Scott released the redacted version of the 516-page contract Wednesday afternoon in response to the Observer-Reporter’s request seeking information on the $24.445 million agreement between the county and Motorola.

The Observer-Reporter filed an open records request with the county immediately following the Sept. 23 vote by the commissioners approving the public safety radio contract. County officials denied the request on Oct. 18, prompting the newspaper to file an appeal with the state Office of Open Records asking for the contract to be made public.

“Washington County now argues that the contract can be divulged to the public, conditioned upon certain redactions,” Scott wrote in her submission to the open records office.

Of the 516 pages in Motorola’s contract and proposal, the county released a version in which 405 pages are totally redacted and other 23 pages are partially redacted. Only 88 pages are fully readable, most of which offer only general contract terms, legal definitions, software licensing agreements or information about various radio systems and hand-held devices. Pages describing the pricing summary and preliminary work scheduled are totally redacted from view.

The contract confirms the $24.455 million cost for the ASTRO 25 radio system, which does not include an additional $6.57 million “Maintenance and Lifecycle Management Services” agreement over 10 years. A section near the end of the contract under the title of “Payment” is redacted, and few other financial details are available within the documents since the county contends Motorola’s “detailed pricing information” is not readily available to the general public and is considered a “trade secret.”

Scott filed a cover letter and the redacted contract in her submission Wednesday through an online portal available to all parties involved in an open records appeal.

In her submission, Scott claimed that “trade secrets” and sensitive public safety information is scattered throughout the contract, meaning most of it should remain confidential and away from public view. She argued the redactions are needed to “protect the interest of Motorola” since releasing information about equipment, designs and costs would “subject Motorola with an undue burden” by possibly releasing proprietary information to competitors.

“In the Exhibits produced by Motorola and County, there are specific items that are deemed trade secrets because they are not readily available to the general public and should not be directly revealed to competitors. … In addition, there are certain portions that have been redacted based upon Public Safety Information for the County. This is in protection of the General Welfare of the residents of Washington County, as the general public should not be aware of Washington County’s public safety information and/or infrastructure,” Scott wrote in her submission.

Scott wrote that the county is asking the open records office’s appeals officer to consider the redacted contract to be sufficient in complying with the state’s Right To Know Law that requires government agencies to demonstrate whether documents are public or not. There are provisions in the law that allow redactions or outright denials due to trade secrets or public safety information being included in documents, although it’s not known how the open records office will react to such expansive redactions – most pages are totally black – or if it will require the county to prove that the information falls under the exemptions.

The Office of Open Records is expected to make a decision on the newspaper’s appeal no later than Dec. 23. The newspaper is also seeking the release of the two competing proposals from North Strabane-based MRA Inc. and BK Technologies of Melbourne, Fla.