Los Angeles County starting over on emergency communications system

Los Angeles County leaders put the county at risk of losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds when they voted to scrap years of planning for a vast emergency communications system and restart the search for companies to build the complex project.

The drastic decision came three years after officials from the county and the many independent cities within its borders launched the massive project, which is expected to cost about $700 million to design and build. The communication system is intended to allow the scores of police, fire and other emergency-response agencies in the sprawling county to communicate and share data during major incidents such as an earthquake or terrorist attack. In early June, however, county attorneys raised concerns that the nearly completed contract violated state rules on how contracts for publicly funded projects must be structured and awarded, said Patrick Mallon, the project's executive director.