Drone as First Responder Program

The City of Palm Desert (“City”), in coordination with the Cities of Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells through the Cove Communities Services Commission (“Commission”), is requesting proposals from qualified firms (“Proposers”) to provide Drone as First Responder Program services (“Services”). The City intends to establish a Professional Services Agreement (“Agreement”) for a term of three (3) years, with the City’s unilateral option, at its sole discretion, to renew for two (2) additional one-year terms, for a maximum potential of five (5) years. Renewal shall be subject to satisfactory Consultant performance, continued operational need, available funding and appropriations, required approvals, and compliance with all Agreement requirements. To serve and promote the welfare of its residents, the 'Select the appropriate Agency abbreviation/acronym. intends to procure the Services, as described below: The City of Palm Desert is evaluating the implementation of a Drone as First Responder program to enhance public safety response, real-time situational awareness, and emergency incident coordination. The program is intended to support authorized public safety operations by allowing drones to respond rapidly to calls for service and other approved public safety incidents, providing aerial information to first responders, supervisors, and command staff before and during arrival on scene. The City currently contracts with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services and works closely with regional public safety partners on emergency response, fire/rescue coordination, traffic safety, special events, disaster preparedness, and real-time public safety operations. As public safety technology continues to evolve, the City seeks to evaluate available Drone as First Responder solutions that can integrate with existing public safety systems, support Real-Time Intelligence Center operations, improve field decision-making, and enhance first responder and community safety. The City is seeking a comprehensive solution that includes the aircraft, docking infrastructure, software, secure video streaming, data storage, evidence management, cybersecurity protections, training, maintenance, regulatory compliance support, and public transparency tools necessary to support a reliable and sustainable program. The selected solution must comply with all applicable Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission, cybersecurity, privacy, data retention, public records, and California public safety requirements. The City desires a program that is operationally effective, fiscally responsible, transparent to the public, and capable of long-term use in a municipal public safety environment. Vendors should demonstrate the ability to provide a complete and compliant system, support integration with existing public safety technology, provide clear total cost of ownership, and assist the City and operating public safety partners with program implementation, training, reporting, and ongoing support.