HomeMy WebLinkAbout21-063 - Valley Communications Center - Service Level Agreement for Emergency Communication Services21-063
Council Approval N/A
SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT FOR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION SERVICES
This SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT FOR EMERGENCY FIRE AND MEDICAL AID
COMMUNICATION SERVICES ("Agreement") is entered into between the VALLEY
COMMUNICATIONS CENTER, a governmental administrative agency formed pursuant to RCW
39.34.030(3) ("Valley Com"), and the CITY OF TUKWILA, a Washington non -charter code city
("Member City," and together with Valley Com, the "Parties" and each a "Party").
RECITALS
A. Valley Com was formed pursuant to the Valley Communications Center Interlocal
Agreement, as amended and restated on April 17, 2000, as it may be further amended from
time to time (the "Valley Com Interlocal Agreement"), as a governmental administrative
agency pursuant to chapter 39.34 RCW for the purpose of providing police, fire and medical
aid emergency communication services in south King County and surrounding regions.
B. Under the terms of the Valley Com Interlocal Agreement, Valley Com is authorized to
provide emergency communication services to its Member Cities (as defined in the Valley
Com Interlocal Agreement) and other municipal corporations that exist within the logical,
physical service area of Valley Com and that are in need of emergency communication
services.
C. As a city that formed Valley Com and, along with other Member Cities, administers Valley
Com's ongoing operations, Member City obtains and pays for Valley Com's emergency
communication services as provided for under the Valley Com Interlocal Agreement.
D. Member City operates a fire department, and accordingly, partners with Valley Com in the
provision of emergency fire and medical aid dispatch communication services.
E. Due to its unique administrative status as a Member City, Valley Com and its Member Cities
have not previously established written level of service requirements and technical
expectations as they mutually implement emergency fire and medical aid dispatch
communication services.
F. The Parties desire to enter into this Agreement for the purpose of establishing level of
service requirements that will apply to both Parties in the provision of emergency fire and
medical aid dispatch communications services.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the foregoing, and in consideration of the terms and
conditions set forth below, the Parties agree as follows:
AGREEMENT
1. DEFINITIONS. The following new definitions apply to this Agreement:
"APCO" means the "Association of Public -Safety Communications Officers," an international
association with State Chapters.
"CAD" means the "Computer Aided Dispatch" system owned by Valley Com.
"Call" means any request for public safety assistance, regardless of the media used to make
the request, including voice, text, video, or data.
"Contract Agency" or "Contract Agencies" mean the municipal corporations, and other local
agencies, other than Member Cities, that contract with Valley Com 911 for services.
"Mission Critical Systems" means those systems which, should they fail, would significantly
delay or stop the Member City's ability to receive an incident dispatch of a call for service
from Valley Com.
"NENA" means "National Emergency Number Association."
"N FPA" means "National Fire Protection Association."
"Project Approval Process" means the process approved by the Valley Com Administration
Board by which new initiatives become projects that Valley Com will implement.
"Valley Communications Center Standard Operating Procedures" means the list of approved
and signed procedures enacted by Valley Com, as it may be amended, modified and/or
restated from time to time.
"Zone 3" means the South King County fire agencies served by Valley Com.
2. TERM: This Agreement will take effect on the last date signed below, and shall be automatically
renewed on January 1st of each year thereafter for a period of 15 years unless Member City
withdraws its participation in Valley Com or Valley Com is terminated under the terms of the
Valley Com Interlocal agreement, at which time this Agreement will also immediately terminate.
This Agreement also may be extended by mutual agreement of the Parties.
3. VALLEY COM LEVEL OF SERVICE RESPONSIBILITIES. During the term of this Agreement, Valley
Com will:
3.1 Maintain radio and support communications with the Member City from the time of the
initial dispatch until conclusion of the emergency and provide additional assistance as
needed.
3.2 Provide the Member City with a copy of the Valley Communications Center Standard
Operating Procedures, including amendments and updates.
3.3 Provide access to Valley Com's F.C.C. licensed radio system resources, subject to those
constraints and restrictions established and imposed by the Valley Com Administration
Board.
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3.4 Receive emergency & non -emergency calls for service, interview and dispatch following
Valley Com policies; 24x7x365.
3.5 Collaborate with the Valley Com Operations Board when effecting changes in Valley Com
practices and policies related to call interviewing and dispatching of units.
3.6 Follow King County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) criteria -based dispatching (CBD)
protocols.
3.7 Participate in King County EMS Dispatch Working Group to develop and adjust CBD
protocols.
3.8 Recognize the following national and/or local standards and report as performance
objectives at least annually. For each standard, management will work with the Member
City and Valley Com Operations Board to develop mutually agreeable strategic plans to
address any gaps.
3.8.1 Total call processing (answer call to dispatch of first unit) for critical calls will be
120 seconds or less 90% fractile and total call processing (answer to dispatch of
first unit) for non-critical calls will be 180 seconds or less 90% fractile, both
measured monthly. The call types are to be decided at the guidance of the
Operations Chiefs and VCC staff.
3.8.2 NENA call answering standard
3.8.3 APCO/NENA ANS Standard for the Establishment of a Quality Assurance and
Quality Improvement Program for PSAPs
3.8.4 Washington State training requirement for Telecommunicators
3.9 Ensure Operations staff are appropriately trained and prepared to perform their role.
3.10 Ensure a continuity of operation plan exists, is current, and is routinely exercised.
3.11 In coordination with Zone 3 agencies, develop a mutually agreeable multi-year
technology plan.
3.12 Hold Technical User Group meetings comprised of Valley Com and Member City
technical staff as a forum to share information, explore solutions, and inform the
technology plan.
3.13 Record and retain as required by law appropriate telephone, radio and electronic
communications.
3.14 Provide available CAD incident data for Member City's records management and other
systems.
3.15 Disallow access to Member City owned systems without prior permission from the
Member City.
3.16 Provide Member City with prior notice of service impacting maintenance to the extent
reasonable under the circumstances.
3.17 In the event Valley Com becomes aware of a cyber -security breach of Valley Com's
system(s), Valley Com will notify Member City as soon as reasonably possible.
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3.18 Route complaints and/or inquiries as to Member City personnel performance or conduct
through Valley Com's chain of command to Member City's Supervisory or Management
staff.
3.19 Provide information, data inquiries, and other related tasks, should Member City be
unable to directly access information.
3.20 When practical, regularly attend Fire Chief meetings, Zone 3 Ops Chief meetings, King
County Fire Chief Association meetings, and other similar regional fire meetings.
3.21 Because Valley Com has limited technical resources, track time spent on Member City
ad hoc work requests that are not related to an approved project, and when Valley Com
believes the effort is impacting other project deliverables, the Member City will be
consulted to develop a mutually agreeable work plan or other resolution.
3.22 Avoid interaction with Member City's contractor(s) to request service which would
create a financial obligation on the Member City.
4. MEMBER CITY LEVEL OF SERVICE RESPONSIBILITIES. During the term of this Agreement, the
Member City will:
4.1 Provide and maintain written alarm response procedures, on forms acceptable to Valley
Com, designating equipment and other resources to be dispatched.
4.2 Comply with and conform to operational policies, practices, and apparatus numbering
configurations to those established by Valley Com Operations Board and/or Valley Com
Administration Board; apparatus renumbering will not be concluded without
consultation with Valley Com.
4.3 Provide reasonable notice of annexations, incorporations, changes to Member City
jurisdiction boundaries and response plans to allow sufficient time for Valley Com to
incorporate changes.
4.4 Follow the established radio communications protocols approved by the Valley Com
Operations Board.
4.5 Train Member City personnel to be familiar with and appropriately use radio and CAD
equipment.
4.6 Participate in the Valley Com Tech User Group meetings.
4.7 In coordination with Valley Com and Zone 3 agencies, develop a multi-year technology
plan
4.8 Follow the Project Approval Process as defined in this agreement.
4.9 Not commit Valley Com to an action, work or purchase without prior agreement from
Valley Com.
4.10 Not allow Member City personnel to access Valley Com systems without prior
permission from Valley Com.
4.11 Not interact with Valley Com's contractor(s) to request service that would create a
financial obligation for Valley Com.
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4.12 In the event the Member City becomes aware of a cyber -security breach of Member City
systems that touch Valley Com systems, notify Valley Com as soon
as reasonably possible.
4.13 Complaints and/or inquiries as to Valley Com performance or conduct will be routed
through the Member City's chain of command to Valley Com's Supervisory or
Management staff.
4.14 Ask Valley Com for records and routine data only when/if not able to access information
through internal resources.
4.15 Include/advise Valley Com management of agency and/or County -wide changes that
may affect Valley Com's operations.
4.16 Agree to collective performance objectives established by Zone 3 agencies, e.g., 90th
percentile, NFPA Standards and applicable call types to measure call processing time.
5. SYSTEMS AND SERVICES SUPPORT: The following support and service levels and obligations
apply to Valley Com and the Member City:
5.1 Normal business hours for Valley Com technical support are Monday through Friday,
8:00 am to 4:30 pm, excluding holidays and weekends. After hours, the on -duty
supervisory staff will triage issues and will call out Tech Support if required.
5.2 The Member City recognizes that its internal systems and connectivity may be integral
to the performance of a Valley Com owned or managed system. The Member City agrees
to troubleshoot issues prior to calling out Valley Com Technical staff.
5.3 To report issues during normal business hours, the Member City will notify Valley Com
via email to sup, _ _ut Ya_l_l„„° c„ _m,_ rg or by calling the Help Desk at 253-372-1575.
5.4 The following definitions and response times guidelines will be used by the Member City
and Valley Com, whether during or outside of normal business hours:
• Priority 1 (Mission critical) — significant delay or prohibits Member City's ability to
receive notification of a call for service. Immediate call out.
• Priority 2 — core operations unaffected but impacts efficiency. Initial response in
12-24 hours
• Priority 3 — inconvenient or annoying but clear workarounds exist. Initial response
in 24-72 hours.
• Priority 4 — non -emergent, non -impacting. Initial response in 72 or more hours.
5.5 Contacts outside normal business hours for affected systems are as follows:
Priority
After Hours
Systems
Notes
1 — Mission
Com Room Supervisor
VHF Paging
Widespread
outages,
not
5
Critical
Immediate
Call Out
253-372-1490
Radio (See Note*)
individual
issues.
radio or
paging
2 — Response
Com Room Supervisor
WebQUERY
Agency
internal
Tech
in 12-24
hours
253-372-1490
MobileCOM
NetMotion
Support
consult.
available
for
3 — Response
253-372-1575 or
UDS transfer to RMS
in 24-72
hours
LE.21221122211Lic:221,21g
Tablet Command
Active 911
(See Note**)
4 — 72 or
253-372-1575 or
ESRI Dashboards
more hours
,2,;1,,,;;`,2„x„1,"Y1;,,r,,,,,„;g,
* Radio note — Valley Com contracts with King County Radio Shops for radio
maintenance. Should there be system -wide radio issues, the Valley Com supervisor
will notify the Shops for response. When PSERN Operator assumes ownership of
the radio system, all responsibility will transition to PSERN.
**Third Party applications are governed by contracts between the vendor and Member
City. Valley Com will verify CAD data is being passed to these systems but cannot
address issues within these types of applications.
5.6 Future Systems and Service priorities will be mutually agreed to as part of
implementation and may be added to this Agreement.
6. NEW PROJECT APPROVAL: The Parties will utilize the following project approval selection
parameters and process, which were adopted by the Valley Com Administration Board on March
4th, 2016, and which are subject to further Administration Board amendments enacted after
that date:
6.1 The purpose of this section 6 is to allow for a thorough review of Member City and
Contract Agencyrequests requiring use of Valley Com resources and to assess impacts to
the project schedule. Valley Com should not engage in projects without being able to
make a reliable, sustainable commitment to completion of the project. Implementing
this process will allow for more collaboration with Member City and reduce independent
implementation, instead creating more system -wide opportunities to allow for and
establish or re -assess project priorities.
6.2 For the purposes of this Section 6, the following definitions will control:
6.2.1 Project — Any operational or technical change to Valley Com. Examples include,
without limitation:
• Applications requiring interface or integration to existing systems
• Introduction of stand-alone applications
• Changes in policy or practice that affect com room workflow
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• Changes in service area
• Other requests as determined by Valley Com
6.2.2 Project Champion/Sponsor — single point of contact within the Requesting
Agency. This person will assist in presenting the project to the stakeholder
groups.
6.2.3 Project Request Document — an internal document created and used by Valley
Com
6.2.4 Stakeholder Group — may include one or more of the following groups:
• Advisory Committee on Technology (ACT)
• Patrol Commanders
• Z3 Ops Chiefs
• Operating Board
• Administration Board
6.3 The Parties will utilize the following process to evaluate and decide whether to adopt
a potential new project, if requested by a Member City or Contract Agency:
6.3.1 the Member City or Contract Agency provides an introductory proposal
which must include a brief description of the project, the business need, and
the timeline needed for implementation. Valley Com and requesting entity's
Project Sponsor will jointly review the project to determine baseline
information and complete a Project Request Document.
6.3.2 Valley Com further evaluates the request to determine the following:
• Level of effort required
• Whether proposed solution meet expected outcomes
• Potential for discipline-wide/Center-wide implementation
• Whether solution introduces other issues
• Operational and technical impacts
• Estimated project timeline for implementation
• Ongoing support requirements
• Ability to support project; personnel, finance, current project schedule
6.3.3 Valley Com will then prepare and present a recommendation to Project
Sponsor, reviewing results of evaluation and supporting documentation. If
Valley Com determines the project proposal is feasible and warrants more
consideration, Valley Com and/or the Project Sponsor will conduct further
analysis to prepare a scope of work draft.
6.3.4 Valley Com and Project Sponsor will present the project proposal to
appropriate stakeholder group(s) to inform them of project details including
scope, cost, timelines, and impacts to schedule, if any. The stakeholder group
will then make a recommendation whether to approve or not approve the
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project to the remaining stakeholder groups, if any, all subject to final
approval from the Valley Com Administration Board, except for project
requests that are minor in scope.
6.4 If Valley Com deems a project request to be minor in scope and to not adversely
impact Operations, Tech Services or Valley Com's project schedule, Valley Com may
opt to approve and implement the request without further process.
7. LIMITATION OF AGREEMENT. This Agreement is entered into for the benefit of the Parties to
this Agreement only. The Agreement is not intended to confer any benefits on any other parties
and therefore no other or third party shall be entitled to rely on the terms of this Agreement or
anticipate receipt of any benefit as a result of the performance of this Agreement.
8. INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR; RIGHTS OF VALLEY COM OVER EMPLOYEES. In providing services
under this Agreement, Valley Com is an independent contractor and neither it nor its officers,
nor its agents nor its employees are employees of the Member City for any purpose, including
responsibility for any federal or state tax, industrial insurance, or Social Security liability.
Valley Com retains sole authority and control over its personnel, including but not limited to the
authority to set standards of performance and discipline for Valley Com employees and any
other matters related to control over Valley Com personnel and performance of its employees.
9. Entire Agreement. This Agreement, together with any subsequent amendments, constitutes
the entire Agreement between the Parties and supersedes all prior agreements for emergency
fire and medical aid dispatch communication services; however, in the event of a conflict
between the provisions of this Agreement and the Valley Com Interlocal Agreement, the Valley
Com Interlocal Agreement's terms will prevail over this Agreement. Any and all prior verbal
statements made by any representative of Valley Com shall not be construed as forming a part
of or altering this Agreement in any manner. This Agreement may be executed in one or more
counterparts.
10. Effective Date. This Agreement will take effect on the last date signed below, with subsequent
terms renewable as provided for in Section 2.
(Signatures on following page)
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VALLEY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER CITY OF TUKWILA
275l9lnnmAvenue S.E.
Kent, Washington 98030
n"~^— M,,01
Lo a Ueland, Executive Director
p�
Date: �\/�u//.�a/
6200 Southcenter Boulevard
Tukwila, Washington 98188
CT Allan Ekberg, Mayor
Date: 04/26/2021
APPROVED AS TO FORM
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Office the City Attorney