Professional Design Services for New E-911 Emergency Communications Center

Cobb County’s Emergency Communications Center serves as the primary access point for all emergency services in the County, including law enforcement, fire, and EMS. Operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the department is responsible for ensuring rapid and reliable communication between the public and first responders. It plays a vital role in coordinating emergency response, including during high-impact incidents such as natural disasters, mass casualty events, and infrastructure failures.

Cobb County Department of Emergency Communications (DEC), along with Cobb County Facilities Management, determined that the existing Emergency Communications Center is no longer adequate to support the County’s mission. The current facility lacks the space needed to operate effectively, avoid system redundancy, and ensure the physical security necessary for a mission critical environment, which requires continuous functionality under all hazards and conditions, without degradation of service.

Cobb County DEC, along with Facilities Management, determined that a hardened facility is required to ensure the County’s Emergency Communications Center can maintain operations during severe weather events, infrastructure disruptions, and all other hazardous scenarios. This conclusion reflects the increasing complexity and mission critical nature of public safety communications and the need for a facility that meets modern design, security, and resiliency expectations. This new facility will be approximately 41,000 SF.

Cobb County DEC consulted with Mission Critical Partners (MCP) to assist in defining the requirements of a hardened building, who provided subject matter expertise on national design and infrastructure standards. These include but are not limited to NFPA 1225, Motorola R56, and several ANSI/TIA and BICSI guidelines addressing secure site design, telecommunications infrastructure, and physical hardening. The future Emergency Communications Center must also support continued growth in Cobb County’s operational capacity, accommodating new technologies such as Next Generation 911, integrated CAD and GIS systems, and enabling enhanced interoperability with regional and state level partners.

The County is seeking the services of an architectural/engineering firm (the “Design Professional”) to provide all design services, including the development of plans and specifications. The Design Professional will provide the complete program verification, schematic, design development, and construction documents. The applying firm shall be an individual firm fulfilling all contractual obligations and performing a minimum of 50% of the architectural design services (exclusive of engineering and specialty consultants) in-house. An associated firm (if desired) may provide up to 50% of the architectural design services, allowing two or more architectural firms to share in the design effort on an equal basis but only one firm will be allowed to contract with the County as the Prime.

The delivery method for this Project will be Construction Management at-Risk (CM/GC), and, at a minimum, will employ the services of a Program Manager and a Commissioning Agent in addition to the services of the Design Professional.