Riverside County’s Board of Supervisors have approved a $1.15 million contract with a San Diego-based technology firm to manage their federally mandated Early Warning Notification System.
They approved the five-year deal with Genasys Inc., of Rancho Bernardo, in a 5-0 vote.
Under the agreement, Genasys will oversee and improve upon the notification system implemented in 2015 by SwiftReach Networks Inc.
That firm handled the system until February, according to county Emergency Management Agency documents posted with the board’s agenda.
Funding for the system will be covered by federal grants.
“The system shall support county and cities’ access to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System … including wireless emergency alerting,” officials said.
The warning system is called “Alert RivCo,” and is capable of transmitting email, text and voice warnings in multiple languages.
Residents will be able to customize how they receive alerts, using a web portal that’s expected to be available in the coming months.
The sign-up web page for the system will allow the public to choose geographic `locations of interest’ within the county, as well as notifications for event-specific, city-specific or population-specific messages.
Seven vendors bid for the county’s warning system contract. Officials determined Genasys to be the “lowest, responsive and responsible bidder.”
