Winning Bid for NYPD Body Camera Contract Comes Under Lobbying Attack

 

By Laura Nahmias 

A hard-fought bidding war to supply body cameras to the New York Police Department took an aggressive new turn last week, when one of the city's top lobbyists began a campaign to sow doubts about the company that won the contract.

On Friday, the NYPD announced a tentative plan to work with Seattle-based company VieVu for the first phase of the department's long-awaited body camera program.

The $6.4 million contract, to provide 5,000 cameras, has the potential to turn into a gold mine if the winning bidder ultimately secures a contract to provide cameras to all of the city’s patrol units. Such a contract could be worth an estimated quarter of a billion dollars, over a period of 14 years.

When the department announced that it had selected VieVu from more than 50 bidders, one of its chief competitors — Taser International, which saw its stock drop 14 percent on the news — mobilized a high-price lobbying effort to undermine the agreement. 

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Source: Politico (via The Empire Report)