The county has purchased for the sheriff’s department a refurbished armored BearCat vehicle for use by its specialized enforcement division/SWAT team.
The board of supervisors this week authorized the expenditure of $140,494 obtained through a special revenue fund drawn from money passed through to the county by the Department of Justice as part of its Federal Seized Assets program.
The BearCat is to be purchased from LENCO Armored Vehicles.
According to sheriff’s captain Steve Higgins, “The acquisition of a refurbished vehicle will generate approximately $75,000 in savings compared to the cost buying a new one.”
Higgins told the board of supervisors before that panel approved the purchase that “Approval of this item will authorize a non-competitive purchase order with LENCO Armored Vehicles for one refurbished armored BearCat vehicle. County Policy No. 11-04 requires county departments to seek board approval for any non-competitive procurement of goods or equipment in excess of $100,000. The sheriff department is requesting a non-competitive procurement of a efurbished, 2002 model, BearCat armored vehicle from LENCO Armored Vehicles to be used by its specialized enforcement division/SWAT team to be stationed in the High Desert area of the county. The department already has one 2006 model LENCO BearCat that is stored in the San Bernardino area and deployed to emergency situations county-wide. The additional armored vehicle will be stored in the High Desert to improve the department’s response times to critical incidents requiring the presence of such specialized tactical equipment in the High Desert area and beyond, while maintaining the safety of its personnel. LENCO is the manufacturer of the BearCat and is able to refurbish these vehicles when they are no longer needed by the military and convert them for non-military use. The department is requesting a non-competitive procurement with LENCO in order to maintain standardization with its existing equipment to facilitate SWAT training.”