JOHNSTOWN - The Fulton County Board of Supervisors' Public Safety Committee Thursday voted to advertise for bids for a proposed $400,000 to $500,000 project to revamp the 911 systems for both Fulton and Montgomery counties.

Undersheriff Kevin G. Lenahan told the committee at the County Office Building that the Sentinel Patriot PSAP Project has been worked on by both counties. Fulton County's share of the project would be between $200,000 and $250,000.

The committee voted to advertise for bids for the project. The full board will vote Nov. 9 on advertising for bids, with bids due Dec. 16. Both counties' Boards of Supervisors would award the contract in December and the project would be completed June 1.

Lt. Garth Hillier, the Fulton County Sheriff's Department's communications supervisor, said his counterparts in Montgomery County have been meeting every two weeks about the project.

Sheriff Thomas J. Lorey outlined the project by stating the two counties have been meeting in recent months to prepare bid documents.

The Sentinel Patriot Project is a standards-based system, engineered to accommodate the physical and functional specifications of E-911 call centers. The system is based on a distributed Internet Protocol, or IP architecture, and features automatic "hot" redundancy of servers and has no single point of failure. Lorey said the system also has a full suite of computer telephone features, including automatic call distribution and automatic number and location identification.

"It has some flexible configurations," Hillier said.

The new system will allow both Fulton and Montgomery counties to work together. Officials said the set-up allows for each county to serve as each other's emergency, back-up E-911 center.

Lorey said the new system creates a wide area network communications link between the two counties' communications center and has five years of support and maintenance services.

Hillier said the Sentinel Patriot replaces all outdated equipment in each county. He said the full amount of the project should be paid out of E-911 reserve funds.

"We'd like to move forward," Hillier said.

County Planning Director James Mraz said a lot of money has been spent to get the bid specifications set. He said this will be the first communications link between both counties.

Options available include Metro-Ethernet, fiber and microwave. Staff from both counties are currently evaluating all options and will be presenting a recommended course of action to both boards of supervisors in the near future.

Hillier said the project will end up saving costs for both counties.

"I think it's a great idea," committee Chairman Michael Rooney said.

Michael Anich covers Johnstown and Fulton County news. He can be reached at johnstown@leaderherald.com.