To: Board of Supervisors
From: Lewis Broschard, Chief, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District
Report Title: HERE North America - Service Agreement
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Acting as the governing board for the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Fire Chief, or designee, to execute a service agreement with HERE North America, LLC (HERE) in an amount not to exceed $97,750 for mapping licensing, subject to the terms of HERE's General and Supplemental Licensing Agreements, for the period June 1, 2025 through May 31, 2028.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Budgeted. 100% CCCFPD General Operating Fund.
BACKGROUND:
The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (CCCFPD) currently manages address and street routing data through a manual process, relying on submissions from individual cities, fire districts, and other local jurisdictions. While this decentralized approach allows for local input, it also introduces inconsistencies in formatting, update frequency, and data standards across agencies.
These inconsistencies often lead to inaccurate address locations, outdated road network information, and routing errors. Such issues can impair CCCFPD’s ability to make accurate unit recommendations during emergency dispatches, potentially delaying response times and misallocating resources. Moreover, reconciling this fragmented data manually is labor-intensive and increases the likelihood of errors or missed updates to critical geographic information.
To mitigate these challenges and improve dispatch accuracy, CCCFPD staff evaluated centralized solutions and identified HERE North America, LLC as a leading provider of reliable, high-resolution geographic data. HERE offers validated address points, up-to-date road centerlines, and advanced routing intelligence, which can be seamlessly integrated into CCCFPD’s GIS and dispatch systems.
The District will use HERE’s data exclusively to enhance unit recommendations, supporting faster and more accurate emergency response while maintaining local control over broader GIS operations. This initiative supports CCCFPD’s strategic goals of operational excellence, improved service delivery, and modernized data infrastructure.
The HERE General and Supplemental License Agreements contain an indemnification provision from the County to HERE and a limitation of HERE’s liability, which is capped at twenty-four (24) months of fees paid to HERE by the County. This purchase is being justified via sole source.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If this Agreement is not approved, the result would be continued reliance on manual data management processes, perpetuating inefficiencies and risking delays in emergency response due to outdated or inconsistent data.