Since 2005, the Police Department has utilized rifles in the course of their law enforcement duties. Those rifles have been in service for more than 14 years and have reached the end of their service life. A patrol rifle consists of a rifle, sling, light, suppressor, backup iron sights, and an electronic red dot sight/optic. Electronic red dot sight/optics allow quick target acquisition and improved accuracy, all while allowing officers a wider field of vision. Suppressors, by design, reduce the audible signature of high velocity rounds, reducing the likelihood of permanent hearing damage to the officers. In addition to the sound signature reduction, they also reduce muzzle blast and side blast gases, which can be harmful to officers/civilians in proximity to a weapon being fired.
City Council approved a two-phase decision package at their June 19, 2018 City Council meeting to fund the replacement of these rifles. Phase One of the Decision Package (FY 2018-19 - $84,200.00) authorized the purchase of various accessories, including electronic sights, lights, suppressors, and racks. The Police Department purchased most of those accessories last fiscal year. The Police Department carried over a small amount of the original funding to facilitate purchasing the remaining accessories this fiscal year. Phase Two of the Decision Package (FY 2019-20 - $97,950.00) authorized the purchase of 60 new rifles.
Over two years ago, the Police Department tested several rifles from different manufacturers. Initially, the Police Department determined that the Sig Sauer MCX rifle best suited the needs of the department. However, since the time of testing and evaluation, another Orange County law enforcement agency purchased and deployed the Sig Sauer MCX Rifle. That agency discovered functional problems with the rifle. This, coupled with publicly documented factory recalls and redesigns of the proprietary operating system of the rifle, caused the Police Department to re-evaluate the selection of that rifle. Additional testing and evaluation yielded a superior alternative, the Daniel Defense DDM4 V7S rifle. In addition to meeting the Police Department’s needs, a version of this rifle system is also currently in use by partner agencies on the North County SWAT Team, including La Habra Police Department and Fullerton Police Department. Additionally, the Santa Ana Police Department and Chino Police Department recently adopted this rifle for their patrol duty use. None of these partner agencies have reported issues with the functionality of the rifle.
The Daniel Defense DDM4-V7S rifles are manufactured in the United States and are sold commercially as semi-automatic modern sporting rifles that were explicitly designed and marketed for the civilian and law enforcement markets. They are not available to, nor in service with, any branch of the US Military. This style of rifle is the dominant rifle in service with law enforcement agencies across the country, and is in use among southern California agencies. Therefore, the rifle platform, parts, and magazines are compatible with local partner agencies, thus offer inter-agency compatibility in the case of a large-scale, multi-jurisdictional incident.
To facilitate the purchase of the rifles, the Police Department developed specifications and the City’s Purchasing Division solicited competitive offers from qualified vendors. A notable condition specified in the RFB was the trade-in of the Police Department’s current rifles. Because of the legal requirements for sale (or trade-in) of used firearms, these weapons cannot be sold through traditional auction sales. For this reason, these items were listed as trade-ins so that the vendor handling the sale of the new rifles was also the vendor handling the trade-in of the existing rifles. The RFB included the purchase of 60 new rifles and credit for the trade-in of existing rifles.
Four vendors submitted offers by the October 22, 2019 deadline. All of the bid amounts included the trade-ins. Each of the bidders were required to provide copies of their Federal Firearms License, an authorization letter from the manufacturer that they were authorized to sell the firearms to the Brea Police Department, and to comply with the specifications, terms, and conditions of the RFB.
| Bidder |
Bid Amount |
| Proforce Law Enforcement |
$62,197.07 |
| Adamson Police Products |
$68,523.75 |
| Clyde Armory, Inc. |
$71,988.28 |
| LC Action Police Supply |
$78,173.79 |
|