The DuPage County Police Records Management System Oversight Committee on Dec. 10 recommended pausing further work on the current Hexagon MFR upgrade until the county’s vendor-selection process is further advanced.

Committee presenters told members that recent testing of the MFR (report-writing/records) upgrade resolved some functionality problems but left multiple configuration and design issues. “The MFR product doesn't appear to be ready,” one staff presenter said, and the committee urged holding off on additional milestone work and payments until the RFP process determines whether Hexagon remains the preferred long-term solution.

The committee’s rationale was pragmatic: completing more contract milestones now would increase costs and require user training for a product that might be replaced after the RFP. Staff warned that continuing to milestone work could waste money if the county selects a different vendor. The presenter also noted that roughly $177,000 of remaining work on the current product project could be avoided if the county chooses a different solution.

Members expressed support for limiting short-term investment and for an interim plan to upgrade to a current stable version of the existing application to address usability problems while the procurement proceeds. The committee did not take a formal roll-call vote on a pause; members indicated a consensus to proceed cautiously and to use milestone payments as the primary contractual leverage.

Staff said the RFP evaluation team identified six viable proposals, has split the evaluation into two stages, and expects to produce a short list of about three vendors. Demos are expected over the next month to six weeks and staff said they plan to open demos to as many users as possible, prioritizing hands-on, controlled sessions for power users. A recommendation on vendor selection is still expected in February.

The committee asked staff to circulate a detailed timeline for demos and to clarify which users would participate in scoring. Staff also confirmed that integration with existing systems was a written RFP requirement and that the evaluation will assess vendors’ proposed integration approaches in proposal materials as well as through the hands-on demonstrations.

Next steps: the evaluation team will complete remaining scoring rounds, schedule demos for shortlisted vendors, and return with a formal recommendation; the committee intends to limit further milestone payments to Hexagon until it has a clearer long-term procurement decision.