Isn’t this how we do everything in New York? It makes me wonder who’s campaign this company donates to. Follow the money especially in New York where the corruption of the political system runs everything.

A slow- simmering issue threatens to erupt into a full boil

Our beloved state may be on the precipice of wasting an awful lot of money, into the billions.

The hot question is this, though: Does the state care enough about stopping a boondoggle before the money is spent, or is the state content to wait, then just wring its hands when nothing can be done about it?

The Statewide Wireless Network is one of those slow simmering back-burner issues that the media don’t usually get excited about until the pot boils over. Well, the lid is starting to lift.

A telecommunications company called M/A COM won the bid in 2005 to give New York a federally mandated single digital wireless radio system that all first responders and public safety types in the state could use to communicate. The contract calls for the system to cover 95 percent of the state, although how smart that is remains an argument for another column.

The original cost was $1 billion in New York taxpayer dollars over 20 years, but that’s grown to $2.1 billion and the smart money says that’s just the beginning.

So far, M/A COM has a spotty at best record of delivering on the contract. The company is already a year behind.

More importantly, the proprietary technology M/A COM is selling remains unreliable. Outside industry professionals are cautioning that the technology, even if reliable, does not meet federal compatibility standards so New York can talk to the rest of the country.

Still, that puts in question federal reimbursements, not to mention that one of the main points of this expensive exercise is that the system is supposed to be part of a national network.

On top of that, because M/A COM is crafting its own exclusive technology, any of the first responders or public safety types that opt to hook into it will have to buy equipment from M/A COM.

Now, maybe M/A COM is on the verge of a terrific breakthrough, but probably not. The only other state trying to use this same technology, Pennsylvania, was supposed to have its system done by 2001. It’s still waiting. What started as a $200 million project there is approaching a half a billion.

The State Office of Technology insists the technology will be federally compliant, in spite of the doubters. But, frankly, the State Office of Technology appears to be too willing to forgive M/A COM’s shortcomings, and is not a reliable judge of performance here.

M/A COM’s technology got a huge setback last month in critical tests in western New York, in Erie County. Fox News even reported on it nationally. It worked in some places, sometimes, and not in others. Totally haphazard, which, given the gravity of its use, is total failure. Chautauqua County had better results, but Erie County suspended for 90 days any more tests until M/A COM shows improvement.

That test was the first in the state for M/A COM, but was also what is known as a “proof of concept.” M/A COM won’t get a dime from the state until the technology is proven to work, and this test was supposed to be it.

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