REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
January 13, 2026
FROM
SHANNON D. DICUS, Sheriff/Coroner/Public Administrator
SUBJECT
Title
Amendment to the 2025 Annual Military Equipment Report and Purchase of an Unbudgeted Capital Asset
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
1. Approve Amendment No. 1 to the Sheriff/Coroner/Public Administrator’s 2025 Annual Military Equipment Report to add the acquisition of an additional tactical robot.
2. Approve the purchase of one tactical robot as an unbudgeted capital asset, in the amount of $66,340.
(Presenter: Carolina Mendoza, Chief Deputy Director, 387-0640)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
Pursue County Goals and Objectives by Working with Other Agencies and Stakeholders.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The Sheriff/Coroner/Public Administrator (Department) is requesting authorization to purchase one tactical robot in the amount of $66,340, funded by the deletion of four budgeted tactical robots in the Department’s budget (4438001000), resulting in no net impact to the budget. The purchase is funded by the Fiscal Year 2023 Riverside Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) Grant.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On September 30, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 481 (AB 481) into law, which became effective January 1, 2022. AB 481’s goal is to provide legally enforceable safeguards to protect the public’s welfare, safety, civil rights, and civil liberties, and to give mechanisms to discuss how military equipment is funded, acquired, and used by state and local law enforcement agencies.
AB 481 added Chapter 12.8, commencing with section 7070, to Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code (Gov. Code), to define certain law enforcement equipment as “military equipment,” and requires oversight from a governing body to purchase and use such equipment. (Gov. Code, § 7070, subd. (a).) AB 481 requires law enforcement agencies to follow specified procedures prior to acquiring and using military equipment defined in Gov. Code section 7070, subdivision (c), in order to ensure the agencies’ compliance with certain standards, including obtaining prior approval from their local governing bodies before the agencies can use, fund, and acquire any military equipment. Thus, AB 481 calls for the Board of Supervisors’ (Board) oversight of the Department’s use and acquisition of military equipment.
Under AB 481, on May 6, 2025 (Item No. 51), the Board approved the Department’s 2025 Annual Military Equipment Report and renewed Ordinance No. 4430, which was originally approved by the Board on April 26, 2022 (Item No. 74). The Board’s approval of the Department’s 2025 Annual Military Equipment Report included the Department’s request to acquire one ICOR Mini-CALIBER tactical robot and eight Axon Sky-Hero Sigyn MKI Ground robots.
On July 16, 2025, the Department attempted to procure the aforementioned robots by releasing two Invitation to Bid (ITB) opportunities through the County’s electronic procurement system (ePro). ITB No. SHR126-ADMSR-5973 was released to obtain bids for Small Uncrewed Ground Vehicle (SUGV) robots (MKI Ground robots) and ITB No. SHR126-ADMSR-5974 was released to obtain bids for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) tactical robot (Mini-CALIBER robot). Both ITBs were disseminated to 126 vendors and resulted in only one respondent submitting a bid for the EOD tactical robot. The Department did not receive any responses to the ITB for the SUGV robots.
Following the solicitation, ITB No. SHR126-ADMSR-5973 was deemed to be unsuccessful because it resulted in zero bids and ITB No. SHR126-ADMSR-5974 was deemed to be inadequate, as only one bid was received. Federal guidelines require at least two bids/quotes for a procurement to be considered competitive or adequate. Due to the lack of responses for SUGV robots and the lack of competition for EOD tactical robot, the Department alternatively submitted a “Request for Noncompetitive Procurement Authorization” form to the City of Riverside’s Office of Emergency Management (Grantor), seeking approval to proceed with the purchase of two EOD tactical robots using the single bid received for that equipment through ITB No. SHR126-ADMSR-5974.
On December 12, 2025, the Department received notification from the Grantor’s approval of the request for noncompetitive procurement authorization, allowing the Department to use federal funding to procure two EOD tactical robots based on the single bid resulting from ITB No. SHR126-ADMSR-5974.
Since the Department’s 2025 Annual Military Equipment Report included approval of the Department’s request to acquire one ICOR Mini-CALIBER tactical EOD robot, Recommendation No. 1 will allow the Department to amend the 2025 Annual Military Equipment Report to seek the Board’s approval for the Department to acquire two ICOR Mini-CALIBER tactical EOD robots. The additional EOD robot will help in meeting the Department’s goal to provide officer and civilian safety.
Approval of Recommendation No. 2 will allow the Department to continue with the procurement process to purchase one additional tactical robot (ICOR Mini-CALIBER) as an unbudgeted capital asset using the funds from the Fiscal Year 2023 Riverside Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) Grant.
PROCUREMENT
Not applicable.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Grace B. Parsons, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on December 18, 2025; and County Finance and Administration (Erika Rodarte, Administrative Analyst, 387-4919) on December 23, 2025.