When it comes to public safety technology, the stakes are too high for agencies to learn lessons the hard way. A bad CAD or RMS contract can handcuff your agency for years, draining budgets, stalling progress, and eroding trust from the inside out. Yet these mistakes aren’t always obvious when the ink is still drying.

Here are some of the most common contract pitfalls public safety leaders face during technology procurement - and how to avoid them before your project turns into a cautionary tale.

1. Scope Creep and the Myth of “It’s in the Contract”

One of the most common traps agencies fall into is assuming that everything discussed during vendor demos, sales pitches, or even RFP responses is automatically included in the final contract.

Tip: Make sure every critical function, integration, and customization is explicitly listed in the Statement of Work (SOW). If it’s not in writing, it won’t be delivered. If your vendor said they’d interface with your existing RMS or push real-time alerts to your handheld radios - make sure it’s in the signed contract with deliverable milestones and responsible parties.

2. Liquidated Damages Clauses: Not a Penalty, a Lifeline

Agencies are often afraid to include liquidated damages clauses, thinking it will sour the relationship with the vendor. But let’s be clear - these aren’t “gotchas.” They’re accountability tools.

In a fast-paced vendor environment where companies are chasing RFP wins like it’s Pokémon Go, resources get stretched thin. Vendors frequently play project whack-a-mole, shifting their A-team to whichever client screams the loudest that week.

Without a liquidated damages clause tied to key milestones - like system acceptance testing, cutover dates, or data migration - there’s little incentive for the vendor to prioritize your agency. You’re left waiting in line while their project manager "checks in" every few weeks with updates that amount to stall tactics.

Tip: Include modest, reasonable liquidated damages tied to major milestone delays. This keeps vendors honest and ensures your project stays on track without becoming adversarial.

3. The One-Sided SLA

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are supposed to define what “acceptable” support and uptime look like - but too often, they’re toothless. Worse, they’re written entirely in favor of the vendor.

Some contracts promise 99.9% uptime, but leave loopholes the size of an ARFF truck. Scheduled maintenance doesn’t count. Network issues are your fault. If a third-party integration breaks, tough luck.

Tip: Ensure your SLAs include measurable benchmarks, meaningful credits for failure, and don’t exclude critical hours. And don’t let the vendor define all the metrics - SLAs should reflect your agency’s operational realities, not just their capabilities.

4. “Implementation Services” That Don’t Actually Implement

It’s shocking how many technology contracts include vague “implementation” line items that sound comprehensive but amount to little more than a kickoff call and user manual PDFs.

Tip: Define what implementation services actually include. Will the vendor be onsite during training? Are they responsible for configuring workflows? Will they provide sandbox environments or just shove you into production?

At Castleberry Public Safety Group, we’ve reviewed contracts where the “training” consisted of two hours on Zoom - and the client only discovered that after go-live. By then, good luck getting anything more without a change order.

5. Integration Promises with Zero Testing Language

Everyone loves a good “seamless integration” sales pitch - until the system goes live and CAD-to-RTCC updates arrive two minutes late, or the body cam interface dumps untagged video into a black hole.

Tip: Demand interface and integration testing language in the contract. It’s not enough to say the system “will integrate” with your AVL, body cams, or jail management system. There must be defined testing procedures, acceptance criteria, and error handling spelled out in advance.

And remember: if the integration is just a data feed from an RDW (Record Data Warehouse) with a 30-minute refresh cycle, it’s not real-time - and it’s not really an “interface.”

6. Post-Go-Live Support: The Vanishing Act

What happens after cutover? Many agencies assume they’ll still get weekly meetings, active bug support, or roadmap inclusion - until they realize they’ve been dumped into a generic support queue behind agencies five years deep into the same platform.

Tip: Secure post-go-live support commitments in writing. This might include a 90-day hypercare period, assigned Tier 2 support contacts, or guaranteed response times for critical issues. If possible, negotiate a success-based holdback on payment to ensure support quality doesn’t drop off a cliff.

7. Change Order Roulette

Once the project starts, minor adjustments are inevitable. But without controls, vendors will treat every small tweak like a jackpot opportunity. We’ve seen agencies charged $25,000 for adding one dropdown field. Why? Because “it wasn’t in the original configuration.”

Tip: Include a change order process with standardized pricing for common adjustments. This ensures transparency and prevents nickel-and-dime billing that sours relationships and delays projects.

8. “Perpetual” Licensing That’s Not So Perpetual

Be wary of how terms like “perpetual,” “lifetime,” or “unlimited” are used. We’ve seen contracts where “perpetual” software access still came with annual maintenance fees - and when those weren’t paid, access was revoked. That’s not perpetual. That’s extortion with branding.

Tip: Clarify what perpetual really means - and get renewal caps in writing. If you’re buying a license, you should own the right to use it, even if you opt out of future updates.

Final Thoughts: Contracts Are Strategy, Not Paperwork

In public safety, a contract isn’t just a formality - it’s your last line of defense against overpromises, delays, and budget bloat. It’s also your clearest opportunity to enforce accountability when the pressure mounts and everyone’s scrambling.

You’re not just buying a product. You’re buying a relationship. Make sure it’s one you can manage.

At Castleberry Public Safety Group, we’ve sat on both sides of the table - first as public safety professionals, then as consultants helping agencies navigate these very landmines. If your agency is considering a major procurement, we’d be happy to walk you through your draft contract, help structure performance guarantees, or advise your counsel before final signature.

Don’t go to war without reading the fine print.

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