Carbon County officials are looking to save thousands on maintaining its 911 system.

On Thursday, the county commissioners opened bids for the three-year public safety communications system maintenance contract for the communications center.The apparent low bidder was RF Design and Integration Inc. of Bensalem, which submitted a combined three-year contract of $221,544. Other bids included Radio Maintenance Inc. of Reading, which submitted a bid of $237,000; Green’s Communications of Pottsville, $245,519.88; and current contract holder, TuWay Communications of Bethlehem, $361,314.TuWay Communications currently does the maintenance on the entire operations, including routine, emergency call-outs and more, the commissioners said.Commissioner William O’Gurek said he was anxious to see how the bids came out because through discussions with Gary Williams, 911 communications director, the county decided to go out to bid instead of opting to extend the existing contract to May 2018.The county currently pays $119,718 for the maintenance of the system. The current contract expires at the end of the year.“When we talked to Gary, we asked ‘what do you think we should do’ and he said, ‘I think we can do better with bids,’ ” O’Gurek said. “But when you see those number and you figure what about $120,000 over the next three years would be. That would be close to $360,000 and then you see these numbers. It could represent a savings of over $100,000.”Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein thanked the companies that submitted the bids because it “helps keep everyone honest.”The commissioners then commended Williams for taking the project under his wing and saving the county money by writing the specifics for the bid process.The board then voted 2-0 to table the bids for two weeks to allow adequate time to review the bids before a contract is awarded.Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard was absent.