ALBANY -The New York state Office for Technology on Friday told the company building a proposed $2 billion statewide emergency radio network that 19 flaws found in a two-county test must be corrected within 45 days or the state could end the contract.

Noting that M/A-COM, a division of Tyco Electronics, certified the system in western New York was ready for operational testing in July, Office for Technology Director Melodie Mayberry-Stewart wrote that “significant deficiencies” were found, making the system “unacceptable.”

Mayberry-Stewart noted the state could take various steps if M/A-COM doesn't fix the problems, possibly purchasing just part of the system or rejecting it altogether.

In a statement, Tyco said it was involved in “a formal contract dispute” with the state office and that M/A-COM completed construction in the primary project region, 38 fully integrated and operational sites, providing coverage across more than 2,000 square miles.

“We have been cooperating with OFT through a remediation plan to resolve what we believe are the few remaining open items in the program,” said Chuck Dougherty, president of M/A-COM. “We have assured the Office for Technology that we want to resolve this dispute quickly.”

The company underbid Motorola and was chosen in 2004 to build wireless transmission towers and provide equipment to allow police officers, firefighters and other emergency personnel to communicate statewide, starting with test projects in Erie and Chautauqua counties.

State technology officials, focusing on the third round of testing July 7-18, cited equipment failures, unreliable emergency call modes, inconsistent in-building coverage and inadequate network reliability.

Among the problems:

• Failure of five of 16 mobile communication units, three of five vehicle units and 21 of 27 portables.

• Excessive mid-transmission “roam tones,” which forced operators to stop talking on patrol routes.

• Multiple site outages totaling almost 43 hours of network unavailability in Erie County.

State officials plan to retest the system to see if the failings are corrected. “If they haven't been able to fix them all, there won't be any testing,” Mayberry-Stewart told The Associated Press.

In that case, alternatives include trying to recover public costs under a $50 million letter of credit and exploring other technology options.

“Given right now where we are with M/A-COM, it's premature to say what those alternatives will be,” Mayberry-Stewart said. “What we're hoping at this point is that M/A-COM will be able to fix those deficiencies that are outlined in the document.”

Authorities in rural Chautauqua County said the system much improved their coverage. Erie County officials reported problems in Buffalo and elsewhere. They also said it was too expensive and would have cost $100 million there.

Mayberry-Stewart acknowledged the system worked better in Chautauqua County, which got new equipment instead of relying, as Erie County did, on old equipment to save money. But she said some municipalities will be unable to afford all new radios, and M/A-COM had said its system could accommodate “legacy equipment.”