Strickling Says FirstNet Board ‘Very Strong,’ Prepared to Work

After the law was passed and NTIA interpreted and understood the “several layers of requirements” that Congress gave the agency for the selection of the 12 board members, NTIA wanted to consult with public safety, and state and local organizations, “not just to get names,” but also to understand the attributes public safety wanted to see in board members, Strickling said. Public safety officials told the NTIA they wanted people who were committed to the legislation laid out by Congress, people who could work well together and who could quickly learn public safety needs, he said. That guided NTIA as it recruited members and evaluated the various nominees, he said: “I think we've ended up with a very strong board.” The law required not less than three members be from the public safety community. NTIA named four. “We felt that that was an important statement to make,” Strickling said.

NTIA also needed people who understood needs of state, local and tribal governments, Strickling said. Six members will ensure those needs are met, he said, pointing to ex-Mayor Wellington Webb of Denver and Teresa Takai, former chief information officer of Michigan and California. Strickling responded to concerns of the National Governors Association, which said Monday it was “disappointed” by the lack of current state officials on the board, given that governors will play such a major role in determining how the network is constructed. The six who understand state and local needs will make sure state concerns are met, and beyond that it will be incumbent on the board to work as closely as it can with individual governors and associations to make sure the needs are being heard and understood, Strickling said: “I'm confident that this board is going to well understand state and local needs."

On the industry side, NTIA wanted to identify someone to bring experience and “gravitas” to be chair, Strickling said. The agency identified Sam Ginn early on as a leading candidate, Strickling said. “Sam very much saw this as an opportunity, as a way to give back to his country in a way that he hadn’t earlier on in his career.” Ginn is a retired Vodafone AirTouch wireless and Pacific Telesis CEO. Three board members have substantial experience building networks from scratch, both overseas and in the U.S., Strickling said. “I think we've got a very, very strong team here,” he said. “We're ready to see these folks get started."

The board will meet and organize itself in September, Strickling said. In his discussions with the board members, it’s clear they want to understand user needs and requirements right out of the gate, he said: It was “refreshing” to hear that coming from industry officials, “even before they start thinking of any elements of network design, which all comes second in their mind. I find that a very positive feature, an attribute of these board members, that that’s the way they're approaching this task from day one."

In September, the board will also determine how to procure the technical and operational support it will need. “I think it’s pretty clear 15 people can’t decide, develop, build, maintain a $7 billion network,” Strickling said. “They're going to need some help.” The board is prepared to work, he said. “None of them is joining this board thinking it’s a ceremonial, four-times-a-year board that they're joining."

NTIA will now shift into a supporting role, Gomez said. As the board works on day-to-day operations, NTIA has separate statutorily defined duties, including working on the state and local implementation grant program, she said. Strickling said NTIA would help with intergovernmental relations where it can. The Department of Justice and Office of Management and Budget have direct responsibilities, but behind them sit very large agencies that will offer to provide coordination with FirstNet “as they navigate their way through that part of the bureaucracy,” he said.

The legislation gives states the ability to opt out of the FirstNet program if they construct their own portions of the network. But it is “quite premature to talk about opt-out right now, because we are a ways down the road before a state even has to face the decision to opt out,” Gomez said. She detailed the long process that must occur before getting to that point. FirstNet consultations, development of a single national network architecture, a series of requests for proposals, and presentation to states, which will then have months to decide how to continue, she said.

"Absolutely no one has to buy any service from FirstNet”; they will only do so if it meets their needs and is affordable, Strickling said. The law requires the network to be self-sustaining, and it must collect enough revenue to cover its expense. “We have been focused like a laser to not allow individual decisions being made now that could in fact affect that cost equation later on,” when it comes time to design the networks, he said. That’s why NTIA partially suspended the seven public safety projects funded under the 2010 Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he said. If NTIA allowed states to build things out now, it “actually could upset the ultimate cost structure of this network by making it more costly, more difficult, and actually deterring people when they actually get around to bidding on these projects down the road,” he said. “We're trying to do whatever we can to protect the taxpayer investment.”