States and Localities Should Act Now in FirstNet Preparations, NATOA Hears

"Timeliness is a real important issue here,” said Sean Stokes, principal of the Ball Herbst Law Group, which represents local governments and NATOA. “Some of the main people on the FirstNet board are from the private sector and are used to moving quickly.” That sense of speed may well be seen as “part of their charge,” he said of the FirstNet board members, who may want to avoid getting what they see as “bogged down” in bureaucratic negotiations.

States and localities should therefore “bring forward the resources” at their disposal to show the FirstNet board they can contribute in a way that’s efficient, timely and helpful, Stokes said. The $7 billion slated to support FirstNet is widely seen as insufficient to fund the public safety network, as a roundtable of potential FirstNet vendors and public safety officials said in January (CD Jan 29 p8). “This is going to take a lot of work together between the states and the local governments,” said BayRICS Authority Interim General Manager Barry Fraser.

As these entities prepare for the application deadline, they'll need an appropriate point of contact, approved by the governor or an equivalent chief executive, according to NTIA. Chief information officers will play a key role here, said Mitch Herckis, director-government affairs at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. States are at varying stages of designating a point of contact but many already have positioned some, he said, saying the National Governors Association is unofficially tracking the matter. CIOs account for about a quarter of the designated contacts and more likely two-thirds when included among their consultation roles, Herckis said.

The awards, per each grant, will be capped at $6 million from federal sources and a minimum 20 percent match from the recipient, NTIA said. The minimum amount per award will be $500,000. NTIA’s planning documents included a calculation (http://xrl.us/bogbxe) for what each state or territory is likely to receive, based on its formulas, with a 75 percent weight given to population and a 25 percent weight to land mass. Texas is predicted to take the biggest portion of money: $7.5 million, including federal and matching dollars. Other top allocations, as predicted by the tentative list, include California at $7.27 million, Florida at $6.29 million and New York at $6.23 million. Smaller jurisdictions like Rhode Island and Vermont may receive less than a million dollars. NTIA notes that states may choose to give a share larger than 20 percent matching, which would change the funding calculations for that state.

The unknowns remain a challenge. “There’s many questions and potential Catch-22s for state governments,” Herckis said, saying FirstNet itself doesn’t know all the answers to the questions facing it. The two phases of the $121.5 million in grants will entail first, a process of setting up state and local consultation with FirstNet, and second, collaboration with the national entity. Funding will be split between those two phases, he said. NTIA plans to make the awards by July 15.

A central question will be how FirstNet makes use or doesn’t make use of state and local infrastructure already in place. There’s “an opportunity” in the federal network taking advantage of the many broadband stimulus projects already in place throughout the states, far beyond the seven suspended public safety grantees but in general, Stokes said. Perhaps the use of these elements will help offset the costs of a state or localities’ user fees, he added. Those possibilities will become more apparent as the memoranda of agreement get written, Herckis said, predicting they'll include “some meat on the bones” to ensure “these aren’t just donations of infrastructure.” But it’s hard to say whether the use of such infrastructure would mean cash, discounts or something else: “Who knows what way is going to make the most sense.”

A part of that question involves which resources NTIA will choose to use. NTIA won’t choose every tower, Herckis said. He said FirstNet may need to harden or boost the power of some local resources if it wants to use them, creating a mutual benefit that may preclude some talk of offsetting user fees and payment. If it’s ready and available and not going to create extra work, then the federal government may be more likely to tap the resources for FirstNet “for expediency’s sake,” he predicted, describing his view as “cynical.” Identify potential infrastructure now, Herckis advised, suggesting industry officials reach out to state and local points of contact and offer tours and familiarize themselves with the application process. “Try and utilize regional or statewide groups,” he recommended. The FirstNet board is far more likely to listen to a few unified voices rather than any scenario “pitting individual localities against each other in asking for attention,” he said.

NATOA, the National League of Cities and the National Association of Counties will be holding a joint webinar on these issues Feb. 22, Fraser said. FirstNet is holding its next board meeting Tuesday in Boulder, Colo., and released its agenda Monday (http://xrl.us/bogb4q).