FirstNet Prepared To Negotiate With Industry on Spectrum Leases, CEO Says
FirstNet moved several more steps toward the launch of a public safety network for first responders, with the board approving elements of its request for proposal (RFP) and 64 final interpretations from the first and second public notices on its network. FirstNet's CEO Mike Poth said after its Friday meeting that it will have room to negotiate deals with industry.
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Part of the funding for FirstNet, which has been projected to cost as much as $47 billion to build, is to come from leasing excess 700 MHz spectrum to carriers and potentially other companies (see 1505130055). Questions have been raised as to whether FirstNet will be nimble enough to negotiate with industry (see 1509290060).
Poth said FirstNet has plenty of room to maneuver. “Although we’re within the federal government, that’s not an artificial barrier at all,” he said on a call with reporters Friday. FirstNet will be able to exchange information with companies that want to lease excess spectrum, he said. “Some people always misconstrue that once we put out the RFP” and a proposal is submitted “we have to either accept it in whole, and all of its caveats or assumptions, or reject it in whole, and that’s not what we envision because of the complexity of this.”
FirstNet has evaluated all the comments that came in on a special notice and draft pre-RFP, said T.J. Kennedy, FirstNet president, also on the press call. “This is really an outcome of that analysis and taking in all that consultation from the states and the public safety key stakeholders that we’ve been meeting with, as well as what came in very specifically to the draft RFP document,” he said.
FirstNet’s goal is to give companies plenty of time to form partnerships before the RFP is released, Kennedy said. “We want to make sure that we have great competition to the table on this RFP,” Kennedy said. “We’re going to really encourage industry to be at the table and to be asking any questions that they might have so that we have lots of competition.”
“The intent of getting the board direction now is not only that we solidify it into our proposal efforts, but also to give industry and others sufficient time to make decisions as to teaming,” Poth said. FirstNet is in the second and third rounds of meeting with potential vendors, he said. The goal is to provide as much information as possible, he said.
FirstNet is still finalizing the documents and will release them on its website soon, officials said. FirstNet plans to publish two notices in the Federal Register “that respond to comments and finalize certain interpretations” from the previous notices, according to a presentation at the meeting. FirstNet will rely on the final interpretations “as applicable to provide inputs into FirstNet operations, including acquisition planning and/or network policies,” according to the presentation.
"We continue to be on time and on track with a comprehensive RFP that will meet all of our strategic objectives for public safety," said FirstNet Chair Sue Swenson. The plan promotes “speed-to-market and partnering among rural, small business, tribal, regional and national providers,” she said.
The FirstNet board approved two resolutions Friday. Resolution 69, “Final Interpretations of the Act,” authorizes FirstNet management to release final interpretations of 64 statutory provisions that will have an impact on the final RFP. Resolution 70 approves the “final acquisition approach” to build the network.
Harlin McEwen, chairman of FirstNet’s Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) told the board his 42-member committee is looking closely at the rules for access to the public safety network. “In the commercial networks, we do not have priority preemption,” he said. “We will have to manage our own priority preemption in this network, with our own resources. We’re heavily engaged in how do we do that.” Not every firefighter, not every police officer will always have priority access, he said. “You’ll have to manage that within the network.”
The PSAC is also looking at which FirstNet cell sites will have to be “hardened” to guarantee they don’t go down during emergencies from hurricanes to wildfires to earthquakes, McEwen said. Another big question is what kinds of devices will be used on the network, including specific FirstNet devices that potentially could be offered for sale by the network, he said. Others may use other devices, but that will require security and other requirements, he said.
“This is an enormous network with enormous capacity and capability, but if it fills [up] priority preemption is very critical” in differentiating “between those that have to talk and those that don’t,” said FirstNet Vice Chair Jeffrey Johnson.
Poth told the board Friday was his 46th day on the job. FirstNet’s staff is focused, driven and passionate, and needs no additional motivation, he said. “The organization is growing, it’s growing appropriately,” he said. “We have a lot of momentum, a lot of initiative.” FirstNet has a road map, “it’s going to happen and we just need to press on,” Poth said.