Top 5 stories: Week of Oct. 3-9

Here’s a look at the most popular stories on IWCE ’s Urgent Communications from last week.

1. “FirstNet opts for nationwide acquisition approach for final RFP” – FirstNet board members unanimously voted on a resolution to exclusively accept national deployment offers for its final request for proposal (RFP). The resolution removes the previous possibility of building out a network specifically for a region or state. “After careful analysis and weighing the pros and cons, FirstNet management recommends to the board that the acquisition approach should follow a nationwide-provider-solution approach,” FirstNet CEO Mike Poth said while introducing the resolution during the board meeting, which was webcast. “The nationwide-solution approach will assure a comprehensive network solution for public safety. This solution is responsible for all 56 states and territories and inherently will deliver a more consistent package of products and services for public safety.”
2. “FirstNet says opt-out states must share revenues, meet nationwide network policies” – States choosing the FirstNet opt-out alternative, which entails building out the LTE radio access network (RAN) in its territory, would still have to comply with FirstNet’s nationwide network policies and will not be able to retain all revenues generated within its boundaries, FirstNet board members unanimously decided last week. The District of Columbia is a prime example of a territory that would be so densely populated that more revenue would be generated than would be needed to deploy its LTE network. “We need to ensure that any revenue that’s generated—particularly in highly dense, populated areas that will generate significant value for the excess capacity available—that that money is appropriately reinvested back into the network in a way … that benefits the entire nation,” said FirstNet Acting Chief Counsel Jason Karp.
3. “Rural carriers still trying to assess FirstNet opportunity” – During a Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) conference session “What can the FCC do to promote competition?”, speakers discussed FirstNet’s recent nationwide procurement strategy and how it provides hope that partnerships with rural carriers in the massive project and efforts to build out rural service would be considered. “By not being the prime respondent to the RFP, there’s no limitation to how many people can partner with a rural carrier,” Tim Donovan, CCA’s vice president of legislative affairs, said during the session. “So, if you are a serving a rural area, you have an opportunity to partner with every single respondent to the RFP and say, ‘I have great service in this rural town. I’m happy to work with FirstNet, I want to be part of your plan moving, and I want to move forward.’”
4. “FirstNet is sending out an invite (RFP). Will anyone come?” – In this View From the Top blog, Andrew Seybold offers some suggestions on how FirstNet’s upcoming final request for proposal should be formulated to draw the attention of commercial partners. Seybold warns that FirstNet cannot be procured like “things or services,” as in other RFP models. In order to successfully provide a nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPBSN), the RFP process must focus on the partnership more than the penalties, he states. “FirstNet must set reasonable milestones and be truly open to the concept of partnering and teaming, as opposed to simply demanding. When paying 100% of the cost of procurement, it is fine to demand what you want and impose penalties when you don’t get it. However, when seeking partners to join as a member of a team, demands should only be made for the benefit of the customer (public safety), and all partners should have a way of resolving issues.”
5. “Newscan: FirstNet releases cybersecurity public notice, seeks comments by Oct. 16” – In this week’s web roundup of relevant critical-infrastructure technology,  FirstNet announces a request for feedback from stakeholders, including states, tribes, territories, public safety entities and market participants on portions of the final request for proposal (RFP) related to cybersecurity. Subsequently, FirstNet changed the due date for responses to Oct. 21.