AT&T states belief that its FirstNet bid is the only one within the ‘competitive range’

AT&T confirmed that its FirstNet bid is within the “competitive range”—a designation for the “most highly rated” proposals in a federal procurement—and that company officials believe it is lone proposal in this category, according to an AT&T regulatory filing submitted on Friday.

In a filing to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), the telecom giant states that “AT&T has been informed that it is a bidder within the ‘competitive range’” to be selected to build and operate FirstNet’s nationwide public-safety broadband network.

AT&T’s filing also notes that pdvWireless acknowledged publicly in October that its bidding team no longer is being considered for the FirstNet award and that Rivada Mercury—a consortium led by Rivada Networks—is protesting the decision to exclude its bid from the “competitive range.”

“Based on Rivada’s court filing and pdvWireless’ public statements, AT&T is not aware of any other bidders who remain within the ‘competitive range’ of the First Responder Network procurement,” the AT&T filing states. “Should AT&T’s bid be accepted, we look forward to serving the public safety community through this contract and making a significant investment in the infrastructure of our country. The actual reach of the network and necessary investment will be determined by the election to participate by the individual states.”

AT&T’s submitted its SEC filing hours after reports surfaced of Rivada Mercury’s protest lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. AT&T is a defendant/intervenor supporting the United States government in the case.

In its motion to intervene as defendant, AT&T notes that “counsel for AT&T has conferred with counsel for the United States, who has confirmed that the United States has no objection to AT&T’s intervention in this case,” the AT&T motion states. “Counsel for AT&T has also conferred with counsel for Rivada, who stated that Rivada will be opposing AT&T’s intervention.”

The briefing schedule in the Rivada Mercury court case extends to Feb. 16, 2017, with the schedule for oral arguments in the case still to be determined.

After the protest is resolved, any selection by the contracting officer for the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI)—the government agency overseeing the procurement process for the FirstNet contractor in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)—would be subject to the FirstNet board’s willingness to execute a contract with the chosen bidder prior to a formal award.