California releases RFP seeking bids from potential vendors to build FirstNet alternative RAN

FirstNet released its initial state plans on June 19 and made them actionable, so governors would have the opportunity to “opt-in” to FirstNet prior to the final state plans being released on Sept. 29. Governors in 53 states and territories that received initial state plans on June 19—the exceptions being the Pacific territories of Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Island, which will have a separate timetable—are required to make their “opt-in/opt-out” decisions by Dec. 28.

With the release of its RFP, California joins the District of Columbia and the following 11 other states that have issued an RFP without having their governors announce an “opt-in/opt-out” decision to date: Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. Of these states, New Hampshire and Colorado are the only states to announce the winner of their procurements.

Meanwhile, only seven governors in the following states have not announced an “opt-in” decision or had state officials issue an RFP seeking a potential alternative RAN vendor: Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New York, North Dakota, Ohio and South Dakota.

Thus far, 31 states—Virginia, Wyoming, Arkansas, Kentucky, Iowa, New Jersey, West Virginia, New Mexico, Michigan, Maine, Montana, Arizona, Kansas, Nevada, Hawaii, Alaska, Tennessee, Nebraska, Maryland, Idaho, Texas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Alabama, Indiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, North Carolina and Georgia—have announced their “opt-in” decisions, as did the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico territories.