FirstNet begins post-bid evaluation process after proposal deadline passes

As a result, how the contractor will address some key issues for potential public-safety users—for example, reliability, cybersecurity, pricing and which customers qualify as a “public-safety entity”—likely will not be known until the evaluation team selects an offeror team and a contract is signed.

Although FirstNet officials hope to have a deal completed by Nov. 1, that target date could be moved, if FirstNet receives a number of proposals that require additional evaluation time. In addition, timelines could be impacted by protests of the procurement process or other potential legal actions, such as a challenge to the process associated with a state choosing the “opt-out” alternative.

If a deal is completed on Nov. 1, FirstNet and the contractor are supposed to provide a deployment plan for each state and territory by next May. FirstNet officials have indicated that the plan is to make the deployment plans to all 56 states and territories simultaneously. Each governor will have 90 days to accept the plan and let FirstNet build the radio access network (RAN), or a governor can have his/her state pursue the “opt-out” alternative that requires the state to build and maintain the RAN within its borders while maintaining interoperability with the rest of FirstNet.

Construction of Band 14 public-safety LTE networks could begin in states that accept the FirstNet plan as early as the latter half of next year. By Nov. 1, 2017, the Band 14 FirstNet system would be scheduled to cover 20% of the U.S. population, and 60% of the population would be covered by the network a year later, according to the RFP.