FirstNet board does not vote on proposed draft RFP, will meet again in ‘the very near future’

Earlier this month, Swenson stated in testimony to Congress that FirstNet plans to release its final RFP by the end of the year. With the draft RFP not being released by the end of this month as expected, FirstNet will have less time to process responses and prepare the final RFP, if it wants to meet Swenson’s goal.

Kennedy said he believes FirstNet still can release its final RFP by the end of the year, despite this delay in the release of the draft RFP.

“Our current goal is to move toward a final RFP by the end of the calendar year,” Kennedy said. “Now, with this smaller timeframe that we just talked about, I don’t see a material impact on the end of the year. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be in the future, but right now I’m not changing any predictions on that.”

FirstNet officials declined to discuss specifically which details in the proposed draft RFP would be revisited by the board in the future, but Bryan’s statements during the last two days indicate that the focus will be on specific items associated with FirstNet’s financial model. However, Kennedy noted that the board is in agreement on FirstNet’s basic business plan.

“We’re not revisiting a business plan,” Kennedy said during the press conference call. “We have a finance committee looking at material terms of a draft RFP set of documents. This is not revisiting a business plan.”

Kupinsky echoed this sentiment, noting Swenson’s statement that there is a “lot of coalescence” among board members around the proposed draft RFP prepared by the FirstNet staff.

“It’s not a situation where there is a whole-cloth look at any of the material terms of the business plan, or anything of that nature,” Kupinsky said during the press conference call. “But it’s tough to give you full-color commentary, given the confidentiality of the information we’re dealing with.”