For FirstNet, major decisions necessary to reach goal for year-end RFP

This is not to imply that FirstNet has not made progress. Quite the contrary, the fact that FirstNet has put out a draft RFP and will complete an initial consultation meeting with all 56 states and territories this fall is remarkable, especially considering the fact that the organization lacked a permanent executive director as these initiatives were executed.

To date, the FirstNet board has gone out of its way to not take positions that could be construed as favoring a particular approach or vendor—and that usually has been entirely appropriate, because the organization would not want to unwittingly dismiss a good idea.

In fact, when I hear industry sources express frustration about what the FirstNet board has decided to do, it puzzles me. FirstNet’s board has not been shy about expressing opinions verbally, but it has not taken a formal position on several of the most controversial items—even the documents released to date, such as public notices, are identified as the preliminary findings of the FirsNet staff, not a board stance.

That needs to change soon, if FirstNet hopes to meet its goal of issuing a final RFP by the end of the year. After three years of proceedings, consultations and industry discussions, it’s time for the FirstNet board to make critical decisions. Some of these choices will be controversial—if they were easy, they would have been done already—but they are necessary to make the FirstNet board’s vision for this much-needed public-safety network a reality.