NTIA releases notice indicating review criteria of plans from states seeking to ‘opt out’ of FirstNet
Prospective opt-out states will need to submit a timeline of deployment goals that is organized in a manner that is comparable to the timetable outlined in the FirstNet RFP, according to the NTIA notice.
“We require that a state's demonstration to NTIA contain specified timelines for the completion of its project as authorized by the FCC,” the notice states. “These timelines must be of the same number, nature, and type as those presented to the state by FirstNet in its proposed state plan so that identical benchmark topics and timeframes may be readily compared and assessed.”
For a state pursuing the opt-out alternative, NTIA’s review would follow the FCC’s interoperability review. Opt-out states will be required to submit to NTIA the same plan that was approved by the FCC. In its notice, NTIA tentatively calls for any prospective opt-out state to submit its application to NTIA “no later than 60 days” after receiving FCC approval.
To reach the FCC, a prospective opt-out state would need to have its governor express the state’s opt-out intentions within 90 days of FirstNet providing its deployment plan for the state. The state then would have 180 days to complete an RFP process and submit its opt-out plan to the FCC.
While the law establishing FirstNet includes many deadlines for a prospective opt-out state, no deadlines are stipulated for the government, in terms of the FCC review, the NTIA review or FirstNet’s spectrum-lease negotiation.
Last month, a FirstNet official estimated that an opt-out state likely would be two years behind FirstNet in deploying public-safety LTE.