Could federal-procurement rules result in FirstNet getting ‘snookered’ in deal with partners?

”There may be some limitations on what some of us can actually participate in,” Swenson said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications earlier this month. “We’re at an interesting place, and we’re trying to figure how we can participate in a way that can add value, because it’s complicated. What Congress expected—and their intention for our involvement—is different than the federal laws permit.

“So, it’s complicated and unfortunate, I think. You’ll even hear public safety say, ‘If we knew how to do this, we would have done it 10 years ago. We need the expertise of the industry; we need them involved.’ We’ve got to figure that out in a way that serves what we’re trying to accomplish here. We’re working very hard, and we’re getting a lot of help from people to try to sort that out, without crossing the line.”

Thus far, FirstNet officials have been outspoken their commitment to ensuring that board conflicts do not undermine the bidding process, with Swenson noting that she does not want to see years of work unraveled over such issues—“I don’t want to risk the project,” she said. But Swenson also expressed worries that the FirstNet board will not be positioned as well as possible to make key decisions, if federal rules prevent the entire board from participating.

“Here’s my concern: We’re not bidding for a ship or a plane, which have very clear requirements,” Swenson said. “With those, it’s kind of, ‘Here are the requirements; give me a response back’ and it’s the best value [that wins the bid]—it’s pretty straightforward.

“This is not that way, and the people who are going to be on the other side are pretty sophisticated. I’m not yet clear how we’re going to have that same sophistication on our side, when you think of all the rules that we have. We’ve got to sort that out in a way to try to make sure that we don’t get snookered.”

What if FirstNet was not part of the federal government, as it is today as an “independent authority” within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)? That notion was broached during a House subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, when Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.)—the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee—asked FirstNet Acting Executive Director TJ Kennedy whether FirstNet would be able to deploy its network sooner if it was “spun out” of NTIA to become an “independent corporation.”