Journey to FirstNet a story of remarkable persistence, refusal to succumb to doubters

“Do you believe in miracles? … Yes!”

—Al Michaels

This iconic call at the conclusion of the 1980 U.S. hockey team’s “Miracle on Ice” victory against a heavily favored Soviet squad—one that some consider to be the sport’s best team of all time—continues to resonate today, even for those who were not yet born when the game was played.

Personally, Al Michaels’ words from that moment have been ringing in my ears for weeks. Not simply because I enjoy reliving this Olympic moment (although I do), but because the call seems very appropriate in a different context—the series of recent news items that have led to FirstNet awarding a 25-year contract to AT&T to build, maintain and upgrade the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN).

Is “miracle” too strong a word to associate with the NPSBN initiative? Maybe, but the same could be said about a hockey game. However, when the full context of the challenges faced by proponents of a dedicated public-safety broadband network during the past decade is considered, the use of the word “miracle” it is not a significant stretch.

Undoubtedly, some critics in public safety and the media will highlight the fact that it has taken more than 15 years from the 9/11 terrorist attacks that tragically illuminated the need for an interoperable first-responder network. Others will note that it has been five years since Congress created FirstNet, and we are still months away from even starting to construct this long-awaited broadband system.

Indeed, most had hoped that FirstNet would have moved faster.

But there is another FirstNet timeline that deserves to be recognized and applauded. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Elaine Kaplan’s March 17 decision dismissing Rivada Mercury’s protest of the FirstNet procurement came within a week of the three-year anniversary of the FirstNet board approving a program roadmap that outlined more than 40 tasks that needed to be completed to make the nationwide public-safety network a reality.

You probably don’t remember that day—March 11, 2014. At the time, FirstNet seemed to be going nowhere, at least to those observing from outside the organization. Allegations festered that board members with commercial-wireless backgrounds were not listening to public safety’s needs. Hiring of much-needed staff was proving to be a slow and painstaking process. Complaints about a lack of transparency were constant.

But the biggest issue at the time was an apparent lack of clear direction. Board members were beginning to grasp the enormity and complications associated with the massive public-safety endeavor, but no one seemed to know what next steps should be taken.

That changed with the establishment and approval of the program roadmap, which clearly identified the logical—albeit winding—progression of steps to be taken in pursuit of a successful procurement.

Those who bothered to actually read through the FirstNet program roadmap acknowledged that it depicted a solid approach. But even the biggest fans of the roadmap questioned whether the 40-plus steps could be executed by an organization that accomplished little and decided even less, at that point. And, even if all of the roadmap tasks—many of which represented a ton of work—could be completed, there was a chance that it would take so many years to finish them that Congress would lose patience and halt the FirstNet initiative.

In addition, there were serious doubts whether the board could devise a business model to answer the incredibly challenging financial riddle: How do you build a self-sustaining public-safety network with $7 billion, when the lowest estimates indicate that just the initial buildout will cost about twice that amount—before expenses associated with ongoing operations and necessary technological upgrades are factored into the equation?