Partnerships are much more than contracts—an important distinction for FirstNet

By Andrew M. Seybold

The FirstNet board of directors understands completely what public/private partnerships will entail for FirstNet, and I know FirstNet management gets it, too. These individuals have all been involved in the real world of public safety or telecommunications for a long time. Unfortunately, it appears to me that those within the federal government who really run FirstNet don’t have a clue about the difference between a contract and a partnership.

Unless FirstNet is allowed to sit down across a table from a potential partner, there is no way I can see that FirstNet will ever find any willing partners—and, without partners, FirstNet won’t make it very far into network construction with its $7 billion funding allocation from Congress.

In order to enter into a contract with anyone about anything in the federal world, you must issue an RFI (Request for Information). After receiving some level of interest, you follow the RFI by issuing an RFP (Request for Proposal). These documents are full of terms and conditions, and all the “i’s” are dotted and “t’s” are crossed. Page after page of details concerning what you are asking to be bid on follow, along with a request for a description of what the bidder proposes to do for you.

FirstNet issued an RFI more than two years ago for partners, and the responses were all less than enthusiastic. The reason, of course, was that the documents were required to be available for anyone to read and review. Thus not one of the interested partners revealed what they might be willing to do. Instead, most said they would be happy to make space available on their cell sites for monthly rents and other fees.

This is not a partnership; it is a contract between two parties. Another thing of note for the RFI is that the responses were only from nationwide wireless service providers or companies interested in nationwide coverage. There were no responses from organizations that want to partner only within their own area of coverage.

Further, if the RFI had reached the RFP stage—and had one or more partners stepped up and a contract was signed—any changes would delay the system. If changes needed to be made because of changing coverage requirements or other issues during the actual network build, a formal change-order process would have to be implemented. Each change order would probably take up to 120 days to be approved.

In the real world of network construction—regardless of how well the system is planned—changes are almost always needed during the actual buildout. In a true partnership agreement, there needs to be a way to quickly and easily implement changes and not hold up progress.