Want to keep track of FirstNet’s progress? Here are some key dates, milestones to remember
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Want to keep track of FirstNet’s progress? Here are some key dates, milestones to remember
Within these parameters, here are the projected dates for some key FirstNet-project milestones, the first of which is just two weeks away:
Feb. 12, 2016: Deadline for the submission of questions to clarify aspects of the RFP, which is more than 500 pages long. FirstNet's responses to all questions will be posted online.
March 10, 2016: Date of FirstNet’s pre-proposal conference, which will is scheduled to begin at 1:30 EST in Reston, Va.
March 17, 2016: Deadline for prospective offerors to submit their teams’ capabilities statement. After the capabilities statement is evaluated, each offeror will be advised whether the proposed team is a viable competitor for the award. However, a negative evaluation would not disqualify an offeror from submitting a proposal.
March 2016: 3GPP—the LTE standards body—is scheduled to complete the standard for LTE Release 13. This release is expected to include several public-safety-oriented features, including mission-critical push-to-talk (PTT) functionality.
April 29, 2016: Deadline for offerors to submit responses to RFP.
Nov. 1, 2016: After several months of evaluation, this is the estimated award date, which means the selected offeror will have signed a final agreement and will begin work on the massive project. Presumably, all existing 700 MHz narrowband networks operating on Band 14 spectrum will be relocated by this date or soon after, so the contractor can begin utilizing the frequencies as quickly as possible.
May 1, 2017: Six months after the award, the FirstNet contractor is supposed to deliver its deployment plans to all 56 states and territories. At the same time, the contractor has to provide nationwide coverage on an existing system—probably a commercial system, which is why a most believe that a nationwide carrier will need to be part of the contractor team. This service may be branded as “FirstNet,” even though it would be delivered on a consumer-grade network with only initial levels of prioritization for public-safety users.
June 2017: Scheduled date for 3GPP to finalize LTE Release 14, which is expected to include some enhanced mission-critical functions and greater Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities, including reduced latency in machine-to-machine communications. Many in the wireless industry consider this LTE release to represent the initial standards development of 5G wireless technology.
Late July 2017: If state plans are delivered on time, each state and territory will have decided whether to pursue the opt-out alternative, which would require them to be responsible for the buildout and operation of the RAN within its jurisdiction.
Nov. 1, 2017: Deadline for the first coverage milestone for the Band 14 network, as 20% of planned Band 14 coverage—both in rural and non-rural areas—is scheduled to be completed. Static quality of service, priority and preemption (QPP) will be implemented throughout the Band 14 system. All financial systems associated with FirstNet should be completed.
January 2018: Any state or territory will need to complete its RFP process by the latter half of this month (180 days after making its opt-out decision). After this, progress in the opt-out states and territories becomes less predictable, because the law does not establish timelines for the FCC and NTIA to make their respective decisions on the opt-out proposal. In addition, there is no guidance regarding FirstNet’s negotiation of a spectrum lease agreement with an opt-out state or territory.