Will other states follow New Hampshire’s lead and conduct their own RFPs for public-safety LTE?

One of the nuances of the FirstNet process is that the enabling legislation established an “opt-out” process in which the governor for a state can choose to have his state build and operate the LTE radio-access network (RAN) within its jurisdiction instead of having FirstNet build it. Each governor must decide whether to opt out 90 days after receiving the FirstNet plan for deploying public-safety in his/her state or territory.

Perhaps the greatest value of completing this state RFP process could be realized a little more than a year from now, when the FirstNet contractor is scheduled to submit its state plan to New Hampshire. At that point, the governor—and New Hampshire will have a new governor then—will be able to compare the FirstNet state plan to the best bid submitted in the state RFP process, then decide whether pursuing the opt-out legal alternative makes the most sense for New Hampshire.

In short, the New Hampshire governor will have a viable choice—and that’s something that state officials have been struggling to find in the FirstNet process.

Without conducting an RFP prior to receiving the state plan from the FirstNet contractor, a governor’s decision to pursue the opt-out alternative is fraught with uncertainty and challenging timelines—deadlines that were established in law by Congress, so FirstNet cannot change them.

In addition, there is a logistical reality that has to be considered. Under the law, a state pursuing the opt-out alternative must complete its RFP process within 180 days of the governor declining to accept the FirstNet state plan. This is challenging, but New Hampshire proved that it can be done, as the five bids were received in about two months.

But the fact is that those bids were prepared primarily at a time when New Hampshire had the only public-safety LTE bid on the street, because FirstNet’s RFP was not released until a month later. The situation could be very different next year, when state plans are expected to be released.

Depending on governors’ decisions, there could be a flurry of RFPs released close to the same time, which could make it difficult for vendors to be able to respond to all of them—or make it so that boilerplate responses become the norm, instead of customized proposals that address the nuances of each state. In addition, there would be little opportunity to have an extended dialogue with bidders.

Meanwhile, if FirstNet receives no bids for its nationwide RFP, those states that have completed an RFP process certainly would have an advantage, if they wanted to seek permission to deploy a public-safety on their own.