Parties with questions on the First Responder Network Authority’s (FirstNet) request for proposals (RFP) should not wait until the Feb. 12 deadline to submit them if they have them ready earlier, FirstNet said during a webinar on the RFP, which was released earlier this week (TRDaily, Jan. 13). They also should not wait to submit voluntary capability statements, which are due March 17, FirstNet said.

Submitting questions and capability statements early will give FirstNet more time to review them, webinar participants were told. During the webinar, which ran less than 30 minutes, officials quickly outlined what each document in the RFP addresses but did not go into details on them or take questions.

The RFP runs 511 pages, although 342 of those are in 26 attachments, including a 100-page report issued in 2012 by the FCC’s Technical Advisory Board for First Responder Interoperability (TRDaily, May 23, 2012).

The network would be deployed in five phases over five years. The term of the contract to oversee the network deployment and maintenance would be 25 years.

Under the RFP, at least $5.625 billion in payments would have to be made to FirstNet by the contractor over those 25 years, with annual payments starting at $80 million a year and increasing gradually to $430 million a year for years 22 to 25.

“During the life of this contract, the Government is not obligated to purchase services above the guaranteed minimum for the entire period of performance for this IDIQ [indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity], which is $150 million,” according to the RFP. “The contract ceiling for the entire period of performance for this IDIQ is $100 billion.”

“The Contractor shall utilize the Network Capacity on a primary basis to provide services to any PSE [public safety entity] users. The branding and marketing of services to all PSE users shall be under FirstNet trade names, trademarks, and service marks pursuant to the Trademark License,” according to the RFP.

“Subject to Section 2.1 (Public Safety Entity), the Contractor may utilize the Network Capacity on a secondary basis for the provision of non-public safety services in accordance with Section 1428(a)(2)(B) of the Act,” the RFP said. It added that the capacity use agreement “is not a spectrum lease and the Contractor is expressly prohibited from subleasing spectrum authorized to FirstNet under station license WQQE234.”

Meanwhile, Andy Seybold, a wireless industry consultant and public safety advocate, offered his early views on the RFP today in an e-mail to followers. “This version of the RFP is a long way from the original [draft] that was released in the spring of 2015,” he said. “I have to give the folks at FirstNet credit, in most cases it has managed to change the RFP from a government procurement document to a much friendlier partner RFP. However, I do wish I had a dollar for each time the terms FAR for Federal Acquisition Regulation, CAR for Department of Commence Acquisition Regulation, and DIAR for Department of Interior Acquisition Regulation were used. If I did I would never have to purchase another lottery ticket.”

Mr. Seybold added, “There are still sections that contradict other sections and plenty of procurement-type writing in the document, but on the whole it is a much more acceptable and workable document that for the most part should be well received by potential bidders (or as the RFP fondly calls them, Offerors).”

But Mr. Seybold said that he is “willing to bet that some potential respondents will still throw stones at this RFP but I think it is a workable document that gives vendors incentives to be creative in their responses.”- Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com

Courtesy TRDaily