FirstNet News
Last week, FirstNet hosted its third in-person state/territory single point of contact (SPOC) meeting in McLean, Virginia, with over 175 attendees representing 55 states and territories, the PSAC Executive Committee (EC) and Tribal Working Group (TWG), and federal agencies. The SPOC meeting was a productive two days filled with valuable information exchange, questions, and conversations. Participants heard updates on the FirstNet Roadmap and RFP, gained clarity on the post-award State Plans development and delivery process, and heard the latest on FirstNet’s outreach and consultation efforts across states and territories, tribal nations, and federal agencies and with the PSAC. The meeting also launched the Consultation Task Team (CTT) effort around Quality of Service, Priority, and Preemption (QPP) and gave participants a chance to hear from FirstNet’s partners at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Public Safety Communications Research program (PSCR). FirstNet’s technical team led several sessions on FirstNet’s current vision for applications, devices, public safety grade end-to-end architecture, and cybersecurity. The SPOC meeting materials were disseminated to attendees earlier today via email. In terms of next steps, the FirstNet Regional Leads are now scheduling governing body meetings with the states and territories to further understand individual states’/territories’ priorities and any concerns regarding State Plans, and identify the individuals within the state/territory that need to be involved in the State plan review process.
The TWG held an all-day meeting on April 14 immediately following the SPOC meeting with eight TWG members, National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) leadership, the PSAC chair, and FirstNet staff. The meeting provided an opportunity for the TWG, now under the leadership of a new chair, to regroup and reflect on their efforts to date, identify priorities for the coming year, and obtain clarity from FirstNet on various topics. The group discussed critical issues impacting FirstNet efforts in Indian Country, such as sovereignty, consultation, and tribal engagement moving forward. The TWG will meet again via conference call May 3 with FirstNet staff to further discuss priorities for the year.
FirstNet hosted its inaugural Federal Open House on April 14 at the Department of Commerce in Washington, DC, with over 30 participants from numerous agencies. The Open House provided the opportunity to engage with FirstNet on technical topics while also gaining a better understanding of FirstNet and its importance to the public safety mission carried out by many federal agencies. Topics included an overview of FirstNet, current activities, and the federal consultation effort for 2016. In addition, FirstNet and representatives from the PSCR presented on several technical topics of interest for federal agencies, including FirstNet network testing, the Radio Access Network (RAN), devices and applications, and QPP. Participants engaged FirstNet with questions on topics regarding end user devices, access, security, and local control to better understand how their federal agencies can benefit from the FirstNet network to support their various public safety missions.
Last week, FirstNet published two new entries on its blog: Honoring the Nation’s Public Safety Telecommunicators and National Volunteer Week 2016: FirstNet Salutes Our Public Safety Volunteers. All blog posts can be accessed through the FirstNet blog landing page at: http://firstnet.gov/newsroom/blog. FirstNet also published new outreach materials regarding tribal outreach, State Plans and the QPP CTT on the FirstNet resources page at: http://firstnet.gov/resources.
This week, FirstNet is speaking at the Minnesota Chiefs of Police 2016 Executive Training Institute in St. Cloud, Minnesota; the Native American Financial Officers Association (NAFOA) 34th Annual Conference in Chandler, Arizona; the 2016 Arkansas Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) Conference in Hot Springs, Arkansas; the Louisiana APCO/National Emergency Numbers Association Symposium in Lake Charles, Louisiana; the Emergency response Technology Leadership Forum in Silver Spring, Maryland; the Maine Partners in Emergency Preparedness Conference in Augusta, Maine; the Arkansas Ambulance Association EMS Expo 2016 in Little Rock, Arkansas; Connecticut intertribal meetings in Mashantucket and Uncasville, Connecticut; the Interior Business Center Technology and Innovation Showcase in Washington, DC; the National Rural EMS Conference in San Antonio, Texas; the Washington State Interoperability Executive Committee (SIEC) FirstNet-focused meeting in Camp Murray, Washington; the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement Public meeting in Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands; and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Eastern Oklahoma Region Forestry and Wildland Fire meeting in Shawnee, OK.
News from the PSAC, States and Territories
The PSAC EC, Early Builder Working Group (EBWG), Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) task team, State/Local focus group and Law Enforcement focus group all have meetings this week via conference call.
Media Watch
*The information provided is copied as-is from the media outlet source and is not edited by FirstNet. Links to non-Federal Government websites do not constitute endorsement of any product, service, organization, company, information provider, or content. Clicking on non-Department of Commerce hyperlinks will direct you to websites that are not under the Government’s control.
NASCIO Blog: Perspectives from Partners: FirstNet
http://community.nascio.org/blogs/yejin-cooke/2016/04/08/perspectives-from-partners-firstnet
The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) is an independent federal government authority with the mission to deploy the first high-speed, nationwide wireless broadband network for public safety. Once operable, the FirstNet network will enable interoperable communications between jurisdictions and agencies across city, county and state lines around the country. The public-safety grade LTE network will also put next generation technology into the hands of first responders, improving situational awareness, efficiency and effectiveness during emergency response.
In January 2016, FirstNet released is Request for Proposals (RFP) for the deployment of the nationwide public safety broadband network and bids will be due on May 13, 2016. FirstNet anticipates making the award in November 2016. Since the release of the RFP, FirstNet has responded to hundreds of questions from vendors and other stakeholders in addition to continuing engagement efforts across the country. In this issue of Perspectives from Partners, we interviewed FirstNet’s Dave Buchanan, Director of Consultation and Richard Reed, Director of State Plans.
FedScoop 4/12: FirstNet extends bid deadline two weeks
http://fedscoop.com/firstnet-extends-bid-deadline-two-weeks
Firms that want to bid to deploy a public safety broadband network across the U.S. have an extra two and a half weeks to do so, the First Responder Network Authority, known as FirstNet, announced Monday. The deadline for responses to the request for proposals issued by FirstNet back in January has been extended from May 13 to May 31, the authority said in a statement.
RCR Wireless 4/14: FirstNet said plans for a nationwide mobile broadband network serving public safety remain on track for $6.5B in vendor awards by year-end
http://www.rcrwireless.com/20160414/carriers/firstnet-not-expect-rfp-deadline-extensions-tag2
The First Responder Network Authority said it remains on track in announcing partners by the end of the year to build out its planned public safety mobile broadband network, despite a recent move to extend the deadline for request for proposal submissions. Speaking at this week’s Competitive Carriers Association Mobile Carriers Show in Nashville, Tennessee, FirstNet President TJ Kennedy speaking during a keynote address said he did not expect to grant any further extensions than the one announced earlier this month allowing for submissions up to May 31. The latest move followed previous extensions from the original April 29 and later May 13 deadline.
Web and Social Media
FirstNet social media enjoyed steady traffic. Twitter gained 35 followers and is now at 3,483 followers, while LinkedIn has 1,450 followers. YouTube now has 253 subscribers.
Do you have something you want to feature in the weekly update, such as a conference date, personnel announcement, or news article showcasing the work of your organization? Please send it to Yancy Edwards at yancy.edwards.ctr@firstnet.gov for possible inclusion in an upcoming update.