FirstNet News
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled in favor of FirstNet in the protest action. This is a positive development for FirstNet and the public safety community. FirstNet intends to move expeditiously to finalize the contract for the nationwide public safety broadband network.
Last Thursday, FirstNet hosted its inaugural International Public Safety Wireless Broadband Forum in Reston, Virginia. More than 20 public safety and technology leaders from Australia, Canada, Finland, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, and the United Kingdom presented on their public safety wireless efforts. FirstNet leadership also presented on progress to date and next steps beyond the contract award. Attendees benefitted from the forum and agreed to continue sharing updates and lessons learned.
FirstNet has now completed 48 State Governance Body Consultation Meetings with a meeting in Michigan last week. FirstNet staff traveled to Dimondale for the meeting of the Michigan Public Safety Communications Interoperability Board and discussed the Governor’s decision and the FirstNet State Plan. Michigan stakeholders also outlined their planning for the FirstNet State Plan review process.
FirstNet also participated in three panel discussions at National RES (Reservation Economic Summit) in Las Vegas, Nevada last week. The annual meeting is convened by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, bringing together respected tribal leaders, members of Congress, federal agency representatives, state and local elected officials, and top executives.
FirstNet staff also met with the Eastern Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation’s Business Council on Monday to present on the background of FirstNet, the FirstNet State Plan process, and the importance of tribal data.
This week, FirstNet will be participating in the Institute of Fire Engineers Conference in Orange, California; the Center for Public Safety Excellence Conference in Garden Grove, California; a Connecticut Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee meeting in Middletown; the Wildland Urban Interface Conference in Reno, Nevada; the Minnesota APCO/NENA Conference in Alexandria; the Center for Domestic Preparedness Tribal Nations Training Week in Anniston, Alabama; a meeting with DHS management for the Technical Resource for Incident Prevention (TRIPwire) program; the New England Division of IAFC Annual Meeting in Quincy, Massachusetts; and a governance body meeting, metro engagement meeting, and Quality of Service, Priority and Preemption (QPP) Consultation Task Team (CTT) meeting in American Samoa.
Last week, FirstNet posted one new blog: San Diego, California Fire Chief Discusses the Vital Need for the FirstNet network.
News from the PSAC, States and Territories
The PSAC’s Early Builders Working Group (EBWG) is holding its monthly teleconference on Wednesday, March 22 from 3:00pm-4:00pm ET.
FirstNet is planning to hold an in-person PSAC meeting on Thursday, June 15th, 2017, in San Antonio, Texas, after the conclusion of the PSCR annual conference. Further details on location and invitational travel are forthcoming, and PSAC members are asked to hold the date on their calendars. Please email PSAC@firstnet.gov with any questions.
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.
MissionCritical Communications 3/17: Court Rules in Favor of FirstNet in Protest Case
http://mccmag.com/Features/FeaturesDetails/FID/732
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled in favor of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) in the protest action. The FirstNet board will hold a special meeting to determine next steps. “We are pleased with the court’s decision,” said FirstNet CEO Mike Poth. “This is a positive development for FirstNet and the public safety community. FirstNet intends to move expeditiously to finalize the contract for the nationwide public-safety broadband network.”
Wireless Week 3/17: Trump Budget Would Continue Support for “Next-Generation Wireless Services”
According to the budget text, Trump’s plan “continues to support the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in representing the United States interest at multi-stakeholder forums on internet governance and digital commerce.” Additionally, the budget “supports the commercial sector’s development of next generation wireless services by funding NTIA’s mission of evaluating and ensuring the efficient use of spectrum by government users.”
Urgent Communications 3/15: FirstNet staff ‘ready to go’ after contract award is made; board opts to decline resolution vote
FirstNet’s staff yesterday said it is prepared to act quickly on tasks necessary to deploy a nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) while eagerly anticipating a key court decision. Meanwhile, FirstNet board members opted against voting on a delegation resolution that had been on the meeting agenda.
Web and Social Media
FirstNet’s social media presence grew faster than usual this week. Twitter gained 116 new followers, now at 5,305. Facebook has 775 followers. LinkedIn now has 1,900 followers. YouTube has 390 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 PSAC@firstnet.gov for possible inclusion in an upcoming update.