FirstNet CEO: No contract to be awarded by Nov. 1 target

If there was any doubt, FirstNet CEO Michael Poth made it official: FirstNet won’t be announcing the contractor for the nation’s first Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network on Nov. 1, leaving it up in the air as to whether it will be awarded during the month of November. Earlier in 2016, Poth said FirstNet remained on track to announce a contract by Nov. 1, but in recent months, FirstNet officials have been using the term “November timeframe” in reference to awarding the 25-year contract, IWCE’s Urgent Communications notes. It's a process that is widely expected to involve at least one nationwide wireless carrier.

AT&T, for one, has described the bidding process as a “rare” event and one it intends to aggressively pursue. “FirstNet will continue to execute the acquisition process outlined in the RFP beyond the November 1st target date for the award,” Poth said in an Oct. 27 blog post. “We will continue to work diligently with our Federal partners to complete the RFP process in line with the FAR [Federal Acquisition Regulation] while being as transparent as allowable.” There are signs the list of candidates is narrowing, however. pdvWireless stated in an SEC filing that on Oct. 17, it received written notice from the contracting officer of the U.S. Department of the Interior that its proposal for the FirstNet public safety network was no longer being considered for the award. pdvWireless is headed by Brian McAuley and Morgan O'Brien, wireless industry veterans involved in the launch of the first nationwide all-digital network known as Nextel Communications, a pioneer in push-to-talk communications. That leaves bidding teams led by AT&T and Rivada Mercury. Rivada Mercury is the entity composed of Nokia, Ericsson, Intel Security, Harris Corporation, Fujitsu Network Communications and Black & Veatch and led by former Sprint executive Joe Euteneuer.