Public safety networkPublic safety network failed to involve important constituencies in development phase
On 22 February 2012, Congress passed the legislation to create the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), an agency tasked with creating a nationwide wireless broadband network for public safety and emergency response officials. Currently, the nation’s 5.4 million first responders rely on commercial carriers to communicate and share critical information during emergencies. Analysts say that a failure to incorporate the public safety sector into the development phase of FirstNet set the new agency on a wrong path in its early days.
On 22 February 2012, Congress passed the legislation to create the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), an agency tasked with creating a nationwide wireless broadband network for public safety and emergency response officials. Currently, the nation’s 5.4 million first responders rely on commercial carriers to communicate and share critical information during emergencies. FirstNet, an independent agency under the National Technology and Information Agency (NTIA), operates with its own board members and is subject to all federal personnel and procurement regulations, including competitive bidding for consulting contracts. To fund FirstNet’s estimated $7 billion in startup costs, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auctioned off surplus radio frequencies held by TV broadcasters. Ongoing operations would be covered by fees charged to public safety agencies expected to use the network.
Governing reports that a failure to incorporate the public safety sector into the development phase of FirstNet set the new agency on a wrong path in its early days. The board’s first chair, Samuel Ginn, a wireless industry executive with experience at Vodafone and AirTouch Communications, relied on industry technicians to build the new wireless communications system. With the board’s permission, Ginn and fellow board member Craig Farrill bypassed the competitive bidding process and hired thirty-five technical consultants under sole source contracts with salaries reaching as much as $300 per hour. In April 2003, Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald, then a FirstNet board member, criticized the contracts and raised the possibility of conflict of interest in the hiring process as almost all contract staff were former acquaintances and co-workers of Ginn and Farrill.
A recent investigation by McClatchy News Service also raised questions about the hiring process, noting that in its early days, FirstNet failed to involve its most important constituency: emergency responders, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), firefighters, and police officers. In response, FirstNet stated that due to “limited pool of talent that has experience with planning and deploying a national broadband network,” some of the consultants who were retained “had previously worked with board members in different companies.”
Bill Schrier, a senior policy adviser in the Office of the Chief Information Officer for Washington state, who recently attended an 8 October consultation between FirstNet and Oregon officials, told Governing that “police, fire, first responders and mayors are used to being consulted, being active participants.”
“When Ginn and Farrill didn’t consult with the members of the committee, it led to a significant amount of opposition among public safety officials. In other words, the potential customers of FirstNet weren’t happy,” said Schrier. Public safety agencies are not required by law to subscribe to FirstNet, therefore “if FirstNet doesn’t consult with its anchor customers at the beginning, it’s going to be harder to market later on,” Schrier said, adding that “if too few public safety agencies use the network,” FirstNet would become “less effective and more costly” to operate.
Today, FirstNet’s board of directors include members of its constituency and several members of the original board, including Ginn and Farrill, have resigned. T. J. Kennedy, a former firefighter, EMT, and state trooper for the Utah Highway Patrol and later a director of Public Safety and Security for Raytheon Company, is now the agency’s Acting General Manager. Problems still persist however. To date, the FirstNet wireless network is years from completion and deployment, and the agency has not developed a device strategy. FedScoop reports that FirstNet may be leaning towards allowing commercial mobile devices on its network due to the widespread use of personal devices by emergency responders when at work.
The issue with that strategy is that most commercial smartphones are not built with the Band Class 14 chips that would allow them to access public safety spectrum; moreover, putting the chips in consumer devices could compromise FirstNet. “There is some concern that if the chip is in a consumer device that hackers might get a hold of them and be able to compromise the FirstNet network,” Schrier said. “On the other hand of this debate, there are many responders — volunteer firefighters, search-and-rescue volunteers, etc. — who use their personal devices for their official duties and would like to have band class 14 in their personal device,” he said.
Last month, FirstNet issued a request for information to “seek input on device strategy,” said an agency official, adding that FirstNet will release a request for proposal by the end of March 2015 that “will delve further into device strategy.”
