FirstNet Update: BTOP Negotiations Commenced

FirstNet board member Sue Swenson has been leading negotiations with the seven Public Safety BTOP recipients, in accordance with a resolution passed at the February board meeting in Boulder, CO. 

Swenson and agencies have conducted informal preliminary negotiations as a group, and each project has identified a lead negotiator and its coordinator to facilitate exchange of information.  The Board has discussed a common set of terms and conditions for the agreements, however there will likely be differences in some of the terms because each project is at a different level of maturity. 

"We're pleased with the progress we've made thus far in our spectrum lease negotiations with the BTOP Public Safety projects.  These jurisdictions and FirstNet's team have had some very productive discussions on the draft framework for a lease agreement.  After we receive the projects' written feedback on the current draft, we will be in ap osition to move forward in earnest with more individualized negotiations," said Swenson, quoted in the NTIA's press release from Friday.

Special conditions yet to be designated include how to address rural or wide-area deployments, in-building coverage, development of applications, billing and provisioning, in addition to other project-specific issues. 

The Public Safety BTOP recipients includethe Adams County (Colo.) Communications Center, the City of Charlotte (N.C.), the Executive Office of the State of Mississippi, the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System  (LA-RICS) Authority, Motorola Solutions (San Francisco Bay area), the New Jersey Department of the Treasury and the New Mexico Department of Information Technology.  A similar project in the State of Texas was funded through grants from the Department of Homeland Security, however Texas officials have been observing these negotiations, since Texas will likely commence their own negotiations on spectrum leasing in the near future. 

Once lease agreements are agreed upon between FirstNet and the seven BTOP agencies, a recommendation will be sent to the NTIA to waive the freeze mandated last year. For more information on this and other Public Safety communications issues, visit Radio Resource Media Group.