The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (2012 act) established numerous responsibilities for FirstNet, most of which relate directly to developing the nationwide public-safety broadband network (hereafter, public safety network). It is intended that this network will be a new, nationwide, broadband telecommunications network. Public safety users, and potentially other “secondary” users, may be assessed fees to use the network, much as they may currently pay for the use of commercial wireless networks. In establishing this network, FirstNet must issue open, transparent, and competitive Requests for Proposals (RFP) to private sector entities for the purpose of building, operating, and maintaining the public safety network; develop RFPs that include appropriate timetables for construction, and network coverage areas and service levels, among other things; enter into agreements to use, to the maximum extent economically desirable, existing commercial, federal, state, local, and tribal infrastructure; promote competition in the public-safety equipment marketplace by requiring that equipment for the public safety network be built to open, non-proprietary standards; promote integration of the public safety network with public-safety address special considerations for areas with unique homeland or require deployment phases that include substantial rural coverage milestones; and develop the technical and operational requirements for the public safety network, as well as the practices and procedures for managing and operating it. In establishing the infrastructure for the public safety network, the 2012 act requires FirstNet to include the following network components, as shown in figure 1: core network of data centers and other elements, all based on commercial standards; connectivity between the radio access network (RAN) and the public Internet or the Public Switched Telephone Network, or both; and network cell-site equipment, antennas, and “backhaul” equipment, based on commercial standards, to support wireless devices operating on frequencies designated for public safety broadband. In developing the public safety network, FirstNet must work with a variety of stakeholders. The 2012 act required FirstNet to be headed by a 15- member board with 3 permanent members (the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget) and 12 individuals appointed by the Secretary of Commerce. The appointed members are required to have public safety experience or technical, network, or financial expertise. The 2012 act also required FirstNet to establish a standing public-safety advisory committee to assist it in carrying out its responsibilities and consult with federal, regional, state, local, and tribal jurisdictions on developing the network. For state, local, and tribal planning consultations, FirstNet is required to work with the state Single Points of Contact (SPOC) who have been designated by each state, territory, and the District of Columbia (hereafter, states). The 2012 act requires FirstNet to notify the states when it has completed its RFP process for building, operating, and maintaining the public safety network. Once a state receives the details of FirstNet’s plans, it has 90 days either to agree to allow FirstNet to construct a RAN in that state or notify FirstNet, NTIA, and FCC of its intent to deploy its own RAN. A state that “opts out” of FirstNet’s plan to build that state’s RAN has an additional 180 days from that notification to develop and complete RFPs for the construction, maintenance, and operation of the RAN within the state; the state must send FCC an alternative plan for constructing, operating, and maintaining its RAN. The plan must demonstrate that the state’s proposed RAN would comply with certain minimum technical requirements and be interoperable with FirstNet’s network. FCC shall either approve or disapprove the plan. In addition, a state that opts out is required to apply to NTIA for an agreement to use FirstNet’s spectrum capacity. Various federal agencies will provide assistance and support to FirstNet. For example, The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) within the Department of Commerce, in consultation with FCC, DHS, and the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice, is required to conduct research and assist with the development of standards, technologies, and applications to advance wireless public-safety communications. The Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program, a joint NTIA and NIST effort, performs research on behalf of FirstNet to advance public-safety communications interoperability. DHS, through both the Office of Emergency Communications and the Office for Interoperability and Compatibility, supports the establishment of the public safety network and collaborates with public safety and government officials at the federal, state, local, and tribal levels to help ensure the network meets the needs and technical requirements of users in the public safety community. The 2012 act also required FCC, the entity responsible for managing and licensing commercial and non-federal spectrum use—including spectrum allocated to public safety—to take certain steps to support FirstNet. It also authorized FCC to provide FirstNet with technical assistance and to take any action necessary to assist FirstNet in effectuating its statutory duties and responsibilities. Radio frequency spectrum is an essential resource for wireless communications, including the planned public-safety network. The energy in electronic telecommunications transmissions converts airwaves into signals to deliver voice, text, and images. These signal frequencies are allocated for specific purposes, such as television broadcasting or Wi-Fi, and assigned to specific users through licenses. Allocating sufficient spectrum for wireless emergency communications has long been a concern for Congress. The 2012 act required FCC to reallocate the “D Block,” a previously commercial spectrum block located in the upper 700 megahertz (MHz) band, to public safety and to grant a license to FirstNet for the use of both the existing public-safety broadband spectrum in the upper 700 MHz band and the D Block. FirstNet now has a license to operate the nationwide public-safety broadband network on spectrum in the upper 700 MHz band, specifically 758-769 MHz and 788- 799 MHz (see fig. 2 below). In October 2013, FCC adopted consolidated technical service rules governing the 700 MHz band of spectrum licensed to FirstNet and was prepared to accept and process applications for equipment certification in that spectrum band consistent with the newly consolidated rules. FCC has conducted specified spectrum auctions, as required by the 2012 act, so that auction proceeds could be used to fund FirstNet. The 2012 act provides $7 billion from the spectrum auction proceeds to FirstNet for “buildout” of the public safety network, reduced by the amount needed to establish FirstNet. The 2012 act requires FirstNet to be self-funding beyond this initial $7 billion. Efforts to establish local and regional public-safety networks are also ongoing, and predate the 2012 act. In 2009, public safety entities began requesting waivers from FCC’s rules to allow early deployment of interoperable public-safety wireless broadband networks in the upper 700 MHz spectrum band authorized for public safety use. Through 2011, FCC granted waivers to 22 jurisdictions for early deployment of such networks.altered the regulatory landscape for the 700 MHz band” and sought However, FCC recognized that the 2012 act “fundamentally comment on the disposition of waiver jurisdiction deployments. In May 2012, NTIA partially suspended seven grant projects for the waiver jurisdictions that received funding from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), a federal grant program to promote the expansion of broadband infrastructure. NTIA suspended the projects in part to ensure the projects supported the development of FirstNet’s public safety network. In July 2012, FCC decided to hold all waiver authorizations ineffective as of September 2, 2012, and said it would allow such jurisdictions to continue to deploy public-safety broadband services in the existing public-safety broadband spectrum (later extended to include the D Block) under certain limited circumstances consistent with FirstNet’s future use of the spectrum. FCC granted FirstNet the 700 MHz public-safety broadband-spectrum license in November 2012, and in February 2013, FirstNet announced it would begin negotiations with the original waiver jurisdictions on SMLAs. With FirstNet in control of the 700 MHz public-safety broadband-spectrum license pursuant to its FCC license, the jurisdictions had to secure an SMLA with FirstNet to lift their partial funding suspension and resume work. By August 2014, FirstNet secured SMLAs with five original waiver jurisdictions; in this report, we refer to these jurisdictions as early builder projects. Figure 3 shows timelines for the early builder projects and the amount of federal funding they received to deploy their networks. As part of their SMLAs with FirstNet, the early builder projects agreed to report to FirstNet on their use of the spectrum, their progress, and on key-learning conditions, among other things. FirstNet has not yet determined if or how the early builder project networks will be incorporated into its nationwide network. Three other original waiver jurisdictions were awarded BTOP funds to deploy local and regional public-safety broadband networks, including the State of Mississippi, the San Francisco Bay Area in California, and the City of Charlotte in North Carolina. However, for various reasons, these jurisdictions were unable to reach SMLAs with FirstNet and the projects were canceled. Even with the establishment of the public safety network, first responders will continue to rely on their current LMR systems for mission-critical voice communications. We previously reported that a major limitation of a public-safety broadband network is that it will not provide first responders with “mission-critical” voice capabilities—that is, voice capabilities that meet a high standard for reliability, redundancy, capacity, and flexibility necessary during emergencies—for several years.