fire fire fighting. it will enable real time data exchange to assist commanders with operation al decision playing making. the first net will make profound changes in how emergency service is pract practiced. the first net network will facilitate critical decision making in real time and help save lives. under emergency conditions the networks become overwhelmed and we experienced this in oklahoma city 20 years ago. the full deployment of first net

will ensure first responders can access vital information under all emergency conditions. i think there was uncertainty from public safety after first net was formed that the concerns are not being heard and it will end up being a mission safety network. the network must be mission critical at the outset. under the chairwoman first net has sought greater input from the public safety advisory committee and ingay marriage -- engaged far more than previously. it is a 40-member group that is giving us information on public safety. the committee meets several times a year including once this past year in norman oklahoma near by home town. we believe that public safety

ongoing input is vital at all stages of the network's development so it will be tail tailored to meet the end users. the ifc and public safety in general are pleased with jeffrey johnson as vice chair of first net. he is a well recognized in the fire and emergency committee. we believe first net has worked to create opportunities for the public safety community and help shape the design of the network in states and territory. this outreach improved over the years and we look forward to that continuing.

this is a key element to success and a venue where public safety personal are able to ensure first net is meeting our needs. first net has made strides with states conducting more than a hundred engagements involving 20,000 stakeholders. many members attended and reported favorable on the first net engagement. i understand that first net intend do is hold meeting with the remain states by the end of the year. there is still gaps during the in-person meeting on the final network will look like the cost, and the coverage areas but these are the exact type of questions that should be and are being asked and debated. public safety must be included in the conversations and we

appreciate the engagement with public safety commitment. there is a lot of work to be done and first net must move quickly on sever activities in 2015. these and other developments from the past year help foster a more inclusive, transparent dialogue between first net and the public safety community. first net is needed to the crease the safety of the emergency personal and protect the american people. first net isn't the only thing that bears success. it falls on all public safety officials to ensure success in the creation and administration of the broadband network. i feel confidant first net is on the right path to build a broadband nation that will serve firefighters, emergency medical providers and other responders. i appreciate the opportunity to be before you and offer this testimony.

thank you, sir. >> thank you. mr. goldstein? >> i am pleased to be here to talk about first net. we are tasked with a wireless broadband net specifically for emergency safety. the finings are preliminary in nature. the 2012 act provided $7 billion from spectrum auction proceed for the network construction and required to be self-funding beyond the allocation. we worked with five building projects that had permission to build networks. first net's progress of responsibilities and establishing controls and how much the network is estimated to cost and how they plan to be self-funding and what lessons can be learned from the early

building projects. first, we found first net has made progress with the responsibilities established but lacked internal controls. they made progress establishing structure, planning the nationwide broadband network and consulting with stakeholders but they have up coming issues saying the level of coverage will be difficult to address and carry out responsibilities. internal controls they have stb established policies but not assessed the risk. given first net faces multitudes of risk assessing them would help them respond to risks in a proactive way developing standards of contact would hem them address conduct issues in a timely manner. second, it is estimated to cost

billions and first net faced the difficult decision determining how to fund the network's construction and ongoing operations. various entities estimated the cost from $12-$47 billion over the first ten years and the actual cost is influenced by the business model, extent of commercial preps, use of existing network and network coverage. the cost would likely increase if they don't utilize commercial partnerships. they can use secondary use of the network for non-public safety networks put it is difficult to determine how to best use the sources.

wide spread coverage attracts user buzz it is expensive to construct and maintain especially in rural areas. we found that first net has taken steps to collect and evaluate information from the five early builder projects. but it could do more to evaluate and incorporate the investments. they have assigned contractors to collect and log lessons. preliminary results so first net doesn't have a plan how it will evaluate the experiences and lessons. they have found a well developed evaluation plan can help ensure the agency obtain the information necessary. given the early builder projects are done at a local and regional level what first net must do nationally this can play a key

role in the management and planning, feedback on execution making sure they have not missed opportunities. this concludes ply remarks and i would be happy to answer remarks >> thank you. ms. swinson. >> thank you for inviting me to testify on behalf of the first responder network authority. this is also a pleasure to appear with my fellow panel members and i would like to welcome several members of the public safety community who are with us here to hear about their network. i appreciate everybody coming with us today. as you know we experienced growing pains in the early days of our existence. with only board members on the first net until mid-2013 and an executive team not in place

until the latter part of the year we were dependent on other supports and worked to shore up weakness and take on as much responsibility as we can. and i am confidant the processess and procedures are in line with expectations. with the executive team in place we build a strategic road map in march of 2014 and have been on pace with major milestones since. we started the formal meetings and the first public notice and comment in september of 2014. on monday we released the second public notice and comment. and the board is on track to address the draft rfp later this month. we have had outreach meetings since the beginning cuonnectconnecting

first net with stakeholders. we scheduled meetings with an additional 28 states and held a variety of forms beyond this meetings with single points of contact in the state with week leo mails, monthly phone calls quarterly webinars and upcoming on april 14th and 15 we will host an inperson meeting where we are going to have 56 states andsial point of contacts attending if they can make it. i am very proud of the organization and what it has accomplished and where they are in terms of readiness. it is a dedicated and committed team working on a project that faces head winds each and every day. what no one sees is the toll

thes this takes on the organization and the people working in it. at first net we are taking on this task to deploy a nationwide network and we are constrained by a number of factors that are out of our control. coming from the private sector i have found the federal rules and processes challenging at time. this slows the process to move as we and others would like. i know there are some who would like to see more progress at this point. i would, too. but we are a federal entity and subject to regulations. so i hope you understand why we may not be moving as quickly as everyone expects. we looked at cycle times and committing the necessary resources within the department of commerce to make the

improvements. we appreciate the support. we are explayeroring the hiring process and procurement. i believe that having people dedicated to whose functions whose first priority is first net will enable to move it along quickly and eefficiently and adhere to the rules. we are working to build a culture that is appropriate to serve the community. our first responders are on duty 24/7 and we need to be there to support them. this means working a laser focus commitment to serve and have a sense of urgency. we have accomplished a lot and are building a reputation to do what we see we will do. we have more to complete but i

believe we are on the right path with a dedicated team working on the mission. thank you for allowing me to be here. >> thongank you. >> we appreciate the opportunity to testify as we examine first net problems and challenges in establishing the broadband network. this act authorizes first net to use public money to build a pub public safety network making internal control and the compliance important. it is critically important for the feminist first responders to have the ability to connect

quickly. on april 23 2013 first net meeting a former board member presented a resolution regarding decision making and concerns including including including including ethics and procurement. we looked at board ac-- access to information. the previous board chairman asked my office to look into ethics and procurement. first net didn't wait for the report to make changes. they hired a chief council, established a compliance program, and worked with our office develop a training program for board members and

staff. the results of the audit disclosed problems. we found public and financial monitoring proceeder were not adequate, some board members didn't file timely disclosure reports and monitoring of potential conflicts of interest needed improvement. we found one now former board member didn't file a public financial disclosure record and when he did he didn't disclose a significant interest or position in a conflicting company. another now former board member submitted a financial disclosure five months late. we consider this an important issue for internal control because the mission and membership of the board includes close ties to the telecommunication issues. in procurement we found first net contracting practice lacked

sufficient hire competition, and adequate monitoring. we found an 8.4 million contract was not adequate and a former board member inappropriately directed the contractor in advance of the award to hire specific individuals. this created the appearance the contractor was required to hire the individuals in order to get the contract. close relationships with contractor personal can show favortism and call into the questions the procurement process. we made nine recommendations and some have been implemented and we continue to work with the department on the following. our recommendations were taken serious and progress has been made but significant challenges

remain. the areaed we have identified as watch items which are well known to first net include the following. ensuring funding, determining the assets incorporating lessons learned from the broadband technology opportunity program, continue to address and identify internal control weaknesses and executing the consultation process. we are continuing to oversee first net and will keep them informed with respect to these challenges and others identified. the act did not authorize first net to be dedicated to oversight so as a result over the past two years we have been working the department on funding the oversight and the 2016 budget request is an appropriation for

work but the committee might want to see if it is appropriate to authorize it from the funds. this concludes my testimony and i am pleased to answer any questions >> thank you for the panel for your great comments. we will look forward to asking a few questions and try to confine to members of the committee. i will start off by asking you ms. swinson. rural america is not allowed to be left behind in deploying first net and my question is how do you plan to ensure more states are adequately covered? >> thank you for the question. as you know with discussions with your office and other members we take rural coverage seriously and it is as high of a priority as urban. and this is what makes the

difference. commercial doesn't cover rural. we talked about state consultation and it is in those meetings where we review the program with the state. we work in advance with the single point of contact in your state and plan those meetings, go over the plans, and give an opportunity for folks from the state to tell us where their priorities are. we don't know that. that is why we go into the consultation meetings get the information, and feed it in the process as part of the response mechanisms for the vendors who respond to this about how they will do the coverage and what cost. it is a critical component of the first net program. and again, i think it is really important to understand this is what sets it apart from a commercial network. >> speaking of the rfp, first net was established in 2012 but the stakeholders have been

pushing for a public safety network. that has been going on for about a decade. but the concerns are the vendor community and public safety community could lose conference in this endeavor and that could be a tipping point with regard to success. you mentioned you will try to rfp by the end of the month >> the draft rfp. if i could i would like to talk about the fact we said we are on track with everything we said we would do. issued public notice and comment on monday and by the end of the month the board is going to consider the draft rfp forissue issue. vendors wants tonight what we intend and it provides the

vendors to give us feedback about how the draft rfp is issued so when we issue the final one toward the latter part of the calendar here there is no unintended consequences because he didn't take it into consideration. we are on track to issue that and with all of the mile stones we communicated over a year ago. and you think end of the calendar year final rfp. >> that is what i believe today. >> are there factors that could delay that >> i am not aware of that. but depending on the comments from the vendors we get back on the draft it might extend it a little but i think it will be worth the time so when we issue the rfp it is done right and as you indicated the rfp is the

pivotal part of this program. it is about deploying the network and monetizing the spectrum. it is a very complicated process. so this has to be done right and i think it is pivotal for the program. >> thank you. mr. goldstein, i understand first net hasn't determined how the early builder projects in the jurisdictions moving ahead will be incorperated into the first net and various factors will contribute. i would like to see if you could recommend what steps first net should take to address those. >> thank you. regarding the projects and they have been collecting information including governance conducting out pp outreach and planning for deployment.

they haven't integrated information into a data plan that will allow them to use that information down the road as these projects and milestones and use that information to make changes themselves in first net's own development as time goes forward. so we think they can do a better job in that area and maybe it is trying to do everything at once has been difficult. i think we recognize that. but that is one area they are going to achieve success and it is critical.

... >> want to the secretary and one to the general counsel of the department, to to the chairman and the five to the senior procurement officials in the department and they are all being implemented. >> thank you.

>> thank you mr. chairman. let's remember the reason to have all the first responders to be able to talk to each other without without the hindrances to the past when there is a matter of national security or a national emergency or local emergency in front of us. i would like to thank you all for what you are doing and we knew that this mission was not going to be easy. we have certainly seen disasters in the past that one set of radios cannot talk to the others. but the states of interaction are way too high and they are creating right from scratch the

interoperable nationwide network devoted to public safety. and so you are a unique hybrid and we have asked the board to think like entrepreneurs with a limited budget and to launch a startup enterprise within the confines of the federal government and that is pretty huge. and so the fact that the board wasn't even set up until august august 2012. ..

we require that you consider cyber security. what steps are you taking in the planning for the nations that work to prevent against the attacks and and mr. andrews, i we will ask you, is the department reviewing the work on cyber security protections? and what are you going to do about it in the future? >> thank you, and as you know, we have discussed that in previous conversations cyber is a challenging area for the nation and large

companies, but i am happy to tell you we are collaborating closely with the department of homeland security, adding resources to the organization so that it is built into our planning, our technical planning and, of course, be a major part of our proposal. proposal. it is a high priority, and i think we are leveraging resources properly within the government. i am always open to suggestions. >> are you going to having enough money? >> it is probably too early to answer that specifically because we are just now looking at the planning process. we believe that business models are sufficient to build up this network and have incorporated those assumptions and to our financial model. at this time i do not see difficulty with that but like everything we do with firstnet everything is new.

there were things we got at the beginning two years ago that we have changed as a result of what we have learned and i imagine i imagine we will continue that as we go along. again, it is a very high priority and we will keep you posted. >> mr. andrews, i think it is essential to harden against cyber security because other than your every day natural disaster but when it is not a natural disaster whatever is attacking us is going to be attacking us with cyber simultaneously. what are you going to do? >> sen., cyber security is a a high priority for the department. we recognize it is a serious issue that needs to be addressed as part of the firstnet buildout. not only are we working to make sure they have the support they need but our cio is involved our team is involved