The art of building a large federal bureaucracy is taking a toll on FirstNet. The overarching desire to centralize the Public Safety Broadband Network under one federal organization is starting to follow the same path as any other federal agency…. large, cumbersome and flustered with red-tape — ultimately its own worst enemy. Such bureaucratic behavior can easily be interpreted as “non-interoperable” in the eyes of the States. And here we thought that interoperability was a technical issue. Who would have thought that the same organization yelling to the masses about Interoperability is in itself actually the source of “interoperability”?

The best point to make out of this whole FirstNet thing is by highlighting the fact that if you want to get this network built, you have to encourage the States to move forward on their own — under a high-level framework established by FirstNet. Had FirstNet adopted this philosophy from the beginning they could have completed a framework of execution within their first 6-months. But, politics is always present when money, taxpayer money, is involved. FirstNet doesn’t need to measure the distance between threads on the first screw when building the FirstNet structure; they just need to focus on what it looks like from afar and what the approved parts should be.

Ultimately, what we are faced with is the fact that FirstNet needs to come to its own self-realization that it is a governing body… not a contractor. I think that Bill D’Agastino (GM) gets this, but is inundated with the realization of the never-ending battle of bureaucracy… in short he can’t win unless he relinquishes more control to the States, but, he needs to do it in a manner that sets the tone for his ability to govern its implementation as discernable by those politicians that are controlling the bureaucratic process. In essence, FirstNet needs to get out of its own way here and let Bill work with the States, so the States can build their own solutions. Here is a question: what happens if the States go with the Myers Model™ and they don’t need any federal or state taxpayer money to design, build, operate or self-sustain? If we aren’t asking for a budget from the legislators do we actually need any involvement with the government? What happens if we have one state making lots of revenue off their own established Myers Model™ implementation, yet another state is not because it chose the FirstNet “all encompassing” bureaucratic model? Who will pick up the bill in getting state efforts back in shape? Jenny Craig or Richard Simmons?

A few states are in fact starting to take the lead. FirstNet needs to encourage this mindset and let it grow to their advantage. By advantage, I mean FirstNet needs to partner with the State and share in its opportunities garnered through the use of the public private partnership model. As I have stated in the past it would be to FirstNet’s advantage to join in on the solution rather than fester the problem. In the end, FirstNet would save a lot of time, and money, if it were to focus on the State’s efforts to create their own P3 — they will make a lot more money this way than trying to tap the taxpayers every time they need money. The avoidance of the political confusion, as well as the models ability to build economic incentives into the States, only benefits us all, but most specifically those States that are having economic problems.

The way I interpret it, FirstNet is trying to enter the luxury car market by building a Yugo knock-off without really reflecting inward by asking if this is the correct course of action, not just for themselves, but for the benefit of the States and all Americans. Why not just invest in the work of others — others who have the knowledge of local execution and local governance; someone who can deliver what really needs to be delivered at the State level and has more of a direct ear to its resident Americans?

But then again I’m…

Just some guy and a blog!

The attacks on the substation in California could have been avoided if the public safety community and the electrical utility players were on the same sheet of paper. Carpe Diem! We now have a chance to bring both of these worlds together. Through FirstNet the State can established a broadband solution that is all-inclusive of utilities, public safety and many others. The inclusion of all “Public Safety Service Organizations” is enacted in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Jobs Creation Act of 2012, which established the FirstNet organization and allocated the D-Block spectrum for public safety needs, but how exactly would they work together? Through a Public Private Partnership — more specifically utilizing the Myers Model^TM.

Through the Myers Model^TM the State can be inclusive of the demands, the requirements, and the monetary needs of its Public Safety solution for the State, as well as the utilities, where as the introduction of private investment will help stimulate job growth and private investment, while at the same time allowing for players, like the utilities, to have their demands for securing the electrical grid met, as well as accommodating their need for advancing their own technological needs, all as a support mechanism for the State’s needs. This would mean knocking out two birds with one stone without hitting the taxpayer’s pockets.

The Department of Energy has mandated that all the electrical utility providers must upgrade their generation, transmission and production capabilities into what has now been termed “SMART Grid”. Essentially, the SMART Grid is an all-encompassing electrical grid that has built-in capabilities of load sharing, protection and security, but there is one big underlying issue, the lack of spectrum dedicated to the utility space and their need for broadband coverage. The utilities are actually the largest owners of telecommunications, even bigger than most carriers, especially if you combine them. The telecommunications aspects of utilities actually cover more landmass than the carriers, where as the carrier’s cover only 40%, the electric grid covers more than 65%. Whereever there exists power lines, exists telecommunications. Telecommunications is what makes the power network work, without it the providers would not be able to watch over the network, nor capture any of its revenue — and there is a lot of revenue. For telecoms they collect abut $50-$100 a subscriber monthly, for utilities they collect on average $300-$500 monthly.

For Public Safety their big concern is cash flow, coverage and sustainability. This is where FirstNet and a partnership at the State level can help. The one big thing that the utilities can do, and do quite well, is pay for their needs and the ability to incorporate technological requirements through a large swath of geographic areas, i.e. American Electric Power Corp (AEP) covers 11-states with towers, fiber and data access points, and has installed assets totaling more than $55 Billion; of that $55 Billion you can bet that their technology based assets, i.e. Information Technology; data storage; power data support solutions; as well as their required telecommunications assets, will total at least 10% of that sunk cost, meaning operational expenditures of more than $5.5 Billion is spent on technology within a given timeframe. In the end, the utilities can bring the cash and the demand, essentially they are, not only considered a public safety and national security interest, they’re also the perfect customers for the Public Safety Broadband Network (along with Transportation and others).

Through a partnership the utility can achieve what it needs in meeting the demand for SMART Grid, they can also utilize the partnership, and the broadband technology, as cost cutting efficiencies associated with just delivering power; Public Safety gets its hardening demands, coverage requirements and some great paying customers. Just such a partnership would “kill two birds with one stone” — securing the electrical grid and broadening our reach of Public Safety, thus eliminating the risk of another terror attack on the United States. 

But then again I’m….

Just some guy and a blog…

Seems to be a lot going on in the background of FirstNet. I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries on my business model, which, happen to come from numerous States, all inquiring as to what the next steps are in instituting the P3 process. Through the Intellectual Property process, we are securing the rights to licensing the model for use across the nation.  The important thing about deploying the trade marked “Myers Model” is that licensing is being established as we speak, with that we are also setting up a certification process to certify consultants in the model. Through some already established relationships, we are designing the certification process with a major University as an accredited course as well. Not quite there yet, but we have made huge strides. Thank you K!

People need to understand that the lock-down of the Intellectual Property is not solely about payback for the painstaking years of research, analysis and presentations, but rather to insure that the model gets implemented correctly. If the model is not developed into a State solution correctly then there exist the possibility of sever detrimental effects on the States funding process; obligations to its creditors; as well as an significant impact on the schedule and risk associated with the deployment, all of which could severely impact the taxpayer base of support, thus political outcomes.

There are a lot of Public Private Partnerships out there, and there are a lot of people who claim to be experts in Public Private Partnerships, which they may be in their own line of business, but we are talking about adopting a Public Private Partnership model, the “Myers Model” (liking it already), that is specifically designed for the advancement of telecommunications in just these types of verticals. I have converged my knowledge of the telecommunications industry (25 years worth) into the background surrounding the design, construction, development, deployment and operations of such large-scale telecommunication solutions, that culminates into this specific Public Private Partnership. In doing so I have also figured out a way to balance the needs of its users and align their business needs to accommodate the perfect balance between all concerned entities in the process. Research has demonstrated that there has never been a Public Private Partnership deployed in North America to fund such a major wireless telecommunications solution such as FirstNet — until now.

Call it luck, or intuition, but I’m currently the only documented expert on the model and, thus, hold ownership to its implementation. It sounds ominous when you say it like that, but in reality, I want this to be a huge success and to insure it gets off the ground the correct way. My personal gain will be greater than my financial advantage. As with any model we will be open to rendering rights to the model for individual purposes under the licensing arrangement. We are open and willing to work with just about anybody when it comes to insuring this gets deployed successfully. In the end, its a small item that generates a great solution. 

More information will come apparent once we get through the legal stuff, but I’m open to private, or public, discussions on the topic, i.e. conferences, trade shows and the likes. Just send me a email. 

Just some guy and a blog….