The RFP deadline for bids was Wednesday December 6. California officials have stated that state policy prohibits the release of the number or identity of bidders during an active procurement. However, Urgent Communications’ Donny Jackson reported on Friday that Verizon issued a statement confirming that the wireless carrier did not submit a bid. The statement said in part:
“Unfortunately, after carefully and extensively reviewing the State of California's public-safety-network RFP requirements, we have chosen not to bid on the RFP,” Verizon said in its statement. “Technical and financial requirements dictated by FirstNet's draft spectrum management lease agreement (SMLA) saddled the state of California—through no fault of its own—with onerous and vaguely defined mandates in its RFP that impacted our ability to create a response we believe best served public safety and Verizon.
“Vigorous competition that allows the industry and the marketplace to continue to grow and innovate is in the best interest of public safety and should be everyone's shared goal. Instead, we believe FirstNet and its corporate partner are rigging the game in order to stifle true competition."
California evaluators are scheduled to complete their review of the RFP submissions by December 13, but it is not known how many bidders actually responded, or who those bidders might be.
Stay tuned to the BayRICS Blog for updates and breaking news.