PdvWireless Out of Running to Build FirstNet
PdvWireless, a contender for the government contract to help build the FirstNet network, said in an SEC filing it's no longer in the running. The company received written notice Monday from the Department of the Interior contracting officer that its…
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bid "is no longer being considered for the award,” the company said. FirstNet is using a government contracting process to select a winner, assisted by Interior. PdvWireless said in a June financial release that it “assembled a consortium of world-class companies with recognized expertise in the critical areas needed to build and operate a public safety broadband network” and submitted a bid for the FirstNet contract. Vice chairman of the wireless company is Morgan O’Brien, a founder of Nextel and former CEO of Cyren Call, which tried to build a national network for first responders before the creation of FirstNet. “The Company was competing with a number of other bidders for the FirstNet award, including groups that had significantly more resources than the Company,” said the SEC filing. “The Company, however, determined that participating in the FirstNet bidding process was in the best interests of its stockholders because of a number of potential benefits to the Company, regardless of the outcome. These benefits include the ability to directly utilize the business, technical and other information developed for the FirstNet proposal in planning and preparing for the broadband facilities the Company plans to deploy, building valuable relationships with the wireless and technology companies who participated in the Company’s FirstNet consortium, and raising the Company’s profile within the wireless industry and the technology community.” FirstNet officials hope to pick a team of companies to build the national network in November, with AT&T and Verizon among the likely contenders (see 1606300064).