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Wavelengths
Early rebanding
work reveals pitfall in process
By Donny Jackson
February 28, 2008
LAS VEGAS--During the past three years, the primary focus of
public-safety organizations impacted by 800 MHz rebanding has been
negotiating deals with Sprint Nextel and getting the blessing of the
Transition Administrator and the FCC.
These negotiations -- typically involving mediation -- have taken much
longer than originally anticipated, but they are getting done. On a
panel yesterday at the International Wireless Communications Expo
(IWCE), TA Director Brett Haan said 55% of all NPSPAC licensees
nationwide have signed rebanding pacts with Sprint Nextel.
Now comes the hard part: actually completing the work.
Haan said more than 100 NPSPAC licensees have finished their rebanding
work, but most of these completions have occurred in systems that were
relatively uncomplicated. For larger, more complex systems, getting the
work done requires careful planning and attention to even the smallest
details.
But, no matter how thorough the preparation, things happen that require
plans to be altered. For instance, a date could have been set months ago
to reband mobile vehicles in a given city. However, if every mobile
vehicle is needed on the street that day because the presidential
candidates decided to come to town and stump for votes, it may not be
possible to get the work done as scheduled. Of course, severe weather is
always a potential complication.
"This happens in every large engineering project," said Chuck Jackson,
Motorola's vice president of system operations. "This is not unique to
rebanding."
In such situations, the vendor typically discusses the situation with
the customer -- the city, in the above scenario -- and a change order is
made that usually adds cost to the project. Instead of waiting until the
next meeting of elected officials to get approval, a vendor often
completes the work with the understanding that approval from the city
council or other elected body will be secured in the future. No one
likes change orders, but they are a common occurrence.
However, in a typical project, the customer is paying for the project.
That's not the case with rebanding, which is funded by Sprint Nextel.
The scenario has created a situation for vendors and licensees regarding
change orders that is "scary," according to Danielle Marcella, senior
project manager for M/A-COM.
Because Sprint Nextel is paying the bill, it -- and, potentially, the TA
or FCC -- needs to approve a change order to ensure that those
performing the work will get paid for their efforts. That means altering
the rebanding contract, which is not an easy process.
But what if Sprint Nextel -- or the TA or the FCC -- determines the
change order does not meet the "reasonable and prudent" test? If the
work has already been done, the licensee has to pay an unexpected bill
or the vendor simply has to eat the cost.
"Any licensee or vendor who performs work that is not specified in the
FRA is at risk," Marcella said. "When it's a small amount, it's not a
big deal. But, when it is several hundreds of thousands of dollars, it
is a big problem."
And it's a problem that can snowball throughout the country as rebanding
proceeds. To date, negotiations have been focused on getting the job
done for the least amount of money possible -- including the removal of
normal contingency fees -- with the understanding that "actual costs"
will be paid by Sprint Nextel, Marcella said. While vendors may view
actual costs as whatever is necessary to get the job done, Sprint Nextel
may see things differently when applying the "reasonable and prudent"
test to a change order.
M/A-COM has been burned by this scenario already, Marcella said. While
she declined to describe the details of M/A-COM's situation, Marcella
painted a picture of a hypothetical scenario.
Let's say a public-safety agency negotiated a rebanding deal that called
for all radios to be retuned or replaced in a 10-day period. Upon
starting the job, complications discovered while doing the work makes it
clear that it will actually take 30 days to complete. Both the licensee
and the vendor want to proceed as quickly as possible -- something the
FCC says it wants -- but neither may be comfortable working beyond the
10th day out of fear that Sprint Nextel won't pay for the work, Marcella
said.
If the work stops on the 10th day, all remaining radios would have to
wait to be retuned until after the change order is approved and the
appropriate resources -- equipment and technical personnel -- can return
to the area, which promises to become increasingly challenging as the
schedules of those who can do the work get overbooked as the rebanding
schedule proceeds.
"In terms of trying to manage the schedule, we are all in a very
precarious position because it is all at risk and there is no guarantee
that anybody will be paid for any of that [change-order] work," Marcella
said. I can see that is going to impact schedules very greatly because I
can see everyone taking a stand that says, 'We will not perform any work
at risk without any funding avenue.'"
This is an issue that is not going away anytime soon and requires
attention from the FCC immediately. Without a good change-order process,
rebanding could continue well beyond the 2012 timetable that most in the
industry believe will be necessary to complete the massive project.
E-mail me at djackson@mrtmag.com.
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In the news
IWCE:
JPS, Clarity partner on radio-cellular interoperability
By Glenn Bischoff
February 28, 2008
LAS VEGAS--Raytheon JPS Communications is demonstrating
at IWCE 2008 this week, in collaboration with Clarity Communications
Systems, a solution that leverages the company's ACU-2000 IP gateway
device to deliver interoperable communications between land mobile
radios and cellular handsets.
IWCE: Space
Data keeps its feet on the ground to provide iDEN offering
By Donny Jackson
February 28, 2008
LAS VEGAS--Arizona-based Space Data will use its
nationwide 900 MHz spectrum to extend iDEN services in the United
States, particularly in rural areas, the company announced this week at
the International Wireless Communication Expo (IWCE) at the Las Vegas
Convention Center
IWCE: HYT
America introduces new radios
By Donny Jackson and Mary Rose Roberts
February 28, 2008
LAS VEGAS--HYT America this week is unveiling a number
of new analog portable radios and its first repeater at the
International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) this week at the Las
Vegas Convention Center.
IWCE: P25
multi-band radio connects agencies across frequencies
By Mary Rose Roberts
February 28, 2008
LAS VEGAS--The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's
Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate demonstrated a Project 25 (P25)
multi-band radio capable of supporting multiple public-safety frequency
bands yesterday at the 2008 International Wireless Communications Expo.
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Manager, Boulder County, Colorado.
The
story continues here.
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