FirstNet is awarding a Firm Fixed Priced contract for the following requirement:

FirstNet has the following requirement for Award Solutions’ Kitchen Sink Training. This training will provide a myriad of different on-demand technical subjects which will appeal to the different skill levels of the trainees: engineers, SMEs, directors, contributors, etc. Provide 66 On-Demand Wireless Technical Training courses to OCNTO, OCMEO, RDD, and Investment Management (40 participants with ability to increase number of participants in increments of 10, if requested) for the following topics:

34 5G courses

7 Network Virtualization courses

13 LTE and VoLTE courses

11 Transport courses

5 Automation and Insights courses

A Sampling of Topics:

Network Slicing

MEC

Open RAN

CBRS

Containers

Kubernetes

Sole Source Justification:

Award Solutions has created a robust library of 66 on-demand training programs for highly technical topics within the wireless industry. Their library of on-demand training is unrivaled for number of wireless specific classes offered, their breadth, span of topics and quality of content. This training is required for a significant number of FirstNet staff to remain current with skills which increases not only their skills and abilities but also the overall effectiveness and currency of knowledge of the FirstNet Authority in complex technical areas.

Since January, FirstNet has had 38 staff staff members requesting a breadth of technical training to meet their annual non-mandatory training requirements. FirstNet staff should have already begun their non-mandatory training but a lack of access to technically relevant training has limited their ability to do this. They can find one-off or instructor lead classes but based on continually evolving demands of their jobs, the optimal solution to their needs as a single source for a diversity of wireless technical training that can be done on-demand. To procure individual training classes from multiple vendors would not be a viable solution based on delays to procure and award each training and amount of man-hours required to procure and award single training classes when the need is for hundreds. Procuring through award solutions overcomes all of these issues by immediately providing access to 66 classes and hundreds of hours of on-demand learning for each staff member.

The FirstNet Authority has procured technical training from Award Solutions multiple times in the past. Throughout the wireless industry, they are a known quantity for providing high-quality topic-relevant training at the level FirstNet currently requires. The classes in the 66 course catalog are built by them and can be procured exclusively through them. In addition to the 66 classes being offered in their kitchen sink program, Award Solutions offers for additional cost, 70+ expert led class programs and the ability to build customized training based on needs. Having access to the 66 on-demand classes will likely identify knowledge and training requirements to go into great detail for some topics. Obtaining the foundational training for these areas through kitchen sink training will reduce the cost of instructor led classes by reducing amount of training hours required and will ensure any training requirements are on target to meet training need.

Procuring this training exclusively through Award Solutions; saves the government a significant amount of money (over $2,600 per student), meets time requirement for staff in need of training and time to make procurements and, ensures currency of staff knowledge and enables staff to meet internal training hour requirements. Not purchasing this training will cause staff knowledge to depreciate and negatively impact decisions they need to make for the FirstNet Authority, degrading the quality of the network solution we offer to public safety.