FirstNet Authority Could Not Demonstrate Investment Decisions Were the Best Use of Reinvestment Funds or Maximized the Benefits to Public Safety

For our final report on our audit of First Responder Network Authority’s (FirstNet Authority’s) process for identifying, developing, and selecting reinvestment opportunities to construct, maintain, operate, and improve the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network, our audit objective was to determine whether FirstNet Authority's process for reinvesting fee payments is effective and consistent with established practices, procedures, and regulations. We found that FirstNet Authority: I. did not conduct a needs analysis; II. did not conduct an analysis of alternatives or sufficiently justify the need in the business case analysis; and III. relied on information from AT&T that appeared to influence the process of identifying and selecting reinvestment opportunities.