Continued FirstNet Authority Management Attention is Needed to Address Control Environment Weaknesses

For our evaluation of the First Responder Network Authority’s (FirstNet Authority’s) actions following our August 2019 management alert, FirstNet Management Altered Contract Requirements Without Authorization -- which was a result of a hotline complaint -- our objective was to assess whether FirstNet Authority management took steps to address the concerns noted in our August 2019 management alert and whether continued concerns still existed.We observed that FirstNet Authority management took several actions consistent with the corrective steps proposed in the management alert. However, FirstNet Authority’s actions have not fully mitigated issues included in the management alert. Continued management attention is warranted to strengthen the underlying control environment, which continues to allow inappropriate management actions.