FNA - Crowdsourced Data and Analytics Sources Sought Notice.pdf

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Notice Number: FNA-CPO-0001 Title: Crowdsourced Data and Analytics Sources Sought Notice NAICS: 518210 – Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services

Contracting Office Address First Responder Network Authority Chief Procurement Office 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive Reston, VA 20192

This is a Sources Sought Notice Only. Requests for copies of a solicitation will not receive a response. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified business sources. This notice is strictly for market research and information purposes only. Responses will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible.

The First Responder Network Authority (hereafter referred to as the FirstNet Authority) is seeking responses from all responsible entities capable of fulfilling the requirement described herein. The contemplated NAICS code for this effort is 518210 – Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services.

This notice is for planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal (RFP)/Request for Quotation (RFQ) or an obligation on the part of the FirstNet Authority for conducting a follow-on acquisition. The FirstNet Authority does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this notice or otherwise pay for the information requested. No entitlement or payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the FirstNet Authority will arise as a result of submission of responses to this notice and FirstNet Authority use of such information.

The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in response to this notice; however, the FirstNet Authority will recognize as restricted or proprietary data which is clearly marked as such.

Background and Purpose

The Middle-Class Tax Relief Act of 2012 established the FirstNet Authority and charged it with the responsibility to ensure the building, deployment, and operation of a Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN). Designed to meet the information and communications technology needs of first responders and public safety users, the NPSBN is the first interoperable, nationwide, high-speed network dedicated to public safety. The FirstNet Authority is an independent authority within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under the Department of Commerce.

The FirstNet Authority fulfills a fundamental need of the public safety community and a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. Using a nationwide spectrum license, the FirstNet

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To support data-driven decision-making for cellular network management, the FirstNet Authority currently uses a vendor-provided crowdsourced dataset and analytical platform.

Objectives of this Sources Sought Notice

This Sources Sought Notice seeks to gather industry feedback on:

• Best practices for defining wireless network performance, usage density, coverage, and user experience metrics.

• Approaches for ensuring crowdsourced data accuracy, consistency, and representativeness.

• Key technical and operational capabilities that should be considered.

• Innovative methods for deriving actionable insights from crowdsourced data, including the integration of AI-driven analytics to enhance network performance predictions, identify trends, and optimize coverage investments.

• Approaches to integrate and utilize additional datasets, including wireless carrier coverage maps and public safety-relevant GIS layers, to support comprehensive network analysis and decision-making.

Use Cases

The primary use cases driving these requirements include:

1) Identification and Prioritization of Poor Coverage Areas

In addition to public safety feedback, the FirstNet Authority uses crowdsourced cellular performance data to help independently identify areas within the FirstNet network where coverage is inadequate or underperforming. This data helps the FirstNet Authority prioritize investments in new infrastructure, upgrades, or other remediation actions to improve service quality in the most critical areas.

2) Understanding Network Performance and Impairments

Crowdsourced data provides an independent view into how the FirstNet network is performing across multiple dimensions, including throughput, latency, service availability, and user experience. This helps the FirstNet Authority proactively identify performance trends, isolate impairments, and better understand the user experience.

3) Benchmarking Against Other Networks

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The FirstNet Authority uses crowdsourced data to compare the FirstNet network technology, quality, and resiliency against other carriers in the same geographic areas. This informs strategic planning, competitive positioning, and risk assessments related to network evolution.

Questions for Industry

1) Data Collection, Quality, and Validation

a) What are the key methodologies vendors use to collect crowdsourced cellular performance data (e.g., app-based, SDK integrations, device partnerships)?

b) What practices ensure that collected data is unbiased regarding certain carriers, operational conditions, device types, or regions?

c) Regarding iOS devices, the FirstNet Authority understands iOS limitations in device-level data accessibility, however, please advise on your solutions ability to support use case analytics specific to iOS devices.

d) How do you determine in-building and/or in-vehicle data measurements and how accurate is the determination?

e) The FirstNet Authority understands that not all crowdsourced data points collected may not be valid due to corruption or device issues. Please describe your calculation methodology to report records collected and your current valid collected records by day for the 12 months ending March 31, 2025 (Please limit scope to the 56 U.S.

States and Territories).

f) How do you document your data cleansing and validation processes?

2) Measurement Scope and Metrics

a) What crowdsourced performance and coverage metrics are considered essential for evaluating cellular network quality?

b) What standard definitions or terms of reference do you use in your operations? For example, what constitutes “coverage” or a “dropped call” in your daily operations?

c) Approximately how many unique users within the 56 U.S. States and Territories generate data on your platform on a daily basis?

d) How many unique applications leverage your data collection methodology?

3) Platform Capabilities, Data Access, and Reporting

a) What capabilities does your integrated analytics platform that visualizes and analyzes the crowdsourced data provide?

b) What levels of granularity (temporal, spatial, by technology type) should the FirstNet Authority expect? Additionally, do you recommend using geohash or H3 for spatial indexing, and why?

c) Does your platform enable access to the raw underlying dataset? If so, how is this data accessed (e.g., API, direct download, data lake connection)?

d) How much historical and current data is available both in the raw dataset and within your visualization or analytics platform? Please specify typical data retention periods and any limits based on subscription tiers.

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e) Can your platform ingest and integrate the most current carrier coverage maps as published on the FCC website (including Form 477 and Broadband Data Collection maps)? If so, how is this handled and how frequently are these maps refreshed?

4) Innovation and Advanced Analytics

a) What AI-based platforms can assist the FirstNet Authority in efficiently addressing the stated use cases, particularly in prioritizing coverage investments, optimizing network performance, and improving resiliency?

b) What innovative approaches do you employ for turning crowdsourced data into actionable insights for network planning, optimization, and competitive analysis?

c) What predictive modeling, machine learning capabilities, or AI-driven anomaly detection, if any, may enhance the value, reliability, and usability of large mobile-generated datasets? Please elaborate on how each of these technologies may assist the user.

5) Privacy and Compliance

a) Given the critical importance of absolute data anonymity in ensuring user privacy and compliance, what privacy standards (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) and industry best practices do you follow? Please explain how you currently demonstrate compliance with these regulations.

6) Pricing and Commercial Models

a) Please describe how your crowdsourced data and analytics platform is typically priced. Include whether pricing is based on geographic area, data volume, number of users, platform licenses, or other factors.

b) Based on the draft requirements described in this Sources Sought Notice, what configurations and pricing models would you recommend to best meet these needs?

Please describe whether any tiered, usage-based, or unlimited-access models apply.

Draft Requirements (for RFP/RFQ Consideration)

The following requirements represent the FirstNet Authority’s initial draft for industry consideration and are subject to change. The FirstNet Authority invites respondents to review these requirements and propose any additions, deletions, or modifications they believe would enhance the effectiveness, feasibility, or cost-efficiency of any subsequent solicitation. Your input will help ensure the requirements are structured in a way that maximizes industry capabilities while maintaining alignment with the FirstNet Authority’s mission.

User Privacy and Security

• Users shall have the right to opt-in, partially opt-in, or opt-out of sharing their data.

• The Contractor’s data collection/data acquisition process shall protect and anonymize personal identifiers (e.g., username, device identifiers [IMSI, IMEI], or network identifiers [IP Addresses]).

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• The Contractor’s data collection/data acquisition process shall not enable tracking of user location.

• The Contractor’s data collection/data acquisition process shall enable end users to add, suspend, terminate, or remove collection devices or applications.

• The Contractor’s data collection/data acquisition process shall ensure user anonymity, security, and privacy.

• The Contractor shall implement and maintain a cybersecurity framework to minimize cybersecurity risk to the FirstNet network, end users, and agencies.

• The Contractor’s data collection/data acquisition process shall comply with state and federal user privacy and security standards, regulations, and directives.

Data Breadth and Scope

• The Contractor shall have their own SDK and presently be integrated with at least (TBD) Android and/or iOS applications.

• The Contractor shall maintain and report the monthly aggregate number of devices contributing to the data pool by measured carrier.

• The Contractor shall describe the number of devices presently providing data and the geographic scope of data collection across all 56 states and territories.

Access Portal/Reporting Platform

• The Contractor shall provide access to a secure, cloud-based analytics platform.

• The Contractor’s platform must be capable of ingesting and overlaying carrier coverage maps sourced from the FCC, including the most recent Form 477 and Broadband Data Collection maps. The Contractor’s platform shall enable queries of crowdsourced data against these maps.

• The Contractor shall provide electronic access to at least 18 months of raw data via an on-line SQL interface.

• The Contractor platform shall enable reporting restricted to geographic boundaries, including county, state, territory, nationwide, and custom polygons.

• The Contractor’s platform shall provide near real-time post-processing and analysis of device-based data, refreshed at least daily.

• The Contractor’s platform shall support custom queries and delta-reporting to show changes in network data over time. The Contractor shall support geographic binning at multiple levels (e.g., 100m, 1km) to provide 12-month aggregated measurements and enable statistical confidence in reporting.

• The Contractor’s platform shall store and provide access to geographically binned data for a minimum of one year on a rolling basis.

• The Contractor shall accurately distinguish between indoor and outdoor users and usage.

• The Contractor shall provide a secure, cloud-based platform that allows for historical data access, trend analysis, and ad-hoc reporting.

• The Contractor’s data shall be capable of producing accurate, precise, reliable, repeatable, and industry-standard service performance quality results.

• The Contractor shall enable the FirstNet Authority to create and process custom queries and dashboards without the involvement of the Contractor using an online, user-friendly

6 | P a g e interface, with the capability to generate delta-reports showing network changes over time. Specific requirements for the visualization tool:

o The tool shall be web-based with no requirement for special software, aside from a web browser.

o The tool shall enable the user to create dashboards with multiple types of charts including line, bar, histogram, scatter plots, cumulative distributions, text boxes, and pie charts.

o The tool shall enable the user to geographically map data via multiple methods including point maps, heatmaps, line maps and polygons.

o The tool shall enable visualization of any metric collected by the Contractor platform.

o The tool shall support data export to standard formats (e.g., CSV, shapefile, GeoJSON).

On-Going Breadth and Quality of Data

• The data collection/acquisition methods shall capture wireless carrier network information, including EARFCN, Radio Access Technology Type (LTE, HSPA, Wi-Fi), and Network Identity (PLMN ID).

• At a minimum, the Contractor shall provide reporting and visualization of:

o Coverage by carrier and technology type (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, Wi-Fi) o Signal strength (RSRP, RSRQ, RSSI), SINR, Emergency Service Only, No

Service, In-Building Coverage, Cell ID, Band EARFCN o Data performance (Uplink/Downlink Throughput, Latency, Accessibility, Retainability) o Device metrics (Model, OS Version, Battery/CPU Utilization, Band Utilization, Band Utilization by PLMN ID)

• The Contractor shall enable passive data collection without direct user intervention.

• The Contractor shall support access to customized data analytics capabilities, allowing users to aggregate and filter data by time, geography, technology, service, provider, device type, and operating system.

AI and Advanced Analytics

• Requirements to be drafted.

Support and Expertise

• The Contractor must provide dedicated account management and technical support.

• The Contractor must demonstrate deep expertise in cellular network performance analysis and ability to provide analytic insights beyond raw data.

Questions Regarding This Notice

Questions regarding this Sources Sought Notice may be submitted, via e-mail, to Adam Powell at adam.powell@firstnet.gov and Claire Rotruck at Claire.Rotruck@Firstnet.gov. Questions are due by April 11, 2025 5:00 p.m. ET.

mailto:adam.powell@firstnet.gov mailto:Claire.Rotruck@Firstnet.gov

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Response Instructions

All responsible business sources capable of providing the items/services described herein shall e-mail a response to Adam Powell at adam.powell@firstnet.gov and Claire Rotruck at Claire.Rotruck@Firstnet.gov. Responses are due by April 23, 2025 5:00 p.m. ET.

Please include the following information in the response:

1. Name of company authorized to provide items/services, along with their address and a point of contact for the company (name, phone number, and e-mail address).

2. The company’s primary NAICS and size classification (e.g., Small Business, Women- Owned Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business).

3. Responses to the Government’s questions provided herein.

4. Narrative describing the requirement and specific description of capabilities to provide the items/services described herein.

5. Data access models and informal pricing configurations that best align with the FirstNet

Authority’s use cases, as well as recommendations on how to structure the FirstNet Authority’s requirements to achieve the best value to the Government.

6. A listing of at least three prior completed contracts similar in scope to the requirement described herein. For each listing, vendors shall provide the following information:

a. Contract Number

b. Client’s name and address

c. Dollar value

d. Period of Performance

7. Information on any GSA Federal Supply Schedules (FSS) or other Government-wide contracts through which the company offers these items/services, if applicable.

8. Any other relevant information that is not listed above, which the Government should consider.

mailto:adam.powell@firstnet.gov mailto:Claire.Rotruck@Firstnet.gov