FirstNet Must Strengthen Management of Financial Disclosures and Monitoring of Contracts

On December 5, 2014, the Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General released a final report on its review of First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) ethics and procurement-related matters in response to concerns raised by a FirstNet Board member in April 2013.

The report finds that FirstNet must strengthen management of financial disclosures and monitoring of contracts. In particular, the report found the Department of Commerce’s confidential and public disclosure monitoring procedures were inadequate, board members did not file timely public financial disclosure reports, the FirstNet Board operational procedures for monitoring potential conflicts of interest needs improvement, and FirstNet contracting practices lacked transparent award competition, sufficient oversight of hiring, adequate monitoring, and procedures to prevent payment of erroneous costs.