Looking at the long delays for getting the first FP notice, I think that VSC has started delaying first FPs purposely so as to avoid the 2nd FP. For most cases the FBI clears the FP check in a matter of weeks. Therefore, I think that VSC has started issuing first FP notices just a few months before the estimated I-485 adjudication date.
This is my hypothesis, but if it is true there are two benefits:
(1) No need to do 2nd FP
(2) First FP notice would indicate that USCIS is close to adjucating your I-485 (in a few months)
We need to carefully track the timedifference bewteen first FP and I-485 adjucation date, to see if there is any correlation there.
Its an excellent idea to start an excel sheet to do the tracking.