Knight Review of the Fire and Rescue authorities in England

Written evidence submitted by FIRESA Council
[part of the Fire Industry Association] (FRR 01

Firstly, we should say that we were delighted to have met with Sir Ken Knight in April 2013 during his work on the Review and that many of our key recommendations appear within the published document.

FIRESA Council is committed to maintaining and supporting a strong UK Supply Chain to service the UK Fire and Rescue Service [FRS] market. This strength is determined by having a depth of specialist suppliers based in the UK which cover the range of technologies needed by our FRSs and which are provided by a range of both larger companies and SMEs.

The fire-fighting supply membership of the FIA comprises over 50% that are SMEs. These member companies represent a wide range of the procurement sub sectors for UK FRS including vehicles, PPE, portable pumps, fire-fighting equipment, command and control, breathing apparatus and foam.

We believe that a healthy supply market is more likely to be achieved by a collaborative approach to procurement with a national commitment and delivery to this policy from bodies such as CFOA. In securing and maintaining a dynamic collaborative procurement strategy lie the opportunities to deliver the efficiencies possible from procurement.

These efficiencies are by no means exclusively limited to cost and therefore spend savings but there are undoubtedly savings directly possible from a more disciplined approach to collaborative procurement. We should note, however, that it is too narrow a view to only see these efficiencies as directly related to purchasing spend. In fact, experience has often shown that the direct savings expected from collaboration are over-estimated and expectations too high, but nonetheless some savings are possible. The efficiencies possible from collaboration are, in fact, from a much wider spectrum and FIRESA Council believes that these need to be recognised and delivered.

Looking at Procurement spend firstly, collaborative purchasing will create realistic volumes, visibility for suppliers of future demand and some security from period contracts. The 2005 National Procurement Strategy identified a UK FRS spend on goods and services of £300 m pa of which £63 m was spent on vehicles. This has reduced over the intervening years and what sources are available suggest some interesting changes in the market:

· National Audit Office 2010 spend on specialist equipment estimated at £120 m

· Vehicle spend reduced to £25 m and estimates for 2013 are for just 40 vehicles

· Average age of vehicles has risen from 7 years to 9 years

· From 2009, movement to smaller specialist vehicles from the larger pumping appliances

· Now only effectively three vehicle builders left in UK; their workforce has dropped by around 25% in the last three years and in one case, turnover has fallen by 40% in same period

· 25 vehicle builders have closed in the UK over the last 35 years from market forces and rationalisation

Turning to administrative issues, there is a strong need to reduce the red tape surrounding FRS procurement and lower the administrative burden on the supply chain while still protecting the public purse. There are too many small tenders, repetitive PQQs and mini tenders which turn into full tenders in all but name. Generally FIRESA Council would welcome evidence of a clear commitment within a collaborative process to drive down the administrative burden.

On product evaluations, it is well known, even accepted, that Fire and Rescue Services distinctly welcome their specific involvement in product evaluations and expect suppliers to co-operate and fund these evaluations. This has significant cost for the supply base and is a source of serious frustration within the industry. The same products and concepts are often evaluated by several FRSs with an apparent reluctance to share results and experience. Suppliers are frustrated by this, especially when the evaluations often reach conflicting conclusions and in some instances there are questionable competencies and experience associated with these evaluations.

With these multiple evaluations being largely being funded by the supply base, a professional collaborative approach to procurement would change the situation dramatically and create clear efficiencies. It would also serve to focus the competency within the sector at agreed sector-required evaluations with full visibility of the outcomes. This would be delivered from collaboration and partnership within the sector, bringing together both user and supplier expertise

Collaborative procurement assumes agreement on specifications and the FRS sector could undoubtedly benefit from agreed output specifications, especially for the high value and operationally critical items. This investment at procurement source would drive through both improved quality and, therefore, efficiencies as these serve to influence the procurement cycle. This quality would also drive improved fire fighter safety, common standards for training and a stronger base for UK interoperability. FIRESA Council believes that these UK specifications should be created in partnership across the sector, perhaps led by the Fire Sector Federation bringing together CFOA, FIRESA Council and other interested expertise and  experience. There may be a role for a UK testing facility to contribute to this work, perhaps the Fire Service College with whom we are already in exploratory discussions.

The UK FRSs are faced with some major challenges to deliver at the very least the same level of service for the UK but with reduced funding. They are being challenged to drive through some notable efficiency measures in the next five years which are likely to mean reduced personnel numbers and perhaps fewer locations. There is no doubt that new technologies and innovation must be part of the answer to help with this challenge. Clearly, a strong dedicated supply base is critical to help with this but more is needed in this area, too, with sector co-operation necessary to help identify need and opportunity and to create a culture which encourages innovation and partnership. FIRESA Council suggests that more can be done to develop this culture with a stronger lead and commitment from bodies such as CFOA for a partnership and collaborative approach in the UK Fire Sector.

There are many other parts of the Review where Fire and Rescue suppliers will be impacted according to the forward momentum or otherwise of the various discussion points. These include FRS mergers and shared services, mutuals and privatisation, co-responding with other blue light services, changes to the on-call/permanent fire fighter ratio, a shift from traditional fire appliances to smaller specialised vehicles, and the developing role of the Fire Service College. We have, however, confined our comments here to issues directly concerning FRS procurement, product innovation and product specifications and evaluations.

June 2013