Firebuy procurement is poor value and needs to change – audit body26 July 2010
Firebuy – the body set up by the Communities and Local Government department (CLG) to help fire and rescue services save money on buying equipment – has cost nearly twice as much to set up and run as the total savings it claims to have delivered. This is the main conclusion of a report published on Friday by the National Audit Office, which says that CLG should quickly assesses whether or not to continue with a nationally directed central procurement body. If it does continue, the report recommends changing the way Firebuy operates – such as making it compulsory for fire and rescue services to use the contracts it negotiates – or transferring its operations to another professional buying body or to a fire and rescue service with sufficient capacity. The National Audit Office found that only five out of the 14 framework contracts set up by Firebuy have been used by more than half of all fire and rescue services to buy equipment. Most of the contracts allow suppliers to offer many variations on the same equipment, resulting in individual fire and rescue services to procure expensive bespoke kit. A contract for fire engines, for example, allows for 54 combinations of supplier, chassis, water pump and body type – and a possible one million different specifications. The report concludes that in its current form, Firebuy represents poor value for money and has cost the taxpayer almost £17m to date. It says the organisation’s forecasts of future income and savings are unrealistic, and that the set-up and running costs of the procurement contracts as a whole are unlikely to be met over their lifetime.    |
