The future of Firebuy
Shona Dunn,
Director Fire and Resilience, Communities and Local Government, said of the
announcement: ”The decision to close Firebuy has not arisen from concerns about the
operation of the organisation or the need for the services it offers. Firebuy has undertaken valuable work to
streamline procurement arrangements, and to secure efficiency savings, which is
a tribute to the professionalism and dedication of its staff. Ministers
consider the sort of functions Firebuy currently carries out should be devolved
away from central Government.” Since 2006,
Firebuy’s framework agreements have been utilised by all 46 English FRS, three
Welsh FRS, eight Scottish FRS and the Northern Ireland FRS. In the last two completed financial years, UK Fire and Rescue Services have
spent over £124 million with Firebuy framework agreements. And in the past two
years, other public sector organisations have spent nearly £8m with Firebuy’s
framework agreements.
Firebuy has
received huge support from the FRS
which is evidenced in the purchases made from its framework agreements. Smaller
FRAs who may not have the resources or money to carry out complicated
procurements have been able to take advantage of the competitive prices that
only larger or metropolitan FRS could achieve in the past.
- Since
April 2007 45 FRS have purchased 589 Pumping Appliances
- Since
June 2008 15 FRS have purchased 27 Aerial Appliances
- Since
April 2008 46 FRS have purchased Emergency Response Equipment totally
over £6m from the framework.
- During
2009/2010 £10m was spent on smoke alarms from Firebuy
- Since
April 2008 14 FRS have purchased £5.5m worth of SCBA
Firebuy’s
Suppliers
Firebuy appreciates the concern and uncertainty this announcement may have caused its
suppliers – especially following the time and effort they have made in getting
on to the framework agreements in the first place. Firebuy would like to
assure them that we will continue to promote and encourage buyers to use the
frameworks and be here to assist suppliers until a new arrangement is in place
and ready to take on the role.
FIRESA’s Dave Russell said in
response to the announcement: “I believe the majority of FIRESA members will continue
to offer their support to the framework agreements as we want to avoid a return to individual
FRS all conducting their own evaluations with the subsequent procurement
exercises. The cost of this in time and administration is horrific.”
Appreciation
of support
Firebuy would like to thank all those who have supported
us since we began and all those who have purchased from our frameworks. We would
encourage everyone to continue to use our frameworks because we
believe that they still offer some of the best prices, service and value for
money available.
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