Compliance Toolkit

Government seeks IT partner for fire service

Kable

Published: 17 May 2004 16:45 BST

The government is looking for IT suppliers to work on a national command and control system for the fire service.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) is to hold meetings with potential suppliers on 27 May, 2004.Initially the system is to cover England, but it could be extended to Scotland and Wales.

It will be based on a network of regional control centres and is intended to provide a continuous service in the event of a "disaster situation", according to a tender notice issued by the ODPM. The regional control rooms are scheduled to be rolled out by September 2007.

The move to set up a national system follows reports commissioned by the ODPM recommending that the number of local control rooms are reduced. There is also concern that the fire service could not cope with a September 11 scale of terrorist attack without a national system.

The aim is to run the command and control project alongside a scheme to introduce a new radio system, Firelink, for the fire service. Firelink's three year rollout is due to begin this autumn.