London Fire Brigade appoints Babcock to manage 999 fleet

13 November 2012

London Fire Brigade has appointed Babcock International Group to manage and maintain its fleet of fire engines and specialist equipment on an interim basis.

Due to a deterioration of the services provided by Premier Fire Serve Limited (previously called AssetCo London Ltd), the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, which runs the Brigade, has exercised its right to terminate the contract and appoint a new provider.

While undertaking a full, competitive procurement of the services it has appointed Babcock to maintain the fleet on an interim basis of 18 months until the new provider has been appointed.

London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson said: “This move should stabilise the way in which our vehicles and equipment are managed and enable London Fire Brigade to continue to provide the Capital with the world class fire and rescue service it deserves.”

Babcock already delivers a fleet management service to the emergency services sector.  This includes managing the Metropolitan Police’s 4,000 strong operational fleet and the Government’s National Resilience Fire and Rescue Capability.  The National Resilience fleet of 650 vehicles and modules, as well as 175,000 items of equipment, is available to Fire and Rescue Services across England and Wales in the event of major incidents.

Ends

Notes to editors:

• Deteriorating service levels under the contract had resulted in London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) exercising its contractual options against Premier FireServe Limited to terminate the contract which had previously been in place  for the management of the Brigade’s vehicle fleet.
• As a result, KPMG were appointed as Administrators and immediately entered into  contracts and arrangements with both the Authority and Babcock  to ensure that there was no break in the continuity of service. The interim contract between the Authority and Babcock will run for an interim period during which  the Authority will re-procure for a new contract for the longer term. 
•  Premier FireServe Limited was previously called AssetCo London Limited, a subsidiary of AssetCo PLC, and was sold to AB & B Limited  in August this year.
• The contract will be run by Babcock Critical Services Limited, a subsidiary of leading engineering support services organisation Babcock International Group PLC.