FireControl 'one of worst cases of project failure', says PAC

19 Sep 11
The doomed attempt to streamline fire control services in England is 'one of the worst cases of project failure' the Public Accounts Committee has seen, its chair said today.

By Vivienne Russell | 20 September 2011

The doomed attempt to streamline fire control services in England is ‘one of the worst cases of project failure’ the Public Accounts Committee has seen, its chair said today.

The PAC has issued a set of damning conclusions about the troubled FireControl scheme, which aimed to link up link up and replace local fire control rooms with nine regional centres.

It was scrapped by the Department for Communities and Local Government at the end of last year amid concerns about timetable and cost overruns. A minimum of £469m spent on the project since its inception in 2004 has now been wasted, the PAC found.

The MPs said the project was launched too quickly, with decisions taken before a business case or procurement strategy had been developed and tested. There was an over‑reliance on external consultants and a high turnover of senior managers, none of whom have been held accountable for FireControl’s failure. The PAC slammed this as ‘an extraordinary failure of leadership’.

PAC chair Margaret Hodge said: ‘No one has been held accountable for this project failure, one of the worst we have seen for many years, and the careers of most of the senior staff responsible have carried on as if nothing had gone wrong at all – and the consultants and contractor continue to work on many other government projects.’

She added that the success of the project depended on the co-operation of individual local fire and rescue authorities. ‘The department’s failure both to recognise this and try to ensure local buy-in fatally undermined the project from the start,’ said Hodge.

The DCLG has earmarked £84.8m to fund FireControl’s original objective to improve efficiency and resilience within the fire and rescue service.

Bids for a share of this funding have been invited from each of the 46 services in England, but the PAC is concerned that this relies on the voluntary collaboration of individual services.

‘We are concerned that the department could not tell us how it will ensure certainty of response in the event of a large-scale incident, or whether the £84.8m will provide value for money.’

Today’s PAC report follows one from the NationalAudit Office in which the FireControl project was labelled a ‘comprehensive failure’.

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