New supplier of our Type 3 next generation appliances

After years of hard work by all the people involved in the Next Gen: Type 3 Project we can now announce the preferred tier one supplier of the Supply Panel is Emergency One Limited.

Emergency One will receive the majority of our Type 3 appliance orders for the next 10 years.

The Type 3 Appliance Acquisition Project took a different approach to its procurement of new Type 3 appliances and there was a lot involved in getting to this point. This project placed firefighter needs at the centre of what we looked for in the next generation of Type 3 appliances. Group Manager and Type 3 Appliance Acquisition Project Working Group Chair Barry Fox said the first step was to ask firefighters what they required from their truck.

‘We set up a Working Group made up of predominantly operational firefighters and union representatives and the project adopted an end-user and design led methodology. Members of the group gathered feedback from nearly 1000 operational staff from across the motu on what they require from their appliance – which helped to form “user stories” that were included in the Request for Proposal when we went to market.

‘This project wanted to deliver a firefighter’s workplace, not simply deliver a new truck. The appliance is where our users spend much of their time, and it must be fit for purpose, comfortable, safe, and scalable to meet the changing demands of our industry. We wanted our suppliers to help us meet the challenges facing our users, rather than us tell the market how to build a fire appliance.’

Te Ūpoko Region Manager and Type 3 Project Business Owner Bruce Stubbs said contracts were signed with two suppliers – Emergency One and Angloco – to build two trial appliances each. These were shipped to New Zealand and arrived in April last year for a thorough trial and evaluation which lasted nine months.

‘The trial consisted of two rotations. For Rotation 1, the two Emergency One appliances were at Auckland City Station (Pump Rescue Tender) and Napier Station (Pump). The two Angloco appliances were at Hamilton Station (Pump) and Christchurch City Station (Pump Rescue Tender).

For Rotation 2 the appliances were swapped over – the Emergency One appliances went to Hamilton and Christchurch and the Angloco appliances went to Auckland and Napier. This ended in April this year and crews completed surveys and provided feedback which went to the Evaluation Panel.

Along with the user surveys, this stage in the procurement process assessed Support and Maintenance, Collaboration and Partnership and Best and Final Offer, which fed into the recommendation. 

Following the final evaluation process, a recommendation was presented to our Board that the preferred supplier for our Type 3 next generation appliances would be Emergency One and this was approved at the October Board meeting. This means that Emergency One will receive the majority of future orders for the duration of the Type 3 Supply Panel (10 plus 10 years).

Russell Wood, National Commander and Project Sponsor, said this announcement was the culmination of significant effort and commitment by many people involved across the organisation and he offered them his sincere thanks.

‘I am sure everyone who has worked on this project – and that included many of our operational personnel in various roles – over the years is delighted with the result. We can now look forward to placing orders for more Type 3 appliances.’

Thanks to everyone involved in the procurement, including the Working Group, Project team, Project Steering Committee, operational personnel involved in the extensive trials and assessments, and Union and Associations’ representatives. Special thanks to the Evaluation Panel and Evaluation Chair for their dedication to the procurement and professionalism to ensure Fire and Emergency get the right outcome for future orders of Type 3 appliances to come.

Fire and Emergency will be working with Emergency One to finalise the details of the first order and further updates on delivery timeframes will be provided.

The four trial appliances are to be redeployed once any further modifications are completed. Emergency One appliances are going to Parnell and Grey Lynn Stations and the Angloco appliances are going to Manurewa and Hamilton Stations.

The project is working on a plan and will communicate expected timeframes with relevant stations.