1.28 Because police requirements for a radio system are demanding in terms of coverage, reliability and flexibility, providing for the needs of sharers should not be problematic. Nevertheless, the Fire Service considered that features of Airwave, such as encryption and roaming, were not needed to meet the operational requirements of fire brigades and were likely to add significantly to the cost. This was a key consideration when a decision was taken in 1996, in consultation with the Home Office, that the Fire Service should not be part of the initial procurement but should be included, with other services, as a potential future sharer. Therefore, the Fire Service remained a key player in a major sharers' forum. This body was set up by PITO to represent the interests of, and provide information to, organisations other than the police that might reasonably be expected to want to join Airwave.
1.29 In determining the provision of new radio communications, the Fire Service had to consider whether Airwave or alternative arrangements would provide best value and how differences in the legislative positions of the Fire and Police Services would affect the procurement. Fire authorities were in the same position as police authorities in seeing the cost of Airwave as likely to be prohibitive and not providing value for money at a local level. Statutory responsibility for radio systems and for securing best value rests with local fire authorities which, unlike police authorities, do not receive a specific grant from central government. The powers and funding arrangements which the Home Office would be able to use to secure a national system for the police were not replicated in the legislation governing the Fire Service.
1.30 In 2001, the Fire Service published the results of a separate review of their own communications needs that concluded that a regional rather than a national approach to procurement would be preferable, particularly given the Fire Service's less demanding operational requirements. A single procurement on behalf of 50 fire brigades would be complex and difficult to organise. A local-level approach could help to maintain a competitive marketplace and value for money decisions would reflect local needs. After the publication of the Fire Service's independent review of its radio options, Home Office Ministers considered whether fire authorities might negotiate with O2 to take Airwave without further competition. However, advice was received from the Department of Trade and Industry and the Office of Government Commerce that not going out to competition would be a breach of procurement rules. As fire authorities could not be compelled to hold a national competitive procurement, Ministers decided to support the regional procurements that the Fire Service wanted with a recommendation for interoperability between neighbouring brigades and with other emergency services.
1.31 Failure to be part of the Airwave system from an early stage represents a lost opportunity for joined-up working by the emergency services and a potential loss of economies of scale during the procurement of Airwave. Quantification of the potential loss to the public purse because the Fire Service did not join up at the start is problematic, although O2 has told us that any figure would be substantial. On the other hand, waiting to determine the outcome of new technology implementations can be a prudent measure because it avoids the risk of all the emergency services being committed to what was an untried and untested system.