The Market

Conservative estimates put the value of the emergency services fleet and supplies market (ie vehicles, mobile IT, Automatic Number Plate Recognition, communications, safety/security/ protective equipment) at more than £1billion per annum, and the real value of this spend could be much greater. It’s a market which will continue to grow as the number of operational members of the emergency services continues to increase, and technological advances mean that existing equipment will need to be replaced on a regular basis.

While specialist purchasing departments are responsible for a proportion of the spend of each service, the move to devolved operational responsibility — and with it the increase in devolved budgets — means that the number of individuals with buying power is rising. And while the decision makers in the majority of purchasing decisions are those devolved budget-holders, the key influencers in purchasing are often those users with a specialist knowledge.