Context
The professional fire brigade of Vienna is one of the six professional fire brigades in the country (Vienna, Linz, Graz, Innsbruck, Salzburg and Klagenfurt). In the past, due to the federal organisation of the fire brigades in Austria, each one had a different uniform. However, thanks to this project, it has been possible to standardise the appearance of the Austrian professional fire brigades for the first time in history.
Objectives
The objective was clearly defined from the outset and the following advantages resulted for all professional fire brigades involved in the project:
- consistent appearance of all professional fire brigades in a corporate uniform design;
- joint procurement according to the Federal Procurement Act;
- warehousing by suppliers and associated shortened delivery times;
- attractive pricing due to higher order volume;
- one-time creation of technical descriptions from which all professional fire brigades benefit.
Due to the current global situation price increases could be expected but the project, with increased order volume, was able to counteract this trend at exactly the right time. The aim was, and is, not to harmonise the professional fire brigades within a very short time in the interests of sustainability, but rather to initiate the change process by a particular date and at the same time to provide the procurement easily and cost-effectively.
Implementation
The high level of cooperation in the implementation of the project is particularly noteworthy. All fire managers of all professional fire brigades in Austria worked together on the project. The Federal Fire Brigade Association (Österreichischer Bundesfeuerwehrverband – ÖBFV) commissioned the Austrian Federal Procurement Agency (Bundesbeschaffung GmbH – BBG) to formally process the procurement procedure in the areas of strategic purchasing, tender management, and contract and quality management with the relevant legal clarifications by experts in public procurement law.