Identifying Best Practices for Systems and Equipment Procurement Decisions in Emergency Responder Organizations

Project Description

Texas Transportation Institute conducted this study for the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Domestic Preparedness, later the Office of Grants and Training, through the SAVER Program, administered at Texas A&M by Texas Engineering Experiment Station. This project is an assessment of the state of procurement decision-making practice in the emergency responder community. Although procurement decision practices of business and industry were well explored, the extension to local level emergency response community was extremely limited. A better understanding of the differing systems and equipment procurement decision methods (how and why) used at the different levels (small, medium, and large) of local governments is one of the important initial steps toward optimizing procurement decision-making in the emergency responder community, in turn promoting social and economic sustainability. The project

• reviewed literature applicable to fire department procurement and decision-making;
• conducted a focus group on fire department procurement practices;
• obtained information on current procurement practices of fire departments through on-site interviews with personnel at fire departments throughout the United States;
• conducted a nation-wide survey of fire department equipment procurement practices, obtaining a response rate of 40 percent;
• analyzed survey responses; and
• documented project results.

For More Information