Central Coast Council has awarded a contract to an unnamed business to inspect and maintain Council’s fire protection systems and equipment.
Council owns about 1,200 buildings and 350 of those fall into categories that require specific fire safety equipment, according to a Council report.
At its April 27 meeting, Council agreed to pay an unnamed company a maximum of $1.4M over two years for the inspection, servicing and maintenance of these systems and equipment.
The contract will start this month.
Council is presently paying a commercial arrangement on a monthly basis, which it doesn’t want to continue, however, it has to comply with regulations.
Compliance is demonstrated through a process that verifies that the correct number and type of Fire Safety Measures are installed within a building, and measures are operational.
Upon verification, an Annual Fire Safety Statement is generated and displayed within the building.
The testing and maintenance is performed by a contractor who specialises in the delivery of these services.
The preferred proponent was identified in documents that remained confidential at the Council meeting.
Council said the documents remained confidential as they contained commercial information of a confidential nature that would, if disclosed, prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied it, and because consideration of the matter in open Council would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest as it would affect Council’s ability to obtain value for money for services for the Central Coast community.
Merilyn Vale