Resource Management System

Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority (BMKFA) wish to let a contract on behalf of Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (BFRS) for a Resource Management System. The duration of the contract will be four years with a potential extension of one year.

Background Information

Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority (BMKFA) use a rostering system for operational employees. As part of the ongoing government austerity plan it is necessary for the fire service to deliver efficiencies through the use of more flexible staffing models.

The current rostering system has limitations that prevent us moving forward as flexibly as we require so Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service is now looking to replace this system.

A significant change to the way in which we are delivering our service is that we never plan to have more employees rostered on duty than are needed to crew all of our fire appliances.

This is known as our Optimum Crewing Level (OCL). Other fire and rescue services (FRS) may term this as minimum crewing.

Our managers are expected to plan leave, training and other absences to achieve their OCL at all times. When unplanned sickness or other absences occur we will communicate the opportunity for off duty employees to undertake additional shifts. These additional shifts will be used to provide resilience to our operational delivery. The ability to communicate OCL shortfalls and additional shift opportunities, to our workforce, will form a key component in the IT solution we are seeking.

In addition to working the traditional 2-2-4 shift pattern, the Resource Management system should allow employees the flexibility to 'self-manage' their roster commitments, by allowing them to 'advertise' or exchange rostered shifts, with other employees.

More details can be provided to understand OCL, however, features that specifically help to streamline this area are of paramount importance to BMKFA.

The purpose of this document is to provide the necessary detail so a Resource Management system can be procured. Any new system will need to demonstrate that all existing shifts can be managed, and also show flexibility. It will be accessed via mobile devices, and have design flexibility around any future requirements inc. Technology proofing.

It should be noted that BMKFA use the information held in the Resource Management system to make decisions about the provision of emergency services and as such this information needs to be securely accessible to other downstream systems.

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