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Fire Life Safety

Dave Barbee

Brett Triantafilou

Category Lead: Electrical, UPS, Generators, Fire/Life Safety

Global Sourcing Programs Manageral

dave.barbee@cbre.com

brett.triantafilou@cbre.com

Category Overview
Category Spend
Objectives/Market Characteristics
Key Suppliers
Current Status
4x4 Coverage
Supplier Market Analysis
Industry Trends 2023-2025

Category
Overview

Category
Definition

The Fire Life Safety category includes the systems and equipment in place to prevent, detect, and alert occupants to fires and other critical incidents.  A good Fire Life Safety system's goal is to minimize risk and help prevent loss, injuries, and death from fire, electrical, and other hazards. 

The list of equipment includes: 

  • Fire Alarm Systems
  • Fire Extinguishers
  • Alarm Monitoring Services
  • Fire Door Inspections
  • Clean Agent / FM 200
  • Fire Pumps
  • Post Indicator Valves
  • Fire Hydrants
  • Exit Signs
  • Fire Alarm Pull Stations
  • Fire Alarm Notification Devices (Horns and/or Strobes)
  • Sprinkler Systems:
           - Wet
           - Dry
           - Deluge
           - Pre-action 

High Level
Strategy

  • Drive World Class  FLS standards, practices and results
  • Expand Strategic and Preferred relationships delivering sustainable offerings across all regions and LOB
  • Develop global guidelines for implementing a proper FLS maintenance program
  • Create and implement Standardized Templates to ensure consistency of program delivery and accurate measurement of success

Scope

Develop best-in-class processes and templates for Fire Life Safety programs focusing on the key elements to include:

  • Preventative maintenance 
  • Lifecycle planning
  • Pricing guidance
  • Supplier identification

 

Category Maturity

  • This category is very localized based on regulations in each city / municipality
  • Few Global suppliers (JCI, Chubb, Etc.) exist
  • Top 10-20 suppliers in each region cover 50% spend

Category Spend

Total Spend
$198M

Objectives
and Targets

Risks and Constraints

Market Characteristics/
Cost Drivers

Potential
Saving Levers

• Ease the “pain points” of FLS

• Provide templates for asset collection and device counts

• Guidance around best practices and links to global / regional technical standards

• Inflationary spikes of 2021 & 2022 are affecting renewal pricing


• Shipping cost and delivery timeframes for parts have been extended


• Changes to regulatory requirements


• Increased customer demand for connected devices / IOT


• Complexity of devices can impact maintenance cost

• Utilize generic labor for non-technical maintenance (ex: fire extinguisher, emergency light, and exit sign inspections)


• CBRE self-performance of generic maintenance requests


• Capture accurate asset information for an RFP activity


• Leverage CBRE Global/Regional suppliers for clients whenever possible


• Technology enhancements and integration for innovation


• Task/Skill matching


•  Callback reduction 

• Difficulty of gaining accurate device counts and asset inventory – time consuming and tedious

 
• Account willingness to engage proposals and strategy


• CBRE team members knowledge of the correct approach for an RFP


• Coordination between national provider and local subcontractor


• Ratio of spend to risk (low spend, high risk) exacerbates the limited account team category knowledge 

Objectives / Market Characteristics

Key Suppliers

AMER

- Johnson Controls (US/CAN)
- Telgian (US)
 - Academy Fire (US/CAN)
- Direct Fire Protection Systems (CAN)
- Orr Protection Systems (US)

APAC

- Chubb Fire & Security (HK/AU/SP)
- Wai Kong Fire Engineering (AU)
 - Wormald Australia (AU)
- Beyond Fire Service and Maintenance (AU)
- American Fire Engineering  (HK)
- Tyco Fire & Security (IN)

- Systems (UK)
- ADT Fire and Security (IR/UK)
- Tyco Fire & Integrated Systems  (10 Countries)
- Senseco Systems (UK)
 - Cegelec Tertiaire Ile De France (FR)

EMEA

Top 5 Global Suppliers by Region

Current Status

Current Plans
to Build 4x4
Coverage

Completed

In Progress

Completed

In Progress

Not Started

Not Started

Alternative
Suppliers

  • Highly utilized suppliers not currently listed as S&P
  • EMEA –Protec Fire Detection (UK/SP), Unica Fire Safety (NE)
  • AMS – Telgian, API – NSG
  • APAC – Wai Kong Fire (HK) & Wormald (AU) 

Non-Traditional
Suppliers

  • Local self-performing suppliers delivering exceptional service
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Current Supply
Market Options

Supplier
Market
Analysis

Current
Suppliers

  •  JCI (Global) 
  • Chubb (Global – Non S&P)
  • ADT (Global – Mostly UK)
  • Academy Fire (AMS)

Supply
Market
Trends

  • Fragmented supplier market due to the local nature of FLS services
  • Large national and global suppliers utilize smaller regional suppliers to fill gaps in coverage
  • Intelligent / addressable points in the system can deliver a much more accurate and descriptive response to emergencies
  • Expanded use of self-delivery for monthly inspections of fire doors, emergency lights, exit signs and fire extinguishers
  • Enhanced FLS regulations in the UK due to recent incidents (Grenfell Tower 2017)
  • Evolution in the clean agent regulation is causing transition away from FM 200. Restricting supply and driving higher prices (similar to HVAC R-32)