Government shelves FiReControl

The government’s costly and overrunning FiReControl project has been axed.

FiReControl has been cancelled because of serious delays with the EADS contract (now Cassidian) which began in 2004 and cost £225m.

In a written ministerial statement today fire minister Bob Neill said he had reached agreement with Cassidian to terminate the contract.

"The progress of the project has caused serious concern," he said, "and so in June this year I made it clear to the main FiReControl contractor, Cassidian, that the main IT system must now be delivered to time, cost and quality.

“Following extensive discussion with Cassidian, we have jointly concluded, with regret, that the requirements of the project cannot be delivered to an acceptable timeframe,” added Neill.

A spokeswoman from EADS said, “We regret that the FiReControl contract has been terminated, although both EADS and the Department for Communities and Local Government are in agreement that this decision is in the best interests of all parties, since it could not be delivered to an acceptable timeframe.”
 
Contract termination terms have been agreed but are undisclosed.