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New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today released a follow-up audit finding that the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) has still not fully implemented procedures to improve the timely replacement of front-line vehicles.

“While I am pleased to learn that the Fire Department has taken steps in the right direction to create policies and guidelines regarding front-line and spare vehicles since my last audit,” Thompson said. “It is unfortunate, however, that these plans have not been signed, dated, or disseminated throughout the Department.”

The purpose of Thompson’s follow-up audit – which can be viewed at www.comptroller.nyc.gov – was to determine whether the FDNY implemented the recommendations made in a previous audit, Audit Report on the Fire Department Procedures for Replacement of Frontline Vehicles (#MH-05-073A), issued May 17, 2005. The scope period of the follow-up audit was July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008.

FDNY’s Fleet and Technical Services Unit (FTSU) maintained 2,083 vehicles as of June 30, 2008. Vehicles include ambulances, trucks/ladders, engines/pumpers, and rescue and support vehicles assigned to 354 facilities throughout the five boroughs. According to the Executive Budget for Fiscal-Year 2009, FDNY’s capital commitment for the replacement of front-line fire-fighting apparatus, support vehicles, fireboats, and equipment totals $60.6 million.

The FTSU uses two computer systems to keep track of its fleet. The Maintenance Control Management System (MCMS) is an on-line processing system used to record vehicle maintenance information. The second system, FDFLEETS, is an in-house database system for internal use.

The follow-up audit disclosed that of the four recommendations made in the original audit, FDNY has implemented two and partially-implemented two. The FDNY implemented:

• A written policy regarding the replacement of front-line firefighting vehicles and spare vehicles when they reach a certain age.
  
  
• A written guideline to determine when and how long a spare vehicle should replace a front line vehicle, and ensure that newer spares are assigned to those vehicles out of service for a longer time.

While FDNY officials did provide Thompson’s auditor staff with copies of policies and guidelines as recommended in the previous audit, however neither document was signed nor dated. Furthermore, FDNY could not demonstrate that the plans had been disseminated to agency staff.
 
“It has been four years since my last audit of this issue,” Thompson said. “The public and the City’s Bravest deserve to know that there are adequate procedures in place to ensure that this life saving equipment is the best we can offer.”

The follow-up audit found that, as per Thompson’s recommendation, FDNY has created a separate application to augment FDFLEETS that tracks the movement of all spare vehicles and the locations of stores spare vehicles.

Furthermore, as recommended in Thompson’s original audit, FDNY is currently developing an Oracle database for vehicle tracking. The new database system will track information for all Department vehicles including vehicle purchasing data, vehicle specification data, the assignment of vehicles to users, and the assignment and identification of EZ Pass tags, gas cards, and gas cans to vehicles.

To address the issues that still exist, Thompson made three recommendations. FDNY should:

• Approve, sign, and date the policy regarding the replacement of the front-line fire-fighting vehicles and spare vehicles when they reach a certain age, and disseminate the policy to all appropriate FDNY units.
  
  
• Approve, sign, and date the guideline that determines when and how long a spare vehicle should replace a front-line vehicle, and ensure that newer spares are assigned to those vehicles out of service for a longer time.
  
  
• Link the new database being developed for vehicle tracking, once it is in place, to all related FDNY systems.

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