Telephony/Broadband & WAN Contracts

WMFS OFFICIAL – NEW – FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – FOI23087 

Ref: FOI/23087 

RE: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 REQUEST 

I am writing to confirm that the West Midlands Fire Service has now completed its search for the information you requested further to your freedom of information request. 

Please find below a summary of our findings. 

Request 

Contract 1 – Telephony/Voice Services (Analogue, ISDN VOIP, SIP etc)  

1.Telephony/Voice Services Provider- Please can you provide me with the name of the supplier for each contract. 

2.Telephony/Voice Services – Contract Renewal Date- please provide day, month and year (month and year are also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract, please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. If there is more than one supplier, please split the renewal dates up into however many suppliers 

3.Telephony/Voice Services – Contract Duration- the number of years the contract is for each provider, please also include any contract extensions. 

4.Telephony/Voice Services – Type of Lines – Please can you split the type of lines per each supplier? PSTN, Analogue, SIP, ISDN, VOIP 

5.Telephony/Voice Services Number of Lines / Channels / SIP Trunks- Please can you split the number of lines per each supplier? SIP trunks/connections, PSTN, Analogue, ISDN 

Reply 

1. Gamma, Unify(Maintel), BT 

2. Dec 2024, Jun 2024 

3. 24 months, 12 months 

4. SIP, VOIP, PSTN 

5. SIP – 100, PSTN – 200, ISDN – 10 

Request 

Contract 2 – Incoming and Outgoing of call services. 

6.Minutes/Landline Provider- Supplier’s name (NOT Mobiles) if there is no information available, please can you provide further insight into why? 

7.Minutes/Landline Contract Renewal Date- please provide day, month and year (month and year is also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract, please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. 

8.Minutes Landline Monthly Spend- Monthly average spend on calls for each provider. An estimate or average is acceptable. If SIP services, please provide me with the cost of services per month. 

9.Minute’s Landlines Contract Duration- the number of years the contract is for each provider, please also include any contract extensions. 

10.Number of Extensions- Please state the number of telephone extensions the organisation currently has. An estimate or average is acceptable. 

Reply 

6. Gamma 

7. Dec 2024 

8. This information is exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as this information is reasonably accessible to the requestor. The information can be found on the West Midlands Fire Service website at the following link:  https://www.wmfs.net/documents/transparency-report/ Please search for “BT Global Services” 
9. 2 + 1 
10. 2025 

Request 

Contract 3 – The organisation’s broadband provider. 

11.Broadband Provider- Supplier’s name if there is not information available, please can you provide further insight into why? 

12.Broadband expiry l Date- please provide day, month, and year (month and year is also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract, please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. If there is more than one supplier, please split the expiry dates up into however many suppliers 

13.Broadband Annual Average Spend- Annual average spend for each broadband provider. An estimate or average is acceptable. 

Reply 

11. Exponential-e  

12. Jan 2025 

13. £10,000 

Request 

Contract 4 – Contracts relating to Wide Area Network services, this could also include HSCN network services. 

14. WAN Provider- please provide me with the main supplier(s) if there is no information available, please can you provide further insight into why? 

15.WAN Contract expiry Date- please provide day, month, and year (month and year are also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract, please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. If there is more than one supplier, please split the expiry dates up into however many suppliers 

16.Contract Description: Please can you provide me with a brief description for each contract 

17.The number of sites: Please state the number of sites the WAN covers. Approx. will do. 

18. WAN Annual Average Spend- Annual average spend for each WAN provider. An estimate or average is acceptable. 

19.For each WAN contract can you please provide me with information on how this was procured, especially around those procurement that used frameworks, please provide me with the framework reference. 

20.Internal Contact: please can you send me their full contact details including contact number and email and job title for all the contracts above. 

Reply 

14. VMWare 

15. Jun 2028 

16. SDWAN  

17. 41 

18. £40,000 

19. Framework NHS SBS 

20. With regards for the contact details of responsible persons, WMFS operates a single point of contact policy and callers are directed via HQ general contacts on 0330 058 9000. The call will be directed to the person with responsibility for the specific service. There is a direct email address for suppliers making sales enquires email: procurement.enquires@wmfs.net. Furthermore, guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office is as follows: 

• The presumption is in favour of protecting privacy, so the release of personal information will only be fair if there is a genuine reason to disclose. This involves a three-stage test. A public authority will generally have to satisfy itself that: 
• There is a legitimate interest in disclosure; 
• The legitimate interest can only be met, or fully met, by the disclosure of information which identifies individuals (i.e. the disclosure is necessary to that purpose); and, the disclosure would not involve unwarranted detriment to the individual’s privacy or other rights and legitimate interests. 
• You can find out more about FOI exemptions from the Information Commissioner’s Office. This will explain which one or more of the FOI exemptions applies, and tell you how to appeal if you disagree with our decision. 

If you have any queries about this Freedom of Information request, please contact us. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.  

For service complaints, issues or comments regarding this request please contact The Public Relations Department, West Midlands Fire Service, 99 Vauxhall Road, Birmingham, B7 4HW 

Further information concerning Freedom of Information requests can be found on the Information Commissioner website at either the following link: https://ico.org.uk/ or at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.