Contracting snag delays rollout of new fire inspection model

A contracting hiccup has delayed the rollout of the Houston Fire Department's new risk-based building inspection program, pushing full deployment to October, from July.

The department's Life Safety Bureau worked with the consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal this spring to overhaul an inspection program the City Controller's office raked in a blistering audit released earlier this month.

The controller's review found the division responsible for ensuring building safety keeps inadequate records, does not examine buildings on a regular schedule and inflated its inspection numbers, all while exceeding its overtime budget.

The fire department planned to have its new risk-based inspection model fully deployed this summer, but that timeline did not take into account needing to receive City Council's approval for a secondary project management contract, the city's Director of Innovation and Performance Jesse Bounds said.

Council signed off on the six-month, $137,000 deal with Alvarez & Marsal this week.

Bounds said the firm will implement technological enhancements to the inspection database, while training and supporting city staff on the new system.