PSI enters fire arena with alliances

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.-Systems integrator Protection Service Industries recently forged partnerships with three fire installation firms, rounding out the company's portfolio of services. Now that PSI has partnered with Northern California Fire Protection Services, National Fire Control and Certified Fire Services Inc., the company is able to bid on security projects that also include fire sprinkler systems and ancillary services. "The big advantage to the end user is they can now look to one company to provide everything they're going to need," said Bill Romano, marketing director for PSI, based here. "We've always done access control, but we've never been able to provide conventional fire services." PSI inked the three alliances in January. Since then, the company has won eight contracts on combination security and fire systems projects. "We've never bid on that market," said Romano. "We typically would decline the bid." Now that PSI has partnered with the three fire firms, it's seeking out those kinds of jobs. The alliance works with the security firm bidding on a job and then subcontracting the fire installation work out to one of the three companies, with the fire firm working under the PSI umbrella. "A lot of times the bids will come out and it will be all encompassing of all these different services," said Romano. "When you have to start to break it down, you're really not competitive with some of the other people that are in there offering the full gamut of services." For Northern California Fire Protection Services, the alliance is expected to bring in an additional $750,000 in business this year. In preparation for new work, the company planned to relocate to new offices in San Jose, Calif. at the end of February that will feature a sprinkler fabrication shop and room for about four additional employees. "We're doing much more installation work and PSI is helping us get those jobs," said Matt Cetani, president of the eight-year-old company. Like PSI, Cetani said his company stayed away from projects where it did not have the expertise. "We just stepped back and said get somebody else to bid on that portion," said Cetani.