2022-05-10 Services and Organisation Committee Meeting Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                           10 MAY 2022


5.    REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE COMMITTEE

1     3D HAZARD MAPPING TOOL – APPOINTMENT OF SIMTABLE™


Author             Disaster Management Officer, James Ulyate
                   Infrastructure Services Department

Attachments        Nil



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report seeks agreement for the direct contracting of Simtable™ under the Local Government
Regulation 2012 (S.235(a)), for the provision of a 3D hazard simulation tool for a trial period of two
(2) years.
RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Disaster Management Officer to the Services and Organisation
Committee Meeting dated 10 May 2022 and agree to enter into a medium sized* contractual
arrangement with Simtable™ for the provision of a 3D hazard simulation tool for a trial period of
two (2) years, in accordance with section 235 (a) of the Local Government Regulation 2012.
*medium sized contractual arrangements are valued between $15,000 and $200,000, exc. GST



REPORT
1.    Background
Following the bushfires of 2019, Noosa Council established the Firetech Conect program via the
Peregian Digital Hub. The program’s objective is to help Noosa Shire Council, other LGA’s and
emergency services agencies adopt technologies that build bushfire resilience in regional
communities.
A key element of resilience building is preparing regional communities for potential future bushfire
events. This involves educating people about the behaviour of fires and the importance of
evacuation. The Firetech Connect program researched and identified a number of technology
companies around the world that were developing solutions in the community education space,
including Simtable.
Council invited Dr Jenny Scott - Sustainability Program Leader at Ku-Ring-Gai Council to present
at its Firetech Conference in 2020. Dr Scott demonstrated how Ku-Ring-Gai Council were using
the Simtable technology to engage and educate their community about fire behaviour. The hands-
on nature of the Simtable had proved to be a highly effective tool for presenting scenarios and
building awareness amongst community members.
Council is developing a living lab where bushfire resilience solutions can be trialled with a view to
speeding adoption of those solutions. It has received grant funding support from the Federal
Government to procure solutions and showcase their usage in Council’s own disaster management
activities.

2.    Procurement
Simtable’s solution includes predictive modelling software for how fire, flood and other hazards
evolve within a given environmental context, as well as a novel presentation approach using
augmented reality to display those predictive disaster simulations on an interactive surface.
A market sounding process was undertaken by researching simulation solutions on offer via the
Firetech Connect global network. This network has been developed over two years by Council
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