The Hidden Costs of Private Equity in Emergency Services

There is a moment in every emergency services professional’s career when they realize the tools they depend on are failing them. Not because of technical limitations, but because someone far removed from the mission made a financial calculation.

For fire departments across America, that moment arrived when private equity came calling.

The $100 Billion Question

Vista Equity Partners manages approximately $100 billion in assets. When a firm of that size enters a market, it is not looking for incremental growth. It is looking for transformation.

The kind of transformation that turns $795 annual software subscriptions into $5,000 bills.

ESO Solutions, backed by Vista, now serves about 20,000 of the 30,000 fire departments in the United States. That is not market share. That is market control.

And when you control a market serving essential public safety functions, you control something far more valuable than software revenue.

You control infrastructure.

What Private Equity Actually Buys

To understand what happened to fire departments, it helps to understand what private equity firms are actually purchasing, and it is not software companies.

They are buying cash flow predictability.

Emergency services operate on tax dollars and municipal budgets. That funding arrives consistently. Departments cannot easily switch vendors due to training investments, data migration challenges, and procurement timelines that often stretch five to ten months. The switching costs are enormous.

In financial terms, this is called high customer retention and recurring revenue with low churn. In human terms, it is called leverage.

Adrian Mintz, co-founder of Emergency Reporting (later acquired by ESO), explained the original philosophy clearly:

“We were all aware that volunteer organizations were not going to have a lot of money to spend. We deliberately kept prices down.”

After private equity investment and eventual acquisition, that philosophy disappeared. Emergency Reporting, a platform serving 7,500 agencies, was shut down entirely. Departments were forced to migrate to more expensive alternatives.

The Acquisition Playbook

The pattern repeats itself across industries, and emergency services software is no exception.

Step 1: Platform acquisition

A market-leading software platform with strong customer loyalty is acquired. Emergency Reporting fit this profile perfectly. It was trusted by thousands of departments and built by people from the field.

Step 2: Consolidation

Competitors are acquired to eliminate alternatives. ESO went on to purchase Station Check (equipment tracking), eCore (scheduling), FIREHOUSE Software (serving 11,000 departments), and numerous other specialized tools.

Step 3: Forced migration

Legacy platforms are declared unsupported. Compliance requirements, such as the federal NFIRS to NERIS transition, are used as forcing functions. Customers are told their only option is the preferred platform.

Step 4: Price optimization

This is the industry euphemism. Customers call it something else.

Step 5: Data monetization

Departments may be charged simply to access their own historical records. The Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department was quoted $1,200 just to export its data before contract termination.

Each individual step can be justified on its own. Consolidation is framed as innovation efficiency. Products are sunset due to technical debt. Prices are adjusted to sustainable levels.

It is only when the full pattern is visible that the strategy becomes clear.

The Math That Changed Everything

Private equity firms understand something most emergency services professionals do not.

The difference between a 5 percent annual price increase and a 10 percent annual price increase, compounded over a typical seven-year hold period, is enormous.

Real examples from the New York Times investigation include:

• Norfolk Fire Department: $795 per year to more than $5,000 proposed, a 530 percent increase

• Goshen, New York County: $100,000 invested in the ROVER platform, followed by forced migration to a higher-cost vendor

• Mesilla, New Mexico: $4,000 per year to $12,000 per year, a 200 percent increase

These are not outliers. They are the model.

When these increases are multiplied across thousands of departments, the result is tens of millions of dollars in additional recurring revenue. For private equity, this drives valuation expansion. Every additional dollar of recurring revenue can be worth five to ten times more at exit.

The volunteer fire departments facing budget shortfalls are not part of the equation. They are the cash flow.

Why Emergency Services Are Especially Vulnerable

Three structural factors make public safety technology an ideal target.

1. Captive markets

Departments cannot simply stop using software when prices increase. Emergency services rely on functioning technology to operate. This is necessity, not optionality.

2. Fragmented buyers

There are approximately 30,000 fire departments in the United States. Many are volunteer organizations with limited budgets. They lack collective bargaining power and often do not share vendor experiences.

This contrasts sharply with hospital systems or large enterprises that negotiate aggressively and exchange intelligence through industry groups.

3. Slow procurement cycles

Procurement processes that take five to ten months create strong incentives to renew existing vendors, even at higher prices. The time cost of switching alone can be prohibitive.

Greg Whited, fire chief in Mesilla, New Mexico, described his experience with ESO plainly:

“I’m not going to come back with sunglasses on, covering a black eye.”

Unlike personal relationships, leaving a vendor relationship requires board approval, budget allocation, RFP processes, and months of transition planning.

What This Means for 911 Centers

If you work in 911 communications, it may be tempting to think this only applies to fire departments.

It does not.

The same dynamics exist in the 911 market:

• Recurring, predictable revenue from government budgets

• High switching costs due to training and integration

• Mission-critical urgency

• Fragmented buyers with limited collective power

• Compliance requirements that can force upgrades

ESO already works with EMS agencies and hospitals. Other major players are expanding into adjacent emergency services markets. The same playbook will be attempted in 911 technology.

It may already be happening.

The Questions You Should Be Asking Vendors

When evaluating vendors for your 911 center or PSAP, financial structure matters as much as technical capability.

Ownership

• Who owns the company?

• If private equity-backed, which firm and what is the hold period?

• What is the exit strategy?

• How many acquisitions have been made in the last three years?

Pricing

• What is the historical price increase pattern for existing customers?

• Can references be provided from customers who have renewed contracts?

• What contractual protections exist against dramatic price increases?

Data

• Can complete data be exported at any time, in standard formats, at no cost?

• What happens to data if a contract is not renewed?

• Does the vendor claim ownership rights over customer-generated data?

Product strategy

• What happens to platforms after acquisitions?

• What is the track record for supporting versus sunsetting acquired products?

• How is new feature development balanced with maintaining existing tools?

These are not confrontational questions. They are due diligence. Defensive or evasive answers are signals worth paying attention to.

The Alternative Model

Not every technology company follows the private equity playbook.

Some emergency services companies remain independent and prioritize long-term relationships over short-term extraction. These companies share common traits:

• Mission-driven founders with field experience

• Sustainable growth without constant acquisition

• Transparent pricing structures

• Partnership-based customer relationships

At Convey911, independence was a deliberate choice. Founder Jeff Bruns came from the fire service and understands the consequences of technology failure during critical moments. That experience shapes product decisions, pricing philosophy, and customer relationships.

The decision was simple. No participation in the private equity playbook.

The Systemic Risk Few Are Discussing

The issue is not only higher prices.

When a small number of private equity-backed firms control most emergency services software, systemic vulnerabilities emerge:

• Market exits from entire segments

• Financial instability from leveraged acquisitions

• Strategic decisions that prioritize shareholder returns over reliability

• Reduced innovation due to eliminated competition

Fire departments are already experiencing this. Agencies that relied on Emergency Reporting lost access to a platform built specifically for their needs. The alternative was not better technology. It was more expensive technology owned by the same company.

This is not a healthy market. It is market failure unfolding slowly.

What Happens Next

Mark Niemeyer of the Western Fire Chiefs Association recently advised colleagues:

“Don’t be afraid to push back.”

Pushback only works when alternatives exist, and consolidation removes alternatives.

The 911 community still has time to respond by:

1. Demanding contractual protections around pricing and data portability

2. Evaluating ownership structures during procurement

3. Sharing vendor intelligence across networks

4. Supporting independent, mission-driven companies

5. Advocating for policy protections against predatory consolidation

Because emergency technology must work not only today, but years from now, after acquisitions, mergers, and contract renewals.

The cost of private equity in emergency services is not measured only in dollars. It is measured in eroded trust, broken relationships, and widening gaps between what communities need and what they can afford.

Fire departments are learning this lesson now.

The 911 community still has a choice.

About Convey911

Convey911 is an independent emergency communications platform providing real-time language translation, Text-to-911, and unified communications tools to 911 centers, PSAPs, and emergency services across North America.

We remain independently owned and focused on our mission: eliminating language barriers in emergency response through sustainable innovation and genuine partnership.

We believe the best technology companies are built by people who understand the mission, not by financial engineering.

Learn more at convey911.com

References

Baker, M. (2025, December 14). Private Equity Finds a New Source of Profit: Volunteer Fire Departments. The New York Times.