The ACT, like all states and territories, receives money from the federal government to pay for firefighters responding to incidents at their buildings, land or assets.

But the level of federal funding for firefighting services was halved in 2012-13, dropping to $4.6 million from $10.1 million the year prior.

A confidential review, completed by KPMG in March, found the Commonwealth was now only paying enough to cover a single, fully crewed firefighting pumper to protect all the buildings, land and assets it owned in the ACT.

KPMG's review found the full cost to the ACT of Commonwealth-related fire service response was $9.105 million in 2013. Another method used by the consultant put the cost at $11.952 million.

The review said remedying the shortfall would leave the ACT with two undesirable options – cut the level of firefighting resources available for federal buildings, or reduce preventative measures.

Shadow Emergency Services Minister Brendan Smyth said the people of the ACT were being unfairly treated, and called for action from Emergency Services Minister Joy Burch.

"I'd be urging the minister to go back to her federal counterparts and review this," Mr Smyth said.

"We have been dudded in this regard, and the Commonwealth has to pay their way."

The consultant said the ACT was left with only two options to address the shortfall.

The first would be to provide a level of firefighting resources equivalent only to the money received from the federal government.

In the ACT, it calculated that would be one pumper, staffed full-time.

The review found it was unlikely response time targets could be met with that level of resourcing, and that it would likely be unsafe and not meet firefighting standards, particularly for significant or more complex fires or emergencies.

The other option would be to reduce the level of funding spent on preventative measures involving Commonwealth buildings.

The consultant warned this would likely have an equal impact on the broader ACT community, and may increase the number of incidents that required responding to, thereby driving up costs.

The review said the ACT held a unique position in providing firefighting resources to the Commonwealth.

The territory's fire service had to cover by far the largest ratio of Commonwealth land to employment, the highest number of suspicious packages at federal buildings per capita, and the largest proportion of the Australian Public Service workforce.

Despite that, the territory only received $4.6 million, just $800,000 more than the next state, NSW.

The federal government did provide the ACT with a one-off payment of $4 million over two years for the Rural Fire Service and the State Emergency Service in 2012-13. There have been no undertakings that this would continue, the consultant said.

It is understood KPMG's report will be used in negotiations between the ACT and federal government.

The report comes as part of the Emergency Services Agency's strategic reform agenda, a major program to overhaul the organisation, which is being informed by a string of confidential reviews.

On Monday, it was revealed that one of those reviews had told the government it could cut senior firefighting management without losing operational capability.

Another review recommended replacing firefighters in the triple-0 call centre with trained civilians, like those operating in the ACT Ambulance Service.

The government is yet to decide on either of those options.