[House Hearing, 110 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
LEVERAGING THE PRIVATE SECTOR
TO STRENGTHEN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, PREPAREDNESS,
AND RESPONSE
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JULY 19, 2007
__________
Serial No. 110-57
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TONGRESS.#13
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi, Chairman
LORETTA SANCHEZ, California, PETER T. KING, New York
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts LAMAR SMITH, Texas
NORMAN D. DICKS, Washington CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut
JANE HARMAN, California MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana
PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon TOM DAVIS, Virginia
NITA M. LOWEY, New York DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of MIKE ROGERS, Alabama
Columbia BOBBY JINDAL, Louisiana
ZOE LOFGREN, California DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas
DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN, U.S. Virgin CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania
Islands GINNY BROWN-WAITE, Florida
BOB ETHERIDGE, North Carolina MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida
HENRY CUELLAR, Texas DAVID DAVIS, Tennessee
CHRISTOPHER P. CARNEY, Pennsylvania
YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York
AL GREEN, Texas
ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado
Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, Staff Director & General Counsel
Todd Gee, Chief Counsel
Michael Twinchek, Chief Clerk
Robert O'Connor, Minority Staff Director
______
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, PREPAREDNESS, AND RESPONSE
HENRY CUELLAR, Texas, Chairman
LORETTA SANCHEZ, California CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania
NORMAN D. DICKS, Washington MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana
NITA M. LOWEY, New York MIKE ROGERS, Alabama
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of BOBBY JINDAL, Louisiana
Columbia DAVID DAVIS, Tennessee
DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN, U.S. Virgin PETER T. KING, New York (Ex
Islands Officio)
BOB ETHERIDGE, North Carolina
BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi (Ex
Officio)
Craig Sharman, Director
Nichole Francis, Counsel
Brian Turbyfill, Clerk
Heather Hogg, Minority Senior Professional Staff Member
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Statements
The Honorable Henry Cuellar, a Representative in Congress from
the State of Texas, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Emergency
Communications, Preparedness, and Response:
Oral Statement................................................. 1
Prepared Statement............................................. 1
The Honorable Charles W. Dent, a Representative in Congress from
the State of Pennsylvania, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on
Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response:
Oral Statement................................................. 2
Prepared Statement............................................. 3
The Honorable Donna M. Christensen, a Delegate in Congress from
the U.S. Virgin Islands........................................ 3
Witnesses
Panel I
Mr. Marko Bourne, Director of Policy and Program Analysis,
Federal Emergency Management Agency:
Oral Statement................................................. 16
Prepared Statement............................................. 19
Mr. Alfonso Martinez-Fonts, Jr., Assistant Secretary for the
Private Sector Office, Department of Homeland Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 4
Prepared Statement............................................. 6
Panel II
Mr. Barry Dinvaut, Sr., Dinvaut's Trucking Service Inc.; Member,
National Black Chamber of Commerce:
Oral Statement................................................. 40
Prepared Statement............................................. 41
Mr. J. Michael Hickey, Vice President, Government Affairs,
Verizon; Member, Homeland Security Task Force, U.S. Chamber of
Commerce:
Oral Statement................................................. 27
Prepared Statement............................................. 30
Mr. John Howard, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, W.W.
Grainger, Inc., Chair Coordinating Committee Partnership for
Disaster Response Business Roundtable:
Oral Statement................................................. 35
Prepared Statement............................................. 37
Appendix
Additional Questions and Responses:
Mr. Marko Bourne Responses..................................... 51
Mr. J. Michael Hickey Responses................................ 55
Mr. John L. Howard Responses................................... 57
LEVERAGING THE PRIVATE SECTOR TO
STRENGTHEN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE
----------
Thursday, July 18, 2007
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Homeland Security,
Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and
Response,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at10:07 a.m., in
room 311, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Henry Cuellar
[chairman of the subcommittee] Presiding.
Present: Representatives Cuellar, Christensen, and Dent.
Mr. Cuellar. The Subcommittee on Emergency Communications,
Preparedness and Response will come to order. The subcommittee
is meeting today to receive testimony in the heating today
regarding the ways in which the Department of Homeland Security
can better utilize the private sector in order to strengthen
emergency preparedness and response in times of terrorist
attack, major disaster or other emergency.
I, just like all my colleagues--today is a very special
day. We got committee hearings at the same time. I have got two
other--I have got a markup in Ag, Small Business, I have got to
go over there for some work that has to be done. So I have to
go over there.
And I will--Mr. Dent, I will go ahead and leave Mrs.
Christensen in charge of the committee. I have a statement, but
I will go ahead and submit that as part of the record. I will
be back in about 20 minutes. Again, to all of the members,
please, I don't like doing this, but one of my other chairwomen
up there wants a subpoena issued, and I think I am the vote to
get it over. So I have to go over there, but I will allow Mr.
Dent to do the opening statement and then at this time I will
go ahead and let Mrs. Christensen--and I will see you in about
20 minutes.
[The information follows:]
Prepared Opening Statement of the Honorable Henry Cuellar, Chairman,
Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response
Good morning, First, on behalf of the Members of the Subcommittee,
let me welcome our panel of witnesses who are here to discuss how to
better respond to and recover from a terrrorist attack, major disaster
or other emergency through an enhanced partnership between the
Department of Homeland Security and the private sector.
We are glad that you all are here today. We look forward to hearing
from representatives from the private secotr--including both large and
small companies and associations. We hope to draw upon your experience,
resources, and best practices to help strengthen emergency preparedness
and response at the local, State, and Federal levels.
We also look foreard to hearing from the Department to learn about
new developments within the Policy and Private Sector Offices to better
coordinate logistics and communications with the private secotr.
The priave sector owns approximately 85% of the Nation's critical
infrastructure and has been working closely with the Department in the
development of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan. Given its
role in protecting critical infrastructure, the private sector can
greatly support our country in times of crisis.
While the Department has been working to improve its ability to
coordinate efficiently during disasters, the subcommittee wants to
ensure that it is truly incorporating best practices to enhance its
preparedness.
It is a pleasure to see that the private sector witnesses today are
also representing associations that should work closely with the
Department--The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Black Chamber of
Commerce and the Business Roundtable. all of these groups are able to
provide valuable insight given its member companies are what drives our
nation's economy.
And the committee especially looks forward to hearing from our
small business witness from New Orleans, whose company was affected by
Hurricane Katrina. And while the company was recovering, it still
provided debris removal services through a subcontractual relationship
with FEMA, and continues to work with the Army Corps of Engineers and
FEMA to provide recovery services.
The subcommittee wants to hear what the Department is doing to
address the following areas that are important to the response and
recovery process: logistics, donation management, credentialing of
private sector officials and standards to create business continuity in
the private sector.
By strengthening public and private partnerships we can assure our
communities that emergency preparedness and response at the local,
State, and federal levels will be efficient and effective when a major
disaster, terrorist attack, or other emergency takes place.
I want to thank the witnesses again for their testimony.
Mr. Dent. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good luck in
your meeting. This is a busy day, too. In fact we have a
conference committee meeting on the 9/11 Commission
recommendations bill, which I shall be part of later today as a
conferee. So this is an extraordinary day.
First, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the
witnesses for being here today with us.
As we discussed in other subcommittee hearings, the job of
preparing the Nation to respond to emergencies--be it a
terrorist attack or some type of a natural disaster--cannot be
done by the Federal Government alone. It must be a
collaborative effort across all levels of government and it
must include the private sector. The private sector controls 85
percent of the Nation's critical infrastructure. It certainly
drives the economy. Given its importance, all levels of
government should work to leverage the tremendous resources and
expertise that the private sector possesses. This will help
ensure a more efficient and effective response to emergencies,
as well as facilitate recovery efforts.
At the Department of Homeland Security, both the Private
Sctor Office and FEMA engage regularly with the private sector
to improve logistics management, promote continuity of
operations planning, and improve individual and community
prepare preparedness. It is my understanding that several new
initiatives are underway at FEMA to increase the participation
of the private sector.
For instance, FEMA will soon be launching a new Loaned
Executive Program through which a member of the business
community will be placed within FEMA's Policy Office to assist
in logistics management. I look forward to discussing this
initiative and other ideas the witnesses may have to further
improve coordination and leverage the resources and expertise
of the business community.
Again, I want to thank the witnesses for being here. At
this time I want to yield back to the Chair. Thank you.
[The information follows:]
Prepared Statement of the Honorable Charles Dent, Ranking Member,
Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response
As we've discussed in other subcommittee hearings, the job of
preparing the nation to respond to emergencies--be it a terrorist
attack or a natural disaster--cannot be done by the Federal government
alone.
It must be a collaborative effort across all levels of government
and must include the private sector.
The private sector controls 85 percent of the nation's critical
infrastructure and drives the economy. Given its importance, all levels
of government should work to leverage the tremendous resources and
expertise that the private sector possesses.
This will help ensure a more efficient and effective response to
emergencies, as well as facilitate recovery efforts.
At the department of Homeland Security, both the Private Sector
Office and FEMA engage regularly with the private sector to improve
logistics management, promote continuity of operations planning, and
improve individual and community preparedness.
It is my understanding that several new initiatives are under way
at FEMA to increase the participation of the private sector.
For instance, FEMA will soon be launching a new ``Loaned
Executive'' program, through which a member of the business community
will be placed within FEMA's Policy Office to assist in logistics
management.
I look forward to discussing this initiative and other ideas our
witnesses may have to further improve coordination and leverage the
resources and expertise of the business community.
Again, I thank the witness for being here.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mrs. Christensen. [Presiding.] Thank you, Mr. Dent. We have
no other members, but we will accept their opening statements
for the record should they join us.
I want to welcome our panel of witnesses. Our first witness
is Mr. Alfonso Martinez-Fonts, Jr., who is the Assistant
Secretary for the Private Sector Office within the Department
of Homeland Security. Mr. Martinez-Fonts, Jr. was appointed to
this position in November 2005. Prior to that he served as a
Special Assistant to the Secretary for the Private Sector in
the Department. He has extensive experience in the private
sector, having worked 30 years in the banking industry.
Our second witness, Mr. Marko Bourne, is the Director of
Policy and Program Analysis for the Federal Emergency
Management Agency within the Department of Homeland Security.
Mr. Bourne was appointed to this position in October of 2006.
He has more than 20 years of experience in governmental and
legislative affairs, public affairs emergency services, and
emergency management fields.
Our third witness is Mr. J. Michael Hickey who is the Vice
President of Government Affairs and National Security Policy
for Verizon, a position he has held for the past 3 years. He
previously served as the State president of Verizon New
Hampshire and has extensive experience in both the private and
public sectors. Mr. Hickey is also a member of the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce Homeland Security Task Force.
Our fourth witness is Mr. John Howard who is the Senior
Vice President and General Counsel of W.W. Grainger, Inc. Mr.
Howard has been serving in this capacity since 2000. He is a
member of the Business Roundtable's Partnership for Disaster
Response, and Mr. Howard also has extensive experience with the
Federal Government and the private sector.
Our fifth witness is Mr. Barry Dinvaut, Sr., who is the CEO
of Dinvaut's Trucking Service, Incorporated. Mr. Dinvaut, Sr.
has been the CEO for 30 years and has 10 years of banking
experience. His company is also a member of the National Black
Chamber of Commerce, and we are pleased to have all of you
present today.
Without objection, the witnesses' full statements will be
inserted into the record. And I now ask each witness to
summarize his statement for 5-minutes, beginning with Assistant
Secretary Martinez-Fonts, Jr..
STATEMENT OF ALFONSO MARTINEZ-FONTS, JR., ASSISTANT SECRETARY
FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Mr. Martinez-Fonts. Good morning, Madam Chair, and thank
you members of the committee. I want to thank you very much for
the opportunity to speak before you today.
I am Al Martinez-Fonts, Jr., Assistant Secretary for the
private sector at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
With my remarks before you today, I would like to give you some
background about the statutory mandates of the Department of
Homeland Security Private Sector Office.
I will also talk briefly about the benefits of
collaboration and challenges of partnership building, and then
I would like to conclude by illustrating how we in DHS
components leverage the private sector in areas of emergency
preparedness and response.
To begin, let me introduce you to the unique function of
the DHS Private Sector Office. As a part of the 2002 Homeland
Security Act, specifically Title I, section 102(f), Congress
created the position of Special Assistant to the Secretary for
the Private Sector. Comprised of a staff of 14 employees, the
Private Sector Office executes outreach, research and analysis,
based on its statutory mandates to communicate, engage, and
cultivate partnership building with the private sector.
We also act as an advocate when we advise the Secretary on
the impact of DHS policies, regulations, processes, actions,
and their impacts on the private sector.
There are 30 million businesses in the United States. It
would be impossible to reach all of the private sector if it
weren't for partnerships. Simply put, without partners we can't
do our job. On a daily basis my office works with local
chambers of commerce and trade associations like the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, National
Association of Manufacturers, National Federation of
Independent Businesses, Association of Industrial Security,
International Business Executives for National Security, and
hundreds of other associations, individual businesses,
nongovernmental organizations and academic institutions, to
foster dialogue and create opportunity for the Department's
mission.
To begin, we believe that when the private sector and the
government work together, they can share in the benefits of
collaboration. Public-private partnerships enhance our Nation's
ability to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate
against acts of terrorism and natural disaster. Ranging from
individual businesses to nongovernmental organizations,
partnerships can exchange information, facilitate dialogue, or
focus on a particular set of issues.
Partnerships, as the term implies, also have
characteristics which can lend to their success. We believe
that a defined mutual goal, a champion on either side of the
partnership, and a business case for action aids in the ability
for a partnership to take root and grow.
However, we recognize that there are challenges to
partnership building, especially between the private sector and
government.
First, we encourage businesses to be prepared. We support
business continuity standards as a framework for businesses,
especially small businesses, to start a business emergency
plan, to engage their employees and to protect their assets.
For example, NFBA 1600 is the National Standard for Business
Continuity, as developed by the NFCA and endorsed by the
American National Standards Institute, the 9/11 Commission, and
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
We also work with other associations and organizations,
like the American Society for Industrial Security to encourage
the use of business preparedness standards and best practices.
An example of this adoption was the creation of Ready Business.
In 2004, we launched Ready Business to encourage business
owners and business managers to plan to, one, stay in business;
two, talk to their employees; and three, protect their
investments.
To complement their outreach at the local level, Ready
Business launched the Ready Business Mentoring Initiative to
assist business and community leaders in hosting and delivering
business preparedness workshops.
Second, we support efforts made by State and local
governments to engage the private sector. This past May, my
staff worked with the city of Charlotte and the Charlotte
Chamber of Commerce to design and develop the Charlotte
Business Preparedness Summit.
As a result of this pilot, we are working with the Ready
campaign to create a toolkit to encourage State and local
governments to build their relationships and work with the
private sector.
Third, we support business outreach, business awareness
outreach. For example, we promoted the Department's largest
preparedness initiative, National Preparedness Month, to be
held this September, as it has been in the past couple of
years. On a daily basis, we work with our colleague in the
Office of Infrastructure Protection who coordinates and
facilitates the sector coordinating councils of the private
sector organizations which represent the 17 critical
infrastructures and key resources. In fact today, these
councils are hosting, for their very first time, the meeting of
the Critical Infrastructure and Partnership Advisory Council as
we speak. This council serves as a forum for the government and
the private sector security partners to share information and
develop means to protect against natural disasters or
terrorism.
In yet another example, we have helped FEMA incorporate the
private sector expertise into its operations by creating the
FEMA Loan Business Executive Program. This initiative will
bring seasoned experts from the private sector into FEMA
operations to serve as advisors and collaborators on missions
of critical programs such as logistics, credentialing and
incidence response. Governments are always looking for better
ways to leverage the private sector in emergency response and,
as mentioned earlier, there are challenges in doing this.
For example, FEMA has now created prenegotiated contracts
for emergency services to be able to expedite the procurement
process and deliver goods and services to an affected area
quickly. Through programs like this, FEMA is leveraging many of
the business practices that the private sector has to offer.
While we understand that many private-sector companies wish to
sell solicited goods and services, we also believe that there
are many people that just want to do something.
We saw this clearly during the 2004 hurricane season when
companies from around the world offered unsolicited services.
After that event, the Private Sector Office created NERR, the
National Emergency Response Registry. We quickly found out
during Katrina that NERR was unable to manage the flood of
unsolicited offers of goods and services. To replace NERR and
address the need for a robust donation management system during
a crisis, FEMA reached out to Aidmatrix, a nonprofit
organization who, through a grant from FEMA, created a virtual
superhighway for all levels of government, the private sector
and nonprofits, to connect and share unsolicited offers of
products and services and volunteers for crisis management and
everyday mission support.
There are countless examples that I could give you but what
I will say in conclusion is partnerships could be a vital key
in leveraging the private sector in emergency preparedness and
response. Recognizing that partnerships are not a means to
shift the public burden away from the government, a partnership
in its true state, where both partners contribute their core
skills and services, is a joint effort. By creating this
collaborative environment we can create opportunities for
relationship building and information sharing which in turn may
create better communication, trust, and collaboration between
the government and the private sector. This type of cooperation
can only enhance our Nation's ability to better prevent,
protect against, respond to, and recover from an act of
terrorism or a natural disaster.
This concludes my prepared remarks and I look forward to
answering any questions that you may have.
Mrs. Christensen. Thank you. Thank you, Secretary Martinez-
Fonts, Jr..
[The statement of Mr. Martinez-Fonts, Jr. follows:]
Prepared Statement of Alfonso Martinez-Fonts, Jr.
Introduction
Chairman Cuellar and Members of the Committee.
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the committee's request
for information on how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
leverages the private sector to strengthen emergency preparedness and
response. I am Al Martinez-Fonts Jr., Assistant Secretary for the
Private Sector within the Office of Policy at the Department of
Homeland Security, and I am pleased to respond to the Committee's
request for information about public-private cooperation in emergency
preparedness and response.
In order to adequately inform the Committee and respond to its
request we are providing information about the Private Sector Office
itself, which is a unique creation in the Executive Branch; various
characteristics, requirements and experience with public private
partnerships; specific information about Private Sector Office
activities in support of public-private cooperation in emergency
preparedness, response and recovery; and examples of activities by
several other components of the Department, excluding in part, FEMA,
which is represented here today.
Part I_The Private Sector Office
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Private Sector Office
(PSO) is an outgrowth of the position of Special Assistant to the
Secretary, created in Title I, Section 102(f) of the Homeland Security
Act. The Special Assistant was given seven enumerated tasks designed to
promote cooperation between the Department and the private sector. The
Private Sector Office was created as a result of requests made to
Congress by major business associations who recognized that more
cooperation between the Department and the private sector was necessary
to maintain a healthy economy while enhancing our nation's homeland
security efforts. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act
of 2004 added three more tasks to the original seven in the Homeland
Security Act.
In condensed form, the statutory mandates for PSO are to:
Create and foster strategic communications with the
private sector;
Advise the Secretary on the impact of Department's
policies, regulations, processes and actions on the private
sector;
Interface with Federal agencies performing homeland
security missions to assess their impact on the private sector;
Create and manage Private Sector Advisory Councils;
Work with Federal labs, research and development
centers, academia to develop innovative approaches and
technology;
Promote public-private partnerships to provide
collaboration and mutual support;
Develop and promote private sector best practices to
secure critical infrastructure;
Coordinate industry efforts regarding DHS functions to
identify private sector resources that could be effective in
supplementing government efforts to prevent or respond to a
terrorist attack or natural disaster; and
Consult with various DHS components and the Department
of Commerce on matters of concern to the private sector.
In order to carry out our mission it is essential that we have
partners. Our principal partners are the trade associations and the
Chambers of Commerce to which the thirty million businesses in America
belong. Without them, we cannot do our job. These associations and
Chambers of Commerce include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business
Roundtable (BRT), National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), National
Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), Association Society of
Industrial Security (ASIS), Business Executives for National Security
(BENS) and hundreds of others.
To work with our partners, the Private Sector Office has evolved
into a staff of fourteen Federal personnel, with additional contract
staff support. The Private Sector Office is now part of the Policy
Office where it is better able to satisfy its statutory mandate.
The Private Sector Office has two divisions: the Business Liaison
Division and the Economic Analysis Division. The Business Liaison
Division works directly with hundreds of individual businesses, trade
associations, nonprofits, and other professional and non-governmental
organizations, ranging from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the
Business Executives for National Security to the American Red Cross.
The Business Liaisons also work with the Department's components, as
well as with other Federal agencies, including the Small Business
Administration, the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of
Commerce and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The roles and examples of activities of the Business Liaison
Division include:
Obtaining information from the private sector to advise senior
leadership and the policy development process by:
Conducting preparedness efforts, infrastructure
protection outreach and education;
Facilitating immigration issues/TWP outreach work;
Encouraging Work Place Enforcement sessions and
discussion;
Facilitating Safety Act listening sessions with
industry;
Providing situational awareness to current and
emerging issues (i.e., effects of regulation on the chemical
industry, travel industry impacts of WHTI, effects of
immigration legislation on U.S. employers);
Contributing to numerous Department initiatives (i.e.,
non-immigrant visas/Rice Chertoff Initiative, etc.); and
Pandemic preparedness seminars with HHS/CDC.
Creating and fostering strategic communications with the private sector
by:
Creating and sustaining relationships with U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, National Association
of Manufacturers, Business Executives for National Security,
National Federation of Independent Business, American Society
for Industrial Security (ASIS), as well as many Critical
Infrastructure/Key Resource (CI/KR) and non-CI/KR associations;
Facilitating discussions and relationships with major
corporate leaders (i.e. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, General Electric,
financial services sector leaders, etc.);
Conducting topic-focused roundtables for the
Department to receive insight and awareness from private sector
leaders (large and small businesses, associations/NGOs); and
Participating in the process of delivering government
information (threat response, mitigation, etc.) to the private
sector.
Promoting DHS policies to the private sector by:
Delivering speeches and presentations to various
groups and constituencies communicating Homeland Security
policies, actions and initiatives; and
Working with DHS leadership, the DHS Office of Public
Affairs and other DHS components to shape and target
communications and provide strategic engagement of private
sector leaders and key constituencies.
Supporting outreach to the private sector by DHS components by:
Aiding rollouts and operations (e.g., US VISIT,
National Response Plan (NRP), National Infrastructure
Protection Plan (NIPP), etc.);
Facilitating private sector member/association
involvement in national and regional preparedness exercises
(e.g. TOPOFF 4);
Participating in incident communications and
operations during an event of national significance. For
example, coordinates staff forward to the Joint Field Office,
ESF 15 (External Relations) operations; and private sector
assistance to FEMA (i.e. establishing networks/relationships,
large donations);
Obtaining private sector inputs to DHS Strategic Plan,
NRP, NIPP and similar products; and
Contributing to improved Border crossing operations
(i.e., 25% Challenge in Detroit, Mariposa Port of Entry,
Nogales, AZ).
Facilitating and encouraging public private partnerships by:
Working with the Ready Campaign, specifically Ready
Business, to encourage owners and operators of small to medium
sized businesses to create a business emergency plan, to talk
to their employees and to take steps to protect their assets;
and
Coordinating with State and local business coalitions
such as Pacific North West Economic Region (PNWER), Great Lakes
Partnership (Chicago); Security Network (San Diego); Pittsburgh
Regional Coalition for Homeland Security, Washington Board of
Trade, ChicagoFIRST, State and regional BENS affiliates,
Bankers and Brokers Roundtable, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Encouraging the commitment of private sector resources to homeland
security activities by:
Promoting business continuity and supply chain
security and resilience; and
Encouraging coordination/integration of cyber and
physical security.
The Private Sector Economic Analysis Division works with the Policy
Office, other DHS components, other Government agencies, and external
organizations to obtain information and analyze issues. More
specifically, its roles and actions include the following:
Providing economic analyses of current or proposed Homeland Security
actions, rules and regulations to offer component agencies and senior
leadership with additional insight and perspective by:
Assessing the consequences of cyber attacks;
Evaluating Pandemic Influenza efforts;
Conducting air traveler customer surveys;
Reviewing U.S. VISIT survey/analysis;
Assisting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service
(USCIS) in developing proof of concept analysis for their
Transformation Project; and
Coauthoring Risk Assessment of Collecting Antidumping
Duty and Analysis of CBP Bonding Policy for CBP.
Reviewing regulations, including providing help to regulating agencies
by:
Assisting the Transportation Security Administration
(TSA) in the completion of various rulemakings and their
subsequent rollouts (i.e., REAL ID, APIS, ADIZ, trucking
hazardous materials);
Providing comments and assisting USCIS on completing
the proposed rule on the Religious Worker Visa Program; and
Working with USCIS, ICE and the Chief Procurement
Officer on estimating the costs of various components of the
IMAGE (ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers)
programs.
Part II_Public-Private Partnerships
This section identifies the types of participants, some of the
roles and purposes of partnerships, the requirements for successful
partnerships, the risks that may hinder their success, major
variability in results, and examples of public-private partnerships at
the Department of Homeland Security.
The public-private partnership model is quite different from the
traditional government relationship which treats the private sector as
more of a supplier or customer. ``Partnership'' requires a different
mental attitude for all participants. It implies ``give and take,'' not
a ``take it or leave it'' philosophy. Both the government and the
private sector partners have constraints (e.g. legislative,
contractual, financial, or staffing), which limit their ability to
agree on actions. However, the expectation is that neither the public
nor the private sector will ``win every argument'' and, instead, will
work collaboratively to achieve mutually beneficial goals.
Stakeholders of Public Private Partnerships
There are many possible participants in public-private
partnerships. The public sector participants could be agencies from one
or more levels of government: Federal, State or local. In most cases,
the government participants do not involve their senior agency
official. The private sector participants in a partnership can include
individual businesses, trade associations, civic organizations,
nonprofits and non-governmental organizations like the American Red
Cross.
The Purpose of Public Private Partnerships
Public private partnerships have many potential roles and purposes.
Some are focused on preventing terrorism while others combine
protection and preparedness actions, to include both acts of terrorism
and natural disasters. Still others may focus only on natural disasters
but their results can be transferable in either case. Public-private
partnerships may have one or more of the following purposes, some of
which can overlap:
For Federal, State or local governments to provide and
receive information related to acts of terrorism and natural
disasters;
For private sector organizations to learn, understand,
and influence prospective decisions by governments regarding
prevention, protection and preparedness relative to acts of
terrorism and natural disasters;
For governments responding to a disaster, to encourage
cooperation with the private sector, who may be able to provide
donations of goods or services, restore utilities or essential
services to pre-disaster status, or work to reduce the impact
of a disaster;
For governments to obtain economic information useful
in aiding in its recovery, evaluating disasters and reducing
potential impact of mitigation decisions;
For private sector organizations to mobilize with
government to address disaster related issues which are
critical to the private sector; and
To solve security and expedited movement of people and
goods across our borders.
Characteristics of Public Private Partnerships
Most public-private partnerships are not created under a specific
legislative mandate. However, there are several characteristics of
building a partnership which could be characterized as ``requirements''
in order for that partnership to be successful. Some are addressed in
written documents, but many are not. They include:
A charter with agreed scope for work and
collaboration; success requires clear mutual goals defined
before the partnership begins;
Agreed commitments to and expectations of the
partnership, including staffing and budget required of each
party;
A designated leader from the government and one from
the private sector, who can address any issues which may arise;
Public-private partnerships can be initiated by the
private sector or the government, although most are initiated
by the government. Many times the government, initially,
persuades one or more key private sector partners to join the
effort who then in turn help recruit other private sector
members. In order to persuade the private sector to
participate, there needs to be a ``business case'', or ``value
proposition'';
Compatibility between the partnership's purposes and
the mission and goals of government agency and private sector
partners is essential; and
Individuals in both the government and the private
sector who are ``champions'' or ``promoters'' for the
partnership are very important, particularly where the
``business case'' is not very strong.
Challenges to Successful Implementation of Public-Private Partnerships
Public-private partnerships are vulnerable to risks and challenges
which can lead to their termination or change of course. Some risks can
be addressed; others cannot. The risks may include:
Concern by the private sector regarding potential
liabilities associated with sharing information with
governments, and for voluntary actions taken to assist in
recovery from disasters. Many businesses would like to
collaborate, but are deterred by real or perceived liability
issues. ;
The ability of businesses and organizations to assist.
Many businesses and organizations that have the capacity and
resources to make a significant impact on emergency
preparedness, response, and recovery are often suppliers of
goods and services, therefore creating a potential conflict of
interest;
Changing priorities of the government or private
sector partners, which may lead to a reduction in commitments
and/or expectations on either side;
Loss of a ``champion'' or ``promoter'';
The proliferation of partnership organizations, which
can involve the same private sector or government
organizations, may lead to confusion, conflict or ``partnership
exhaustion'';
Mishandling or inappropriate sharing of information by
either government or private parties may lead to a loss of
trust and credibility;
Perception of favoritism toward individual firms by
the government if the partnership excludes their competitors;
and
Understanding the level of participation. Unless the
``business case'' for participation is understood at the
beginning of the public-private partnership, it may not survive
long.
Variability Among Public Private Partnerships
There is no single model of public private partnership that
supports the prevention, protection against, or preparedness for
natural disasters or terrorist actions. Some of the variations between
partnerships include:
Whether a particular partnership should be continuing,
or ad hoc for a specific disaster or issue;
Level of involvement of local, State, or national
level or a combination of one or more levels; and
Number of participants and budget, which can range
from few and no allocated budget to hundreds and annual budgets
measured in thousands of dollars.
Results and Impacts from Public Private Partnerships
Over 85% of the critical infrastructure and key resources in the
United States are owned or operated by the private sector. Federal,
State and local governments in the United States are neither authorized
by law nor have the funds to provide comprehensive protection to each
critical infrastructure asset. Thus unless the private sector takes
actions to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from an
act of terrorism or natural disaster, the country will be poorly
prepared to deal with these possibilities.
While the private sector can do so on their own, greater impact
occurs when they collaborate through public-private partnerships. Many
partnerships have been created in the past five years and few have been
terminated, a sure sign of progress which has helped to further enhance
the information sharing, preparedness, and protective actions necessary
to help ensure the security of the Nation.
Almost every review of the United States' efforts to prepare to
prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist or
natural disasters urges the continuation and increase in public private
partnerships to achieve that end. Although there are no available
statistics on numbers or results of public-private partnerships, the
fact that there is still willingness and desire by both the private
sector and governments to create such arrangements is a strong
indication that the results and impacts of those partnerships have been
very positive.
Successes of Public-Private Partnerships
Public-private partnerships directly or indirectly help to address
preparedness/consequence management issues and protect critical
infrastructure.
Examples of Public-private partnerships at the Department:
The Office of Infrastructure Protection coordinates
and facilitates Sector Coordinating Councils of private sector
organizations representing each of the 17 Critical
Infrastructure/Key Resource Sectors. These councils work with
government agencies through the Critical Infrastructure
Partnership Advisory Council to share information and develop
means of preventing, protecting against and preparing for
terrorist disasters.
In addition, the Office of Infrastructure Protection
coordinates the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC)
which provides the President through the Secretary of Homeland
Security with advice on the security of the critical
infrastructure sectors and their information systems. The NIAC
is composed of a maximum of 30 members, appointed by the
President from private industry, academia, and State and local
government.
The Office of Intelligence and Analysis officials work
with State and local authorities at fusion centers across the
country to facilitate the two-way flow of timely, accurate, and
actionable information on all types of hazards. In Washington
State, for example, representatives from the private sector sit
side-by-side with government.
Fusion centers provide critical sources of unique law
enforcement and threat information; facilitate sharing
information across jurisdictions and function and provide a
conduit between men and women on the ground protecting their
local communities and State and Federal agencies. The
Department will have tailored multi-disciplinary teams of
intelligence and operational professionals in fusion centers
nationwide by the end of fiscal year 2008.
The Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) provides
advice and recommendations to the Secretary on matters related
to homeland security. The HSAC is comprised of leaders from
State and local government, first responder communities, the
private sector, and academia. In 2007, the HSAC Private Sector
Work Group created ``The Future of Terrorism Task Force
Report'' and the ``Homeland Security Culture Report''.
The Science and Technology Directorate facilitated the
establishment of the Homeland Security Science and Technology
Advisory Committee. This was established in 2004 to serve as a
source of independent, scientific and technical planning advice
to the Under Secretary for Science and Technology as mandated
by the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
The National Communications System (NCS) has had an
active partnership with the telecommunications industry since
its inception in 1962. NCS coordinates the National Security
Telecommunications Advisory Committee of 30 industry
executives, which advises national leadership on exercise of
telecommunications functions and responsibilities. They are
also responsible for coordinating the planning and provision of
national security and emergency preparedness communications for
the Federal government under all circumstances, including
crisis or emergency, attack and recovery, and reconstitution.
The National Security Information Exchange (NSIE) process was
established as a forum in which government and industry could
share information in a trusted and confidential environment to
reduce the vulnerability of the Nation's telecommunications
systems to electronic intrusion. The NSIE process continues to
function today, demonstrating that industry and government will
share sensitive security information if they find value in
doing so.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
regularly works with key air transport organizations. In the
event of a disaster, TSA works with these organizations to
assist in the disaster response efforts. For example, during
Hurricane Katrina, TSA, through its ongoing relationship with
the Air Transport Association (ATA), facilitated air
transportation from ATA member airlines to over 20,000 disaster
victims.
The Office of Cyber Security and Communications
(CS&C), is working in partnership with the Office of
Infrastructure Protection, Sector-Specific Agencies, and
public- and private--sector security partners, and is committed
to preventing, protecting against, responding to, and
recovering from cyber attacks and their consequences. CS&C's
strategic goals include preparing for and deterring
catastrophic incidents by achieving a collaborative risk
management and deterrence capability with a mature information
sharing partnership between government and the private sector.
This strategic goal also encompasses tactical efforts to secure
and protect the Nation's cyber and communications
infrastructures from attacks and disasters by identifying
threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences.
A number of initiatives are currently under way to identify
vulnerabilities to the Nation's critical infrastructure, assess their
potential impact, and determine appropriate mitigation strategies and
techniques. CS&C supports the management of risk to the information
technology and communications sectors' critical functions and
infrastructures that support homeland, economic, and national security;
it works to reduce the likelihood of success and severity of impact of
a cyber attack against critical infrastructure control systems; detects
and analyze cyber attacks; and facilitates the identification of
systemic risks across the Nation's CI/KR sectors.
The Private Sector Office staff is assigned a portfolio which
covers many of our largest components such as Customs and Border
Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Transportation
Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Private Sector Office often acts as a catalyst with Department
components to cultivate and foster their own public-private
partnerships.
Part III_Strengthening Emergency Preparedness and Response through
Public-Private Partnerships
The concept of leveraging public-private partnerships to strengthen
emergency preparedness and response is gaining momentum every day.
There is a movement on the part of both government and the private
sector to form partnerships to better prepare and respond to crises. We
see a tremendous opportunity for the private sector to be a vital
partner in preparing communities, offering support in disaster response
and being part of the solution during long term recovery.
Leveraging Partnerships in Emergency Preparedness
We believe that members of the private sector can be strong
partners in preparing their communities for disaster. Companies that
prepare their own operations, employees, and assets for an emergency
are an important part of their community's preparedness efforts. In
addition to taking part in the preparedness, planning and exercise
process, all companies large and small can share their practices and
become preparedness ambassadors in their communities. We use all of the
Department's available resources and reach out through our partnerships
to encourage emergency preparedness.
Adoption of the Preparedness and Business Continuity Standard - the
NFPA 1600
PSO and the Department supports the active use and outreach of
programs based on the Preparedness and Business Continuity Standard
NFPA 1600 as developed by the National Fire Protection Association and
endorsed by the American National Standards Institute and the 9/11
Commission.
A successful example of this adoption is Ready Business. In 2004,
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Ready Campaign and the
Advertising Council launched Ready Business, an extension of its
successful campaign to educate Americans about what they need to do to
prepare for emergencies. Based on the principles of NFPA 1600, Ready
Business was developed by the Department and launched in partnership
with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Administration,
the Society of Human Resource Management, The Business Roundtable, The
9/11 Public Discourse Project, ASIS International, Business Executives
for National Security, the International Safety Equipment Association,
the International Security Management Association, the National
Association of Manufacturers, the National Federation of Independent
Businesses, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The goal of Ready Business is to raise the business community's
awareness of the need for emergency planning and motivate businesses to
take action. The campaign encourages business owners and managers to
plan to stay in business, talk to their employees, and protect their
investment.
The campaign's messages are delivered through television, radio,
print, outdoor and Internet public service advertisements (PSAs)
developed and produced by the Advertising Council, as well as through
brochures, the www.ready.gov and www.listo.gov Web sites, the toll-free
phone lines 1-800-BE-READY and 1-888-SE-LISTO, and partnerships with a
wide variety of public and private sector organizations.
Ready Business also has a Spanish language companion, Listo
Negocios, which provides several Ready Business tools and resources
translated into Spanish.
In May 2006, the Ready Campaign launched the Ready Business
Mentoring Initiative. This initiative is designed specifically to help
owners and managers of small and medium sized businesses prepare for
emergencies. Materials were created to assist business and community
leaders in hosting and delivering business preparedness workshops and
training sessions. These sessions and the Ready Business Mentoring
Guides outline how businesses can plan to stay in business after an
emergency, talk to employees, and protect their assets. Workshop
materials were provided through collaboration through USDA Cooperative
Extension Service funded Education Disaster Extension Network (EDEN).
To reach businesses and business organizations across the country,
the Department reached out to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the
Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and
the nation's leading business organizations to distribute the Ready
Business Mentoring Guides and access its resources.
State and Local Collaboration with the Private Sector
PSO encourages the connection of the private sector to state and
local community based programs. For example, through FEMA's Citizen
Corps program, the private sector can connect with State and local
government, citizens and first responders through State and local
Citizen Corps Councils. Citizen Corps' primary mission is to bring
community and government leaders together in an all-hazards emergency
preparedness, planning, mitigation, response, and recovery framework.
The Citizen Corps nationwide network includes more than 2,200 Citizen
Corps Councils located in all 56 States and Territories. Councils are
encouraged to include the business community and integrate business
resources with community preparedness and response preparedness
activities, planning, and exercises.
Citizen Corps' Partner Programs also collaborate with businesses.
National Partner Programs include more than 2,600 Community Emergency
Response Teams (CERT) and hundreds of Fire Corps, Medical Reserve
Corps, Neighborhood Watch, and volunteers in Police Service programs
around the country. Many CERTs already include the business community
in their training and exercises. For example, the San Diego County CERT
has trained local utility and telecomm employees as part of their
partnerships, and many CERTs have adapted the curriculum to business
needs, providing Business Emergency Response Training for employees.
An important priority for Citizen Corps Councils at all levels is
to educate and inform Americans in all sectors--including the private
sector--about steps they can take to be prepared. The Citizen Corps
program works closely with the Ready Campaign, making Ready Business
and other Ready materials widely available. Furthermore, Citizen Corps
encourages its Councils to work with local emergency management and to
incorporate work continuity plans and planning in specific community
context.
PSO also supports outreach by State and local government to the
private sector. Last month PSO worked with the City of Charlotte and
its Chamber of Commerce as well as with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in
the design and development of the Charlotte Regional Business
Preparedness Summit. This summit provided the business community with
Federal resources, a forum to engage Charlotte's Office of Emergency
Management and its local first responder community, a forum to engage
Federal, State and local public health officials regarding Pandemic
Flu, a showcase to highlight best practices in Charlotte's business
community for business continuity planning, and finally, a first hand
opportunity to learn the fundamentals of business continuity as
outlined by the NFPA 1600.
This event was a pilot initiative with our office and the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce to increase engagement of business owners and
operators on the importance of business continuity planning, emergency
response coordination and pandemic flu preparedness. As a result of
this pilot the Private Sector Office is working with the Ready Campaign
to create a toolkit for communities to will help them bring together
the business community with local government to educate, encourage and
empower local businesses owners and operators to be prepared and to
involve them in community preparedness planning and outreach
initiatives.
Business Preparedness Awareness
The PSO supports the Department's business preparedness awareness
and outreach. One of the largest outreach initiatives held by the
Department is National Preparedness Month. Held in September, it
encourages Americans to prepare for emergencies in their homes,
businesses, and communities. For the first time, the NPM will
specifically dedicate an entire week, September 9-15th to encouraging
business preparedness.
I want to thank the Homeland Security Committee Chairman Thompson
and Ranking Member King, as well as Senators Joe Lieberman and Susan
Collins, for their leadership and agreeing to serve as honorary
Congressional co-chairs of National Preparedness Month.
This year's effort already has a growing coalition of more than 625
national, regional, State, and local organizations pledging support,
many of which are based in the private sector.
National Preparedness Month coalition members, a majority of which
are private sector partners, have agreed to distribute emergency
preparedness information and sponsor activities across the country that
will promote emergency preparedness.
Pandemic Flu Preparedness
PSO supports DHS components in the development and outreach
objectives of the Pandemic Planning Guide for Critical Infrastructure
and Key Resources. This guide was created in partnership with the
Department of Health and Human Service's Centers for Disease Control
based on the principles of the national standard for business
continuity, the NFPA 1600. In partnership with SafeAmerica and the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, PSO participated in a series of pandemic flu
preparedness events across the country. PSO reached out to the DHS
Chief Medical Officer, the DHS Office of Infrastructure Protection and
to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of
Education, U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture to promote joint pandemic outreach initiatives.
The Department also collaborated on the development of pandemic
planning checklists for a variety of audiences to include individuals
and families, businesses, communities, healthcare, schools as well as
State and local governments. These checklists are utilized by thousands
of individuals and organizations as they begin and refine their
pandemic plans. These checklists, in addition to the planning guidance
published by DHS, are aiding citizens and businesses as they do their
part to become more resilient community--not only for a pandemic, but
for any type of emergency.
Encouraging Interagency Collaboration with the Private Sector
PSO encourages collaboration between the Federal government and the
private sector to promote emergency preparedness. For example, PSO
worked with the DHS Office of Infrastructure Protection to coordinate
with the Department of Energy (DoE) to encourage owners and operators
of gasoline stations to wire and install generators to operate fuel
pumps in case of a power outage. Additionally, the Department worked
with DoE to sponsor exercises that included electrical and oil and
natural gas industry. We also sought to identify lessons learned and
needed changes to protocols. Industry also participated in a lessons
learned forum to identify best practices and needed changes to
prevention, protection, response and recovery.
Leveraging Information Sharing, Communications and Collaboration with
the Private Sector
The Department manages many programs and initiatives which
regularly foster communications and facilitate the sharing of
information between the government and the private sector. In fact, we
believe that homeland security is our nation's greatest public-private
partnership. We believe that utilizing the capacity of private sector
to expand the reach of emergency response and public safety networks is
vital in mitigating potential loss of life and property in an
emergency. Simultaneously, the private sector is also eager to acquire
accurate and timely information from all levels of government to be
able to act quickly as part of their risk management processes and to
protect their employees, operations, and assets.
PSO works with FEMA to institutionalize the concept of information
sharing through public-private partnerships and to integrate the
private sector into FEMA's communications, outreach, and operations.
For example, we are assisting FEMA in its proactive approach of
incorporating the private sector into emergency operations.
We are also helping FEMA incorporate private sector expertise into
its operations by creating the FEMA Loaned Business Executive Program.
This initiative will bring seasoned experts from the private sector
into FEMA operations to serve as advisors and collaborators on mission
critical programs such as logistics, credentialing, and incident
response.
Working with FEMA's National Exercise Division and the Office of
Infrastructure Protection, PSO encourages the private sector to train
and exercise their business emergency plans. Two highly successful
national exercise programs that encourage the inclusion and
participation of the private sector are detailed below.
National Top Official Exercise: TOPOFF 4
FEMA's National Exercise Program manages the Top Officials 4
(TOPOFF 4) exercise set to take place in October 2007. This is the
Nation's premier terrorism preparedness exercise, involving top
officials at every level of government, as well as representatives from
the international community and private sector. Sponsored by DHS,
TOPOFF 4 is the fourth exercise in the TOPOFF Exercise Series, a
congressionally mandated exercise program. Each TOPOFF exercise
involves a two-year cycle of seminars, planning events, and exercises
culminating in a full-scale assessment of the Nation's capacity to
prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks
involving Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
National Cyber Exercise: Cyber Storm II
The National Cyber Exercise Cyber Storm II, scheduled for March
2008, is a national cybersecurity initiative designed to exercise
communications, coordination, and partnerships across the public
(Federal, State, local and international) and private sectors in the
event of a cyber attack. The exercise will allow participants from
government and the private sector to examine their capabilities to
prepare for, protect, and respond to the potential effects of cyber
attacks. Cyber Storm II will also provide public and private sector
participants with the opportunity to build relationships for further
collaboration, especially during an emergency.
Leveraging the Private Sector in Emergency Response
While the private sector holds resources and expertise which the
government may seek to utilize in responding to and recovering from a
disaster, there are several challenges that stand in the way of
realizing a full partnership. There are legal and proprietary
limitations which may hinder the private sector's ability become a full
partner in preparedness as well as provide solicited goods and services
to the government in the event of an emergency. As I mentioned earlier,
this is a limitation that may deter the private sector from becoming
involved in preparedness activities for fear of liability and loss of
an economic opportunity. Conversely, governments at all levels must
abide by specific procurement law, regulations, and requirements when
acquisitioning goods and services from the private sector. These
impediments may reduce the ability for government to leverage the
resources and assets of the private sector in an emergency.
All levels of governments are looking for ways to bridge the
ability of the private sector to work with governments. For example,
FEMA has now created pre-negotiated contracts for emergency services to
be able to expedite the procurement process and deliver goods and
services to an effected area quickly. This action was taken from
lessons learned during the 2005 hurricane season. We have seen that
State and local governments have also begun a similar process to ensure
that goods and services can be brought to bear in a cost effective and
expedited manner.
We understand that while many in the private sector seek to provide
solicited goods and services to governments during an emergency, there
are many businesses across the world who, acting as good corporate
citizens, want to ``do something''. The private sector, just like
individuals, seeks to contribute in their own way by offering
unsolicited goods, services, and volunteers to aid State and local
government in disaster response. We saw this during the 2004 hurricane
season when companies from around the world offered boats, planes,
communications, and volunteers to Federal, State and local government.
It was after that season that the Private Sector Office created the
National Emergency Response Registry (NERR), which managed (in a
virtual environment) the offers of unsolicited goods and services.
However, during Hurricane Katrina, NERR was unable to adequately manage
the flood of unsolicited offers of goods and services. To replace NERR
and address the need for a robust donation management system during a
crisis, FEMA reached to AIDMATRIX, a nonprofit organization who,
through a grant from FEMA, has created a virtual superhighway for all
levels of government, the private sector and nonprofits to connect and
share unsolicited offers of products, services and volunteers both for
crisis management and everyday mission support.
Subsequently the NERR framework was retooled to create FEMA's
Debris Contractor Registry. This is an electronic database developed to
assist State and local governments identifying and contacting debris
removal contractor resources. The information is provided and
maintained by contractors and their representatives.
We believe that a company's greatest asset is its people. We have
seen an increase in the number of corporations providing assistance to
employees who have been affected by an emergency. By taking care of
their employees, the private sector knows they are more able to get
their operations back online quickly after an interruption. For
example, many corporate employee assistance programs are now being
tailored to assist the response and recovery needs of employees who may
have been severely impacted by a disaster. We found that during the
2005 hurricane season, companies provided housing for not only their
impacted employees, but also to their extended families, while also
providing services such as job placement, health and medical care. We
have also seen companies utilize technology tools to locate and
mobilize assistance to their employees within minutes. For example, a
company utilized an online mapping system with their employees' home
addresses to quickly locate their employees in the event of an
emergency. Within minutes of the Enterprise, Alabama tornados, they
were able to locate and mobilize targeted assistance to employees whose
homes were in the area of the tornado. This type of rapid response to
employee safety and well-being is just one example of how the private
sector can transform how organizations of all kinds prepare their
employees, operations, and assets for an emergency.
The Private Sector Office provides support to assist the
Department's components in empowering and engaging the private sector
to be a full partner in emergency preparedness and response. Public-
private partnerships can expedite the preparedness and recovery
processes by creating an environment of relationship building and
information sharing which in turn may create better communication,
trust, and collaboration between government and the private sector.
Summary
Public--Private Partnerships have existed in the United States for
many years. They often have very diverse membership involving one or
more levels of government and can also involve varying numbers of
private sector organizations.
One essential characteristic of a successful Public--Private
Partnership is that it must provide clear benefits to all parties,
including a shared and valued outcome. These benefits constitute the
``value proposition'' of the Partnership and define the motivations and
contributions that members bring to it.
There are very many types of Public--Private Partnerships. The more
successful ones have a scope and purpose that results in continuing
benefits to the public and private participants and also have
``champions'' in both the public and private sectors. Mishandling of
shared information between the public and private participants,
changing goals of government or private sector partners, loss of
``champions'', and potential liability for sharing information are
among the main risks that can cause premature termination of Public--
Private Partnerships.
The results and impacts of Public--Private Partnerships for
prevention, protection, response, and recovery have been very positive
and have increased in the past five years both from pre-existing
partnerships and from newly created ones.
Public-private partnerships are not ``disguised charity'' by the
private sector. Good partnerships serve common public/private sector
interests, and private partners must be chosen carefully based on their
business interests and resources. Public-private partnerships are not a
means to shift the public burden away from government. However, a
``partnership'' in its truest state, is where both partners contribute
their core skills and services as a joint effort. This collaboration
creates an environment which builds trust, communication and
cooperation. These results only enhance our nation's ability to better
prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from an act of terrorism
or a natural disaster.
Mrs. Christensen. I now recognize Director Bourne to
summarize his statement for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF MARKO BOURNE, DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROGRAM
ANALYSIS, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Mr. Bourne. Thank you. Chairman Cuellar, members of the
committee, I appreciate the opportunity to appear here today.
My written statement goes into great detail on the business and
management processes that we have been changing in FEMA in what
Administrator Dave Paulison calls "new FEMA" and really it is a
change in the way we are approaching not only our day-to-day
operations but our disaster work and our outreach to the
private sector.
In my remarks I would like to just focus on a couple of key
elements in our strengthening relationships with our partners
in the private sector and the benefits that we are already
beginning to see from it. We are working diligently to build a
new FEMA that is stronger and nimble. We have been given
expanded authorities by this Congress and resources to
implement our reorganization, strengthen our existing
structure, incorporate the core elements of what was the
Preparedness Directorate of DHS and other organizations as part
of this new organization.
One of the first ways we have used our relationship with
the private sector is to get the ball rolling on our
organizational reforms. Administrator Paulison initiated late
last year 17 business assessments of FEMA's business practices
and processes. They included recommendations for how we can
reform our process and our service to the public through best
practices from the private sector, and we have already
institutionalized many of these recommendations. These
assessments also are an essential part of the reorganization
process.
While our new structure is in place now and we continue to
further refine it, today FEMA is focused on its relationships
with the private sector in key areas such as preparedness
partnerships, our ongoing assessments, our enhanced logistical
supply chain management, our contracting, our catastrophic
event planning, our donations management, strong community
coalition building, industry fairs, outreach, and our
partnerships with State and local governments and encouraging
them to also reach out to their private-sector partners.
I am happy to note that this relationship has been a two-
way street. Many businesses are taking active steps to
implement the recommendations of the Ready Business program.
FEMA was part of the creation of that and are pleased that that
has taken such root in the business community. And we are
looking at more ways to outreach to emergency management at the
State and local level so that they can participate in getting
private-sector partner to cooperate in planning for disasters
in advance that may affect cities in regions in which they
work.
FEMA is also engaging the private sector to help us assess
and build a stronger emergency management system. We do this
through our infrastructure protection programs, our legacy
grant programs that came over from the Preparedness
Directorate, report security grant program, transit inner city
bus and others.
Increasingly, we are trying to leverage the resources and
expertise of our partners in the private and nonprofit sectors
even above the important role they have always played in the
past. This increased reliance comes about because the new FEMA
is trying to develop innovative ways to move forward, leaning
quicker and forward-responding to disasters and emergencies.
We have done a number of prescriptive mission assignments,
prenegotiated contracts rather than waiting until an event
happens to do our contracting, and, since Katrina and Rita,
FEMA has worked aggressively to award hundreds of prenegotiated
competitive contracts with large, small business set-aside
requirements that are in place and ready for this existing
hurricane season and available to us in the future.
We have also revamped our logistics management. We have
created a new directorate that is specifically responsible for
logistics management, and it is importing the best practices
from the private sector as well as our government partners such
as the Defense Logistics Agency. The Citizen Corps program is
available to all communities for outreach on emergency
preparedness planning, mitigation and response, and there is
over 2,200 Citizen Corps Councils that involve the private
sector across the country.
In FEMA's opinion, the private sector should also continue
in several areas to build upon their own preparedness in many
critical paths, the first being developing strong relationships
and strong business plans internally for their own continuity
of operations at all of their locations and their critical data
centers; to develop employee support plans for when employees'
office locations are damaged or affected, or if employees have
lost their homes to disaster.
A key element of any recovery is getting people back to
work as quickly as possible. We encourage prudent risk
management programs, health and safety programs, working
closely with the local and State emergency managers to build
disaster protocols ahead of time.
The private sector is also working with FEMA on a number of
initiatives, and we have specifically had meetings with both
the Chamber of Commerce, BENS, Business Executives for National
Security, and the Business Roundtable. Recent meetings held
last month with the Chamber and BENS were looking at providing
an opportunity for the business community to have a seat in the
National Response Coordination Center here in Washington, D.C.,
and ultimately in our regional coordination centers in the
regions. And the Chamber is actively and aggressively working
with us over the next month to actually put that in place.
FEMA is also integrating the private sector in a number of
our programs and we are pleased with the support that we are
getting from the Department of Homeland Security's Private
Sector Office in assisting us in that manner.
To give you one example on a regional level, our Boston
Region I office has begun working with regional, national and
global companies based in New England in order to inform and
establish an information-sharing network. These include
Verizon--who is with us today--Raytheon, Bank of America, G-
TECH and hundreds of others as part of a newly developed
network that is reaching out to more than 5 million people in
New England.
We are also working with these companies to develop
communications networks between government and the private
sector with the purpose of creating a free flow of information
before, during, and after an incident. These will help us
leverage those resources.
These are just a few highlights of the approach that we are
taking. We consider our first responder--or, rather, our
business partnership to be in its early days. We want to see a
continued growth. We want to work to establish even stronger
relationships, build the expertise, begin to use our Aidmatrix
system that we have supported to develop the donations
management portal that all States and emergency management at
the local level can use for donated resources.
We are doing a pilot program in Denver with Infraguard and
the BENS chapter in Denver, Colorado, also on outreach and
information sharing. All of these are part of our outreach
effort, and we are going to continue to press forward on those.
We believe that the private sector has a prominent role in
emergency management, and we want to build the relationships
that we can, and we are committed to doing so.
And I thank you for the opportunity to be here today and to
speak about where we are going with new FEMA and look forward
to answering any questions you might have.
Mrs. Christensen. Thank you, Mr. Bourne.
[The statement of Mr. Bourne follows:]
Prepared Statement of Marko Bourne
Introduction
Chairman Cuellar and Members of the Committee.
I am Marko Bourne, Director of Policy and Program Analysis and
Evaluation at the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
You have heard Administrator Paulison discuss his vision for a
``new FEMA.'' It is the Nation's preeminent emergency management and
preparedness agency. And, it demonstrates an ethos of leaning further
forward to deliver more effective assistance to communities and
disaster victims. The new FEMA is focused on:
Leading the Nation to better prepare against the risk
of all-hazards, including terrorism;
Marshaling an effective national response and recovery
effort;
Reducing the vulnerabilities of lives and property;
Speeding the recovery of communities and individual
disaster victims; and,
Instilling public confidence when it is needed most--
in the hours and days following a disaster.
And, it accomplishes these objectives through the professional
efforts of dedicated women and men who are developing operational and
support core competencies; and implementing operational and business
practices designed to lead the Nation's domestic preparedness, response
and recovery missions in an all hazards environment. The new FEMA is
adding value to and working hard to improve disaster response and
emergency management programs at all levels of government and in the
private sector. FEMA is a proactive, engaged, agile and responsive
leader and partner in preparedness and emergency management.
We are working diligently to build this new organization, while
leveraging the solid foundation of expertise and accomplishment brought
to FEMA by core elements of the former DHS Preparedness Directorate
that, since April 1st of this year, are now a part of FEMA. These past
and ongoing preparedness activities are being integrated with the
actions and initiatives that FEMA has been taking for the past 18
months to improve operational efficiency, build mutually beneficial
partnerships, learn best practices, and gain valuable insight on how we
can and should operate in the future.
In particular, FEMA is focused on improving its relationships with
the private sector by focusing on key areas such as preparedness
partnerships, internal organizational assessments, enhanced logistical
supply chain management, contracting, planning for catastrophic events,
donation management, strong community coalition building, and industry
fairs and outreach.
As the committee considers private sector preparedness efforts and
challenges, at FEMA we are working closely with the DHS Private Sector
Office (PSO), the Office of Infrastructure Protection (OIP), the Office
of Public Affairs and others to strengthen the outreach to a critical
partner in the response and recovery from emergencies. In order to
achieve a greater level of private sector preparedness, many businesses
have updated their business continuity plans based on their lessons
learned from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, and are working with
emergency management officials at local, state and federal levels to
get more involved in planning for disasters that may affect the cities
and regions in which they operate. FEMA is also engaging the private
sector to assist us in our efforts to build a stronger emergency
management system. Through the National Incident Management System
(NIMS) and the National Response Plan (NRP) revision process, FEMA and
OIP worked with industry representatives to include language in NIMS
that integrates the private sector as a full partner in incident
management.
Preparedness Partnerships
Of course, FEMA does not and can not accomplish its important
mission alone. We rely on all of our partners across the emergency
management spectrum. Increasingly, we are leveraging the resources and
expertise of our partners in the private and non-profit sectors--even
above and beyond the important role they have always played in the
past.
This increased leveraging of capabilities comes about because the
new FEMA is developing and using innovative ways to be more forward
leaning in response to disasters or emergencies. One way we are
accomplishing this is through pre-scripted Mission Assignments and pre-
negotiated contracts to provide necessary resources.
We also have a vast portfolio of grant programs FEMA now manages
that supports implementation of the Interim National Preparedness Goal.
The Goal outlines an all-hazards vision that cuts across the four
mission areas of preparedness: to prevent, protect against, respond to
and recover from major events, including terrorist attacks and
catastrophic natural disasters. The Goal is truly national in scope, in
that its successful implementation requires engagement across Federal,
State, local, and tribal levels, as well as the private sector and
individual citizens.
Also, DHS' grant programs allow a tremendous amount of flexibility
for State and local jurisdictions to include private sector entities in
planning efforts. Allowable activities include the development of
public/private sector partnership emergency response, assessment and
resource sharing plans, development or enhancement of plans to engage
with the private sector/non-governmental entities working to meet human
service response and recovery needs of victims and the development or
enhancement of continuity of operations and continuity of government
plans.
Although many of FEMA's grant programs award funds to state or
local governments to implement projects that support their State or
Urban Area Homeland Security Strategies, ongoing coordination with
private sector partners--particularly on key issues related to critical
infrastructure protection where the private sector owns 85% of the
assets--is absolutely necessary. The private sector plays a vital role
in the planning process that supports the implementation of
preparedness grants in the field. Recognizing this vital role, FEMA has
engaged organizations such as Business Executives for National Security
(BENS), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Council for Excellence in
Government to further the dialogue on preparedness.
One exception is the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI)
Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) for which nonprofit
organizations in the 46 designated UASI areas are eligible for grants.
This grant program, announced this past April, will provide over $24
million to eligible 501(c)(3) organizations who are deemed high-risk of
a potential terrorist attack. Through this program, we are working with
the private sector to enhance their security. In addition, FEMA's Port
Security Grant Program (PSGP) is open to public and private owners and
operators of critical port infrastructure. Overall, PSGP has provided
more than $1 billion to public and private entities since its inception
in Fiscal Year (FY) 2002. Most of the funding in initial years of this
program was awarded to federally-regulated private entities. Over the
last 2 years, however, public entities received a higher proportion
consistent with the DHS approach to securing critical infrastructure.
The Intercity Bus Security Grant Program (IBSGP), Trucking Security
Program (TSP), and the Transit Security Grant Program (TSGP) are also
available to the private sector. Similar to PSGP, these programs are
focused on our nation's critical transportation infrastructure. In the
case of the IBSGP and the TSP, 100% of the awards are made to private
entities. IBSGP is targeted exclusively to commercial over-the-road bus
entities to enhance the security of intercity bus systems that service
Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) sites. Through the IBSGP, DHS has
awarded a total of more than $60.5 million to commercial owners/
operators of over-the-road buses providing fixed route services or
charter bus services in high risk regions since FY 2003.
Since FY 2003 DHS has provided over $62 million, through TSP, to
the American Trucking Association (ATA), supporting operations of the
Highway Watch Program to enhance security and overall preparedness on
our nation's highways. Through the Highway Watch Program, a
cooperative agreement with the ATA, highway professionals are recruited
and trained to identify and report security and safety situations on
our Nation's roads. ATA has used these funds to train more than 400,000
commercial truck drivers in highway security domain awareness and to
operate a nationwide call center for truckers to report security
incidents.
Funding for the TSGP is used to enhance the security of rail
transit systems including commuter, light and heavy rail; intra-city
bus; inter-city passenger rail (Amtrak); and ferry systems.
Additionally, the Intercity Passenger Rail program, part of the TSGP,
was created in FY 2005 to provide assistance to Amtrak to improve
security to its passengers and to date DHS has awarded approximately
$22 million under this program.
Another significant example of public- private partnering is
through FEMA's new Training and Education Division, which has a number
of courses being developed or delivered that are available for private
sector participation. For example, the new online training relating to
the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (IS 860) is designed to be
used by both government and private sector security partners. More than
3000 individuals have taken this course since it was posted this past
year.
The National Exercise Division (NED) works closely with the
Department's Private Sector Office and Office of Infrastructure
Protection (OIP) to develop a systematic means to integrate the private
sector into national level exercises as well as taking steps to
coordinate future modifications to the Homeland Security Exercise and
Evaluation Program that will encourage and guide State and local
efforts to construct exercise activities inclusive of the private
sector.
Moreover, private sector entities continue to be involved in the
Hurricane Preparedness Exercise activities that are sponsored by the
NED on an annual basis. Finally, NED, through its Direct Support
Exercise Program, works with Major League Baseball, the National
Football League, and other activities to organize and conduct exercises
to ensure preparedness for large scale incidents at their venues that
attract large concentrations of people.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Advertising
Council launched the Ready Business Campaign in September 2004. This
extension of Homeland Security's successful Ready Campaign, designed to
educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to
emergencies, focuses specifically on business preparedness. Ready
Business helps owners and managers of small- and medium-sized
businesses prepare their employees, operations and assets in the event
of an emergency.
Ready Business was developed by Homeland Security and launched in
partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Small Business
Administration, Society of Human Resource Management, The Business
Roundtable, The 9/11 Public Discourse Project, ASIS International,
Business Executives for National Security, International Safety
Equipment Association, International Security Management Association,
National Association of Manufacturers, National Federation of
Independent Businesses, and Department of Labor's Occupational Safety
and Health Administration.
The goal of Ready Business is to raise the business community's
awareness of the need for emergency planning and motivate businesses to
take action. The campaign encourages business owners and managers to
discuss the benefits of emergency preparedness measures and the need to
plan to stay in business; talk to their employees; and protect their
investment.
Ready Business also has a Spanish language companion, Listo
Negocios, which provides several Ready Business tools and resources
translated into Spanish.
The campaign's messages are delivered through: television, radio,
print, outdoor and Internet public service announcements (PSAs)
developed and produced by the Advertising Council; brochures;
www.ready.gov and www.listo.gov Web sites; toll-free phone lines 1-800-
BE-READY and 1-888-SE-LISTO; and partnerships with a wide variety of
public and private sector organizations.
In May 2006, the Ready Campaign launched the Ready Business
Mentoring Initiative. This initiative is designed specifically to help
owners and managers of small and medium-sized businesses prepare for
emergencies. Materials were created to assist business and community
leaders in hosting and delivering business preparedness workshops and
training sessions. These sessions and the Ready Business Mentoring
Guides outline how businesses can plan to stay in business; talk to
employees; and protect assets. Workshop materials were provided through
collaboration through the USDA Cooperative Extension Service funded
Education Disaster Extension Network (EDEN).
To reach businesses and business organizations across the country,
the Department reached out to U.S. Department of Commerce, Small
Business Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the
nation's leading business organizations to distribute the Ready
Business Mentoring Guides and provide access to its resources.
In addition to the Ready Business Mentoring Initiative, the
Department also works with the private sector to encourage the adoption
of the NFPA 1600 at the local level. For example the Department
collaborated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on a pilot initiative to
create a Regional Business Preparedness Summit in Charlotte, North
Carolina. This event brought together local leaders in emergency
management, public health and the private sector. Local businesses
learned the importance of creating and exercising their business
emergency plan, involving their employees, protecting their assets and
coordinating with their local emergency management network.
FEMA is also integrating the private sector in a myriad of
initiatives across the Agency. For example, we are working closely with
Homeland Security's Private Sector Office to utilize their concept of
relationship and partnership building with the private sector. We have
embraced Homeland Security's Private Sector Office staff as part of our
senior advisors. We are working together on initiatives where we can
integrate the private sector into our communications, outreach and
operations or by their expertise in such mission critical areas such as
logistics.
A few highlights of our new approach to the private sector are:
We are exploring opportunities for the private sector to be
represented in our national response and coordination center.
Currently, we are working with the Private Sector Office to have a
private sector representative included in various aspects of the Joint
Field Office at the site of a major disaster or emergency to assist
with the economic aspects of rebuilding and to inform the leadership at
the site about available private sector assets to assist in response
and recovery.
We are incorporating private sector expertise into our operations
by creating the FEMA Loaned Business Executive Program. This initiative
brings seasoned experts from the private sector into FEMA operations to
serve as advisors and collaborate on mission critical programs.
Other initiatives include:
Private Sector participation in the Regional Emergency
Communications Coordination Workgroup.
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Stadium Owners/
Operators.
Pilot program with Infragard in Denver, Colorado.
Mutual Aid for businesses.
Mutual Aid Training for businesses.
Developing Pilot Website to serve as a repository for
posting information about the above activities, training
opportunities, business continuity, as well as referrals to
founding organizations.
Establishing a working group within FEMA for
developing and integrating credentialing requirements and
programs such as the FEMA First Responder Authentication Card
and Common Credential projects with wider government
credentialing efforts of the DHS Screening Coordination Office.
Internal Organizational Assessments
At the end of last year, Administrator Paulison initiated a series
of 17 independent Agency-wide organizational assessments as part of his
commitment to lead FEMA to become the Nation's preeminent emergency
management and preparedness Agency. The completed assessments
established a baseline of FEMA's key systems, processes and
capabilities in the areas of acquisition and contract management;
finance and budget; human resources and disaster workforce; information
technology, security, facilities, and logistics. The recommendations
were built upon public and private best practices and were documented
first in initial reports and then later in January 2007 in the 17 Final
Reports. FEMA has moved quickly to implement the recommendations. This
led to leveraging the private sector in vendor managed arrangements in
supply chain management and logistics, advance contracting for response
and recovery services, as well as developing an Business Executive Loan
Program to incorporate lessons learned and enhance business practices
and movement toward integrating private sector liaisons in national,
regional and field emergency operations coordination centers
Enhanced Supply Chain Management and Logistics
FEMA's new Logistics Management Directorate is fulfilling a
critical core competency by developing a disciplined, robust, and
sophisticated supply and service capability. This Directorate will
effectively plan, coordinate and manage the Federal logistics response
and logistics recovery operations in support of domestic emergencies
and special events.
FEMA is strengthening its collaborative partnerships with both the
public sector and the private sector and have leaned toward
establishing vendor managed arrangements for the storage, rotation, and
shipment of certain commodities. FEMA is researching industry best
practices to determine how they can enhance our logistical operations.
While FEMA will continue to stock commodities for initial surge
requirements (provide support for 1 million people within 72 hours);
FEMA will work with pre-established partnerships for sustainment and
for larger scaled supply chain initiatives. These partnerships have
also helped to improve FEMA's immediate response and logistics
capabilities by reducing the acquisition and distribution time,
reducing the replenishment lead-time, and by strengthening FEMA's day
to day supply chain operations.
To facilitate this involvement, Logistics Management sponsored
market research in collaboration with the DHS Private Sector Office and
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
In pursuit of this enhanced capability, Logistics Management is
also analyzing its current business operations, its management
practices and exploring the use of Third Party Logistics (3PL)
providers for its transportation and warehouse management missions.
As with many of FEMA's operational offices, Logistics relies
heavily on the private sector to provide critical operational support
through competitively awarded contracts. Logistics has contracts with
private sector for:
National Commercial Bus Transportation Contract--Third
party services for bus transportation. This contract provides
over 1,000 coach buses for evacuation purposes. While
evacuation is not a federal responsibility, we do have a
responsibility to ensure that we are prepared to help states in
crisis by providing this key asset.
Base Camp support (July 31, 2007 target award date)--
In the aftermath of a disaster, FEMA is often required to house
its own response personnel, as well as personnel from State and
local governments, other federal agencies, and volunteers.
Under this contract, our private sector partners will be
responsible for housing all authorized camp occupants with
tents or modular units, equip tents and other facilities with
air conditioning and heating, and leveled plywood floors, as
well as provide bedding, meal services, kitchen, dining hall,
limited recreation facilities, operations center, medical unit,
refrigerated trucks, shower units, hand wash units, potable
(drinking) water, water purification and manifold distribution
systems, toilets, on-site manifold distribution of black and
grey water and associated on-site sanitation systems, complete
laundry service, industrial generators, and light towers.
FEMA's logistics organization will be one that is proactive and
couples 21st century technology and a professional workforce with
strategic public and private partnerships.
Contracting
The first priority of FEMA during the initial phase of a major
disaster is and has always been to provide relief to victims in the
most efficient and effective way possible in order to save lives and
property. FEMA's goal is to use competitive strategies while also
providing local and socioeconomic businesses a competitive advantage
whenever possible. FEMA had some pre-negotiated contracts in place
before Hurricane Katrina; however, the extreme circumstances of storms
like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita demonstrated that these few
contingency contracts could not sufficiently meet mission requirements.
As a result, many non-competitive contracts were needed in order to
effectively and efficiently save lives and property.
Due to the magnitude and length of recovery time of Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita, FEMA has recognized the need for more robust, well-
planned contingency contracts and a thorough understanding of the
qualifications and capabilities of the private sector in areas related
to the Agency's mission. Since Katrina and Rita, FEMA has worked to
aggressively award pre-negotiated competitive contracts, and these are
in place and ready for the 2007 hurricane season. Contract agreements
are in place covering all aspects of FEMA disaster management including
logistics, mitigation, individual assistance, recovery, management, and
integration center support.
By having advance contracts or similar agreements in place, FEMA as
well as State and local first responders are more organized and
efficient. Additionally, coordination is made easier among the federal,
state and local governments, as each entity is aware of the goods and
services for which FEMA has already contracted in the event of
disaster. This increased coordination makes for a more effective and
efficient response.
FEMA is particularly committed to working and partnering in advance
with industry partners from the small and disadvantaged business
community as well as local companies within disaster areas. The Agency
is accomplishing its goal of benefiting these businesses through
numerous initiatives, including:
Participating in outreach forums to meet with the
Small Business Community;
Conducting personal meetings with interested vendors/
contractors to present company capabilities and performance;
Developing goals and acquisition strategies which are
increasingly structured for maximizing the number of awards to
small businesses;
Networking with representatives of the U.S. Small
Business Administration and local small business development
centers;
Participating in local, state and national
conferences, seminars, and exhibits to gain access to current
small business issues and interface with business and industry;
and
Creating a voluntary, debris removal contractor
registry to enable small and local firms to notify FEMA, and
interested state and local governments, of their capability to
support disaster response and recovery requirements as needs
arise.
Catastrophic Disaster Planning
FEMA's Disaster Operations Directorate has collaborated closely
with the DHS Private Sector Office (PSO), Office of Operations
Coordination's Incident Management Planning Team and Office of
Infrastructure Protection (OIP) to ensure that the private sector has
continued visibility of Federal, State, local, tribal, and critical
infrastructure coordination and activities related to responding to
catastrophic disasters and overall awareness of FEMA's Catastrophic
Disaster Planning Initiative. As part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's
Business Civic Leadership Center and its Homeland Security Division's
Annual Workshop, the Chamber sponsored a session on June 7--8, 2007, in
conjunction with the PSO to discuss response to and recovery from a New
Madrid Seismic Zone Earthquake. One of the primary topics of discussion
was how the private sector develops partnerships in planning to meet
the challenge of responding to such an event and integrate planning
between the public and private sector. A report detailing the results
of the workshop, recommendations, and how the business community can
partner with Federal, State, local, and tribal governments and critical
infrastructure owners will be prepared and used as we move forward with
the Catastrophic Disaster Planning Initiative not only for the New
Madrid Seismic Zone, but also for the Florida (Category 5 Hurricane
impacting Southern Florida), and California initiatives. The eight New
Madrid Seismic Zone States (Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana,
Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee) are conducting
Catastrophic Disaster Response and Recovery Planning Workshops this
summer. The Chamber workshop served as a catalyst to begin the private
sector participation in these initiatives.
The State of Florida has already initiated a series of workshops to
address response and recovery planning for a Catastrophic Category 5
Hurricane impacting South Florida and planning for catastrophic
earthquakes in California is now in the initial phase.
Important components needed to make the Catastrophic Disaster
Planning Initiative a success include involving the private sector and
business community to the maximum extent possible; establishing solid
partnerships between the public and private sectors and non-
governmental agencies; and highlighting the critical role the private
sector can play in providing supplemental resources and assistance in
catastrophic disaster events.
Integrating Critical Infrastructure Protection as a key component
of Catastrophic Disaster Planning and Incident Management
FEMA, in collaboration with OIP, has done extensive work with the
private sector in the development of processes to integrate the
protection of critical infrastructure and key resources as a key
component of incident management, which is critical to planning for
catastrophic disasters. As a result of the lessons learned from
Hurricane Katrina, FEMA and OIP worked closely together with other
Federal departments and agencies and private sector partners to develop
processes for addressing disaster-related requests from private sector
Critical Infrastructure/ Key Resources (CI/KR) owners and operators.
The processes also utilize the partnership model established in the
National Infrastructure Protection Plan to enhance incident related
information-sharing and decision making relating to CI/KR. The
engagement of this public-private partnership as a component of
incident management is important because the vast majority of the
infrastructure in our country is owned and operated by the private
sector. Having an established mechanism to foster coordination
strengthens our ability to respond to the full spectrum of 21st century
threats.
Donations Management
One of the lessons learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is the
need for a secure, user friendly system to efficiently connect Federal
and State/Local Governments, the Private Sector and the Voluntary
Sector to match the volume of donation offers of product and volunteers
with appropriate nonprofit agencies. To fulfill this need, FEMA has
partnered with the Aidmatrix Foundation, which has assembled a strong
community of for-profit and nonprofit partners to come together and
develop the FEMA In-Kind Donations Management Network. Leveraging
leading-edge technologies, the information management provides a simple
but effective means of connecting potential donors with potential
recipients within the disaster relief community.
FEMA is providing the Aidmatrix Foundation $950,000 this year to
expand its existing disaster donations network. These funds will go
towards establishing the framework for an integrated and coordinated
approach to donations management by connecting private sector,
government and leading nonprofit entities in times of disaster. This
sponsorship will further enable Federal and State/Local emergency
management organizations to better serve voluntary agencies and their
private sector partners.
The FEMA/Aidmatrix In-Kind Donations Management Network will
streamline the way donations are accepted, processed, tracked,
distributed and acknowledged. When offers of donated products are made
to FEMA or individual states, these offers will immediately be made
available on the online network to participating charities. This, in
turn, will allow government and nonprofit users to see in real time
what services and goods are most needed and what donations may already
be available for immediate distribution.
Under the cooperative agreement, each state will be provided a
basic system at no cost. The basic system includes linking or
connecting to the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster
(National VOAD) member organizations in that particular state. The
network also offers states software tools to rapidly set up a call
center to meet the demands of an inquiring general public wanting to
help in the aftermath of a disaster. Moreover, it enables states the
ability to add additional nonprofit organizations, cities, and
governmental agencies, if desired at their cost.
Thus far, Aidmatrix has been tested in two states and has received
favorable feedback. We plan for Aidmatrix to be fully operational in
near term. Some of its features and benefits are listed below:
In-Kind Donations Management--Call Center and Web
Portal--Creates a national in kind and state portals via the
web. Enables state's rapid response with a call center. Reports
are real-time. Provides enterprise wide visibility online.
Online Relief Warehouse Management--Aidmatrix Online
Relief Warehouse Management is a solution based on nonprofit
warehouse management best practices. The system provides real-
time visibility into relief warehouse activity and status for
all stakeholders involved in a relief effort. Organizations at
the local, state and national level can see up-to-the-minute
inventory levels to assist in making decisions in times of
disaster.
Financial Donations Management--for those wishing to
support a disaster relief operation by way of a financial
contribution donors may be able to link directly to a number of
voluntary agency websites to make a contribution as they may
choose to do. As an optional element, Aidmatrix offers a The
Aidmatrix Virtual Aid Drive' a tool that promotes the offering
of financial donations to designated voluntary agencies.
Unaffiliated Volunteer Management--Manage the
volunteer response and connect offers to agencies with needs
efficiently and effectively.
Strong Community Coalition Building
More than ever, we at FEMA are building stronger and more vibrant
community coalitions and engaging with the private sector to ensure
that they have a more prevalent role in emergency response through
FEMA's Citizen Corps Program. Citizen Corps' primary mission is to
bring community and government leaders together in an all-hazards
emergency preparedness, planning, mitigation, response, and recovery
framework. The Citizen Corps nationwide network includes more than
2,200 Citizen Corps Councils located in all 56 states and territories.
Councils are encouraged to include business representation and to work
with businesses to integrate business resources with community
preparedness and response plans. An important priority for Councils at
all levels is to educate and inform Americans in all sectors--including
the private sector--about steps they can take to be prepared. The
Citizen Corps program works closely with the Department of Homeland
Security's Ready Campaign, making Ready Business and other Ready
materials widely available. Furthermore, Citizen Corps encourages its
Councils to work with local emergency management and to incorporate
work continuity plans and planning in specific community context.
Citizen Corps' Partner Programs also collaborate with businesses.
National Partner Programs include more than 2,600 Community Emergency
Response Teams (CERT) and hundreds of Fire Corps, Medical Reserve
Corps, Neighborhood Watch, and Volunteers in Police Service programs
around the country. Many CERTs already include the business community
in their training and exercises. For example, the San Diego County CERT
has trained local utility and telecomm employees as part of their
partnerships, and many CERTs have adapted the curriculum to business
needs, providing Business Emergency Response Training for employees.
In addition, Citizen Corps Councils are encouraged to build
strategic partnerships with local governments and businesses to use
some existing grant funds for their coordinated training activities and
exercises. Many local Citizen Corps Councils have also developed
partnerships with major retailers to provide discounts and education on
supplies to help families prepare for disasters. For example, Utah
Citizen Corps volunteers worked with all 47 Wal-Mart stores statewide
to promote preparedness during ``preparedness weekends.'' Wal-Mart has
also donated $10,000 to support the program, paid for the Citizen Corps
booth at the 11-day Utah State Fair and donated printed material on
emergency preparedness. Clear Channel also provided free graphics for
the Utah Citizen Corps billboards placed throughout the State, focusing
on the ``Be Ready Utah'' campaign. They worked together on a media
campaign encouraging Utah residents to remember preparedness items on
their shopping lists.
Industry Fairs and Outreach
In an effort to create stronger partnerships with the private
sector, and to better learn from their best practices and how they can
support FEMA and the nation during a disaster, FEMA has held two
important industry fairs to meet with key partners.
On April 16--17, 2007, FEMA hosted a Manufactured Housing Workshop
with several key manufacturers dealing with all phases of the housing
program, including those from the travel trailer and mobile home
industry. The first day was focused on the new Uniform Federal
Accessibility Standards (UFAS) specifications FEMA adopted for travel
trailers and mobile homes to be used in future disasters. On the second
day, FEMA and the participants discussed creative acquisition solutions
and possible new inventory management concepts to be used by the
housing program. Participants learned about FEMA's Joint Housing
Solutions Group and a new assessment tool, which provides a structured
process to evaluate options and explore alternatives to manufactured
homes. This new software evaluates housing options using several
factors including cost, timeliness, community acceptance, range of use,
and livability, and creates an opportunity to match needs to available
housing units. Industry representatives showed great interest in
contributing data and suggestions as well as reviewing evaluation
results. FEMA is committed to working with our partners in the
manufactured housing industry. Continued collaboration is vital to the
success of FEMA's housing program.
On May 16, 2007, FEMA hosted a Passenger Airline Industry meeting
to solicit from the airline industry how the federal government might
best make use of commercial passenger aircraft to support the transport
of evacuees from large populated areas to safe and secure locations.
The event provided a forum for dialogue among FEMA, its Federal
partners, and industry on efficient and cost-effective ways to provide
air evacuation support. The discussion covered two important issues:
evacuation flight operations and pre-positioning of aircraft. There
were approximately 70 participants, including air industry trade groups
and associations who represented national and regional commercial air
carriers; major commercial airlines; charter passenger air carriers;
aircraft brokers and intermediaries; airport authorities; and
commercial airline industry regulators.
This meeting had three primary objectives aimed at addressing the
air transport of evacuees: (1) to enhance FEMA's ability to conduct
mass air evacuations; (2) to explore all available options in the
commercial passenger airline industry; and 3) to establish air
transport capacities and performance requirements. There was a general
consensus that the industry could play a role in supporting flight
operations to evacuate citizens prior to and immediately following a
large-scale disaster. They have the capacity, capabilities, and
expertise. FEMA's new burgeoning relationship with the air industry
will continue in hopes of finding viable solutions to executing a large
scale potential evacuation within the United States.
The private sector is also coordinating with both FEMA and state
emergency management officials to arrange for liaisons in state
emergency operations centers and joint field offices. We also held a
meeting with those three groups on June 25, to discuss these efforts
and others and are moving forward.
Some of our planned efforts include bringing private sector
``executives on loan'' to FEMA to assist us in our planning, logistics
and management reform efforts. This will allow us to improve our
business practices, develop 21st century logistics programs and provide
a better link to the private sector during emergencies.
Conclusion_A Call for Continued Public-Private Communication and
Partnership
There will certainly be a continuing role for the private sector in
the future. We at FEMA need to insure we are adapting to new
conditions, adopting innovative and more effective business practices
and addressing ever changing needs. To do this, we want to hear from
and work with all audiences with a stake and a responsibility in
preparedness and disaster response.
FEMA is reaching out to our partners in other Federal, tribal,
State, and local agencies and building better relationships with the
non-profit and private sectors. As you are aware, the worst time to
build relationships is during a disaster.
In FEMA's opinion, the private sector should continue and build
upon efforts in several key areas:
1. Developing strong business continuity plans for all of their
locations and critical data centers.
2. Develop employee support plans for when their employees'
office locations are damaged or if their employees have lost
their homes to disaster. A key element of recovery is getting
people back to work as quickly as possible.
3. Engage in prudent risk management practices and have strong
health and safety programs.
4. Work closely with their local emergency managers, first
responders and elected officials to be involved in disaster
planning and to build protocols to assist with recovery
efforts, before a disaster strikes.
5. Through business associations continue to work with state
emergency management and FEMA to support mitigation activities,
preparedness planning, disaster response, donations management,
and recovery efforts.
6. Engage private sector partners through planning, training,
and exercise activities. The resulting relationships and shared
vision can only help to strengthen our nation's preparedness.
FEMA appreciates the relationship we are developing with the
Chamber, BRT and BENS and believe this ongoing dialog will produce an
improved flow of information and support before, during and after an
event. It is the work and resources we expend on this planning now,
before a disaster, that will pay dividends later in a faster recovery
and a more resilient nation. We cannot wait until a disaster occurs to
exchange our business cards and the private sector understands that it
cannot just show up on game day and expect to play without coming to
the practices.
One of the most important lessons learned from the 2005 hurricane
season is that in order to ensure a successful, robust, and coordinated
response we must work together on all critical fronts, horizontally and
vertically, across the full spectrum of emergency management, including
government, private sector, non-profit organizations and our citizenry.
Thank you for the opportunity you have afforded us today to speak
about the new FEMA. I look forward to addressing your questions.
Mrs. Christensen. And now I recognize Mr. Hickey to
summarize his statement for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF J. MICHAEL HICKEY, VICE PRESIDENT, GOVERNMENT
AFFAIRS, VERIZON; MEMBER, HOMELAND SECURITY TASK FORCE, U.S.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Mr. Hickey. Madam Chair, Ranking Member Dent, good morning.
My name is Mike Hickey. I am Vice President of Government
Affairs for National Security Policy for Verizon.
Industry and government partnerships start with the actions
of individual organizations. Mr. Dent, you mentioned that 85 to
90 percent of this country's critical infrastructure is owned
and operated by the private sector. And as a result of that,
the private sector must devote the resources necessary to
secure our physical cyber and human assets.
At Verizon, we have designed and built network facilities
that are robust and resilient. We have embraced sound practice
security methods and procedures. And we have provided
leadership to industry and government partners.
Beyond Verizon, the communications sector has a long
history of cooperation in times of crisis. Our relationships
are built on cooperation and trust and tied to the DHS-based
national communications system, which is our sector-specific
agency.
Since 1984 we have been resident at the NCS National
Coordinating Center for Telecommunications. And our mutual aid
agreements have provided great strength in responding to ice
storms, earthquakes, the wreckage of 9/11, and the devastating
hurricanes of 2004 and 2005.
The communications sector is one of but 18 critical sectors
identified by DHS. The complexity of cross-sector
interdependencies was recognized in the 2006 National
Infrastructure Protection Plan. That plan required that
critical sectors stand up coordinating councils and undertake
and publish sector-specific plans, and we have accomplished
that. And what it has done is actually increase the diversity
of sector membership so that instead of just wireline and
wireless companies, we now have cable satellite, undersea
cable, public broadcasting broadcasters, and other
organizations at the table working with us on national
security.
A good example of interdependent work is our work with the
IT and financial services sector. We have undertaken a pandemic
preparedness study, looking at last minute congestion issues,
and we have been working on that for a number of months, and
that soon will be published.
Industry and government must also partner to achieve
solutions that are meaningful, adaptable, and sustainable. What
cannot be underestimated by policymakers is the enormous amount
of private-sector resources that are being devoted to achieving
greater effectiveness with government partners in securing our
country's critical assets, and sound progress is being made.
For instance, the National Security Telecommunications
Advisory Committee, established in 1982, provides a clear
example of how industry and government have advanced
Presidential-level recommendations around national security and
emergency preparedness communications. A recent 10-day
communications exercise, ESF 2 exercise in New Orleans, brought
Federal agency personnel and State and regional and local
emergency response personnel together to exercise, to train,
and really just to get to know each other, each other's
responsibilities, roles, and jurisdictions.
The National Communications System, the FCC Homeland
Security Bureau, FEMA, NTIA and GAO participated. And private-
sector planning resources and expertise was injected to achieve
greater depth and realism in the initiative.
Finally, organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
and the Business Roundtable contribute resources to countless
partnerships with government at all levels.
The U.S. Chamber's Pandemic Preparedness Initiative has
brought government and industry expertise together to plan, to
organize, and to share critical ideas and approaches. In their
business, Ready Business summits that Mr. Fonts referenced with
DHS have engaged small- and mid-cap companies to encourage
preparation for a wide range of emergencies.
Almost 6 years have passed since 9/11. During that time,
much has been accomplished by industry and government sectors
in achieving more effective emergency preparedness and response
for our country and for our citizens. Yet significant work
remains.
For instance, meaningful industry and government
partnerships are created not just through solid planning, but
by testing operational readiness and exercising together. The
early insertion of the private sector in terms of our ideas and
expertise and training exercises brings greater meaning to such
programs, whether at the local or regional level or in the
development of national exercises such as TOPOFF 4.
Recent administrative and legislative reorganizations at
DHS have moved functions and missions and created new
structures and offices. For instance, the Office of Emergency
Communications and the enhanced role of FEMA streamlined
interagency cooperation and communication channels will help us
in the private sector understand relationships and work more
effectively with government. In addition, my sense is that
FEMA, really, in order to encourage a stronger link with the
private sector at the regional level, should find additional
funding to make sure that private-sector outreach is out there
and active.
Private access to disaster sites is critical for private-
sector emergency responders to enable them to recover, repair,
and reconstitute critical communications infrastructure
essential for national security communications. Warren Act
language that designates telecommunication companies as
essential service providers entitles them to unimpeded access
to disaster sites to the greatest extent practicable.
Despite this helpful new designation, government
authorities have the discretion to deny access when they
determine it is not practicable. Thus, additional changes to
the Stafford Act are needed to correct this.
Improved credentialing protocols remain a priority. DHS has
developed a national ID card system that can verify identities
of responders who appear at an incident scene. The Department's
ID card effort is part of a two-pronged solution for
credentialing that also includes defining and creating
categories of emergency responders including firefighters,
hazardous materials teams, and private-sector workers. As this
long-term solution is being advanced, State jurisdictions are
developing tailored approaches to emergency credentialing.
Industry and government partners must work to achieve
short-term cross-jurisdictional solutions. Protocols and
standard operating procedures for wireless shutdown and
restoration have been established by the National
Communications System in conjunction with industry. Because a
disruption of even a portion of a cellular network could impact
the public, the National Communications System has taken on the
role of coordinating any actions leading up to and implementing
such decisions.
Business and government partners must now educate and
enlist the support of local jurisdictions to implement these
protocols.
In conclusion, private--and government-sector partnerships
and emergency preparedness and response remain very much a work
in progress. Although stronger in quality and scope, much work
remains. The real value of progress made today will be measured
by the collective response to this country's next major natural
disaster or terrorist attack.
If our emergency preparedness and response yields more
favorable results for the security of our citizenry and our
critical assets, we will know that we have been heading in the
right direction. At Verizon we will continue to fine-tune our
business continuity practices, our investments, and our
internal protocols to build upon past successes. And yet our
ultimate success is a communications provider and corporate
citizen will rely on the success of our external relationships
with sector peers, cross-sector allies, and government
partners. We need to press ahead to better target priorities,
establish trusted relationships and address gaps. Thank you.
Mrs. Christensen. Thank you, Mr. Hickey.
[The statement of Mr. Hickey follows:]
prepared Statement of J. Michael Hickey
Introduction:
My name is Mike Hickey. I am here today representing Verizon
Corporation as Vice President of Government Affairs for National
Security Policy. In addition to my responsibilities at Verizon, I
currently serve as Chair for the Communications Sector Coordinating
Council, as Vice Chair of the Internet Security Alliance and as an
active member of the US Chamber of Commerce Homeland Security Task
Force. Of these organizations, the US Chamber of Commerce is unique in
that it represents the breadth and diversity of American commerce. And
since 2003, it has advocated for strong business engagement in matters
relating to homeland security and emergency preparedness.
My comments will address efforts that business has made to
strengthen this country's economic and homeland security, where it has
partnered successfully with government and how we might collectively
tighten our efforts to ensure greater effectiveness in the future.
I. Tiered Approach to Operational Readiness:
Effective industry and government collaboration starts with the
actions of individual organizations. Where the private sector owns and
operates 85-90% of this country's critical infrastructure, corporations
like Verizon must dedicate the operations experience, resources and
oversight necessary to be as self-aware and self-reliant as possible.
We are obligated to our shareowners and customers to take the necessary
steps to secure our physical, cyber and human assets from disruption or
attack. We must continue to cooperate with peer companies and to
support communications sector mutual aid obligations. We must also
proactively address our interdependencies with other sectors to ensure
continuity of operations in time of crisis. And we must continue to
work with government agencies at the Federal, State, regional and local
levels to support appropriate security and emergency preparedness
initiatives.
Strength from Within:
Verizon's commitment to national security and emergency
preparedness--grounded in corporate policy, sound business
practice and hands-on experience--is long-standing and growing.
Verizon has an established policy which requires every business
unit to maintain a high level of preparedness, consistent with
the company's unique role in furnishing critical
telecommunications and information services to the Federal
government, to State and local government, to many of this
country's largest corporations and to the general public. The
policy requires business units to establish and maintain
continuity of operations and management plans which may be used
to maintain and restore critical services under conditions
ranging from local emergencies to widespread disasters.
Where individual business units have an obligation to create,
manage, certify and test business continuity programs at the ground
level, a governance structure has been implemented to ensure corporate-
wide effectiveness in operational and security practice.
In order to ensure the continuity of its own operations and to meet
the requirements of its critical customers in time of crisis, Verizon
has:
Designed, built and managed network facilities that
are robust and resilient;
Embraced ``best practice'' business methods and
security procedures;
Created and tested business continuity and emergency
preparedness programs that have served the corporation and its
customers in times of stress;
Responded successfully to a wide range of crises; and,
Provided leadership strength to industry and
government organizations dedicated to national security and
emergency preparedness.
Sector Leadership and Collaboration:
Verizon, and its peer companies within the Communications Sector,
have a long history of cooperation in time of crisis. This history
distinguishes the Communications Sector from most other critical
sectors identified in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan. The
sector personifies cooperation and trusted relationships that have
resulted in the delivery of critical services when emergencies and
disasters occur. The Sector Specific Agency for the Communications
Sector is the National Communications System (NCS) within the
Department of Homeland Security's National Cyber Security and
Communications Division. The Federal Communications Commission is
emerging as another important government partner for the sector.
Historically members of the Communications Sector have been
regulated at State and Federal levels. They have partnered closely
among themselves and with the Federal government since the
establishment of the National Coordinating Center for
Telecommunications. In 1982, telecommunications industry and Federal
Government officials identified the need for a joint mechanism to
coordinate the initiation and restoration of national security and
emergency preparedness telecommunications services. In 1984, Executive
Order 12472 broadened the NS/EP role of the National Communications
System and created the National Coordinating Center for
telecommunications as a central public-private sector organization to
coordinate response to emergency communications situations.
The use of mutual aid agreements between industry signatories has
afforded Communications Sector businesses with access to expanded
operational capacity and resources to speed recovery. These mutual aid
agreements worked very effectively over the years, in responding to ice
storms and earthquakes and in the aftermath of the hurricanes that
devastated vast numbers of Gulf Coast communities in 2004 and 2005.
Cross-Sector Relationships:
Verizon recognizes its critical operational reliance on other
business sectors such as electric and water and has established the
necessary vendor relationships to meet both normal and extraordinary
continuity of business requirements. In turn, all critical sectors are
heavily reliant on the Communications Sector to support continuity of
their operations.
The complexity of cross sector independencies was recognized in the
2006 National Infrastructure Protection Plan, resulting from Homeland
Security Presidential Directive 7. HSPD-7 focused on the
identification, prioritization and protection of the nation's critical
assets. It required the development of the National Infrastructure
Protection Plan (NIPP) and corresponding Sector Specific Plans.
Perhaps most significantly, the NIPP encouraged the establishment
of sector coordinating councils. In so doing, it brought greater sector
diversity to the table and significantly advanced the institutional
capacity of sectors to formally and proactively address cross-sector
dependencies. As an example, the Communications and Information
Technology Coordinating Councils operate independently, but in close
alignment with each other.
Currently, the Communications, IT and Financial Services Sectors
are working with the National Communications System to review the
potential consequences of predicted, extraordinarily high telecommuting
levels on network access resulting from social distancing protocols
during a Pandemic Influenza. The outcomes of this review should be
useful to government and business planners and to the public at large.
This typifies the utility of these newly established sector
coordinating councils and their ability to plan and coordinate across
sector bounds.
Partnerships with Government:
Today's all-hazards threat environment poses significant leadership
and resource challenges for the private sector, which as highlighted
earlier, owns and operates the vast majority of this country's critical
assets. Operating successfully in this environment includes being
prepared to respond to threats that are both natural and man-made. With
ever-changing technology and marketplace demands, business must remain
agile in order to adjust business practices and technology solutions to
protect its most critical assets.
Government-imposed solutions may hinder the ability of business to
adapt and respond effectively to the changing threat environment. So it
becomes critical for business and government to work collaboratively
towards solutions that are meaningful, adaptable and sustainable. The
voluntary development of and compliance with ``best/sound practice''
approaches to physical and cyber security is a model that is time
tested. It is illustrated through the work of the Federal
Communications Commission Network Reliability and Interoperability
Council. The NRIC is a successor to the National Reliability Council,
first established in 1992. Through the work of seven successive
councils, subject matter experts from business and government have come
together to address network reliability and interoperability issues of
concern, develop best/sound practices and encourage voluntary adoption.
The National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee,
established in 1982, provides another relevant example of how the
private sector can assist and help direct government decisions around
national security and emergency preparedness communications. This
advisory committee to the President brings together 30 industry chief
executives representing major telecommunications companies, network
providers, information technology companies, finance and aerospace
businesses. NSTAC provides industry-based advice and expertise to the
President on a wide range of telecommunications issues regarding
communications, information security, information assurance, critical
infrastructure protection and other national security and emergency
preparedness issues.
IN SUMMARY, this tiered approach to business continuity and
emergency preparedness--one that builds on internal readiness and
reliance on effective business and industry partnerships, continues to
meet Verizon's operational and customer requirements. It has also
advanced this country's emergency preparedness and response
capabilities.
II. Broader Private Sector Initiatives:
Outside of the Communications Sector, numerous trade associations
and national organizations such as the US Chamber of Commerce and
Business Executives for National Security (BENS) have advanced
emergency preparedness and response initiatives with government. These
organizations provide companies like Verizon an opportunity to confer
with industry and government leaders, share best/sound practices,
better understand cross-sector complexities and train and exercise with
industry and government partners.
The US Chamber of Commerce Homeland Security Division works to
ensure that the Department of Homeland Security and Congress
effectively strike the right balance between homeland security and the
openness and mobility critical to the nation's economy. The Division is
comprised of 170 representatives from 135 member companies,
associations, and State and local chambers. It has advanced the
following initiatives:
Ready Business Summits: Worked with DHS to engage
small and mid-cap companies to ensure pro-active preparation
for all types of emergencies. Currently hosting a series of
Ready Business Summits around the country in partnership with
State and local chambers to broaden awareness of DHS Ready
Business initiatives, tools and resources available for
emergency planning.
Pandemic Preparedness: Convened a pandemic planning
work group (45 companies) to address pandemic policy issues and
to provide private sector input into government strategies.
Currently hosting regional business pandemic preparedness
roundtables with DHS and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) to discuss the role of the business in
pandemic planning and response. Planning legal and HR-related
pandemic seminars in conjunction with DHS.
Critical Infrastructure Protection/Information
Sharing: Launched a project with DHS to fully engage the
private sector with State homeland security directors. This
initiative is intended to institutionalize private sector
participation in State fusion centers and homeland security
departments and in all aspects of planning, training and
exercises.
Strategic Engagement with DHS: Currently reviewing the
Private Sector Annex of the National Response Plan which
addresses private sector coordination and integration. Invited
to participate in the TOPOFF 4 exercise in October. Connecting
Chamber members with FEMA to help strengthen the FEMA disaster
logistics supply chain.
Public-Private Partnership with the Intelligence
Community: Scheduling briefings with the Office of the Director
of National Intelligence (ODNI) on issues of mutual, long-term
strategic interest, but not limited to: China; global energy
market challenges; insider threats from terrorism; India and
failing states and the erosion of national sovereignty.
Supply Chain Security: Helped advance port and supply
chain security legislation (the SAFE Port Act). Will co-host,
together with BUSINESS EUROPE, a September transatlantic
security summit focused on shared security challenges such as
supply chain security. The summit will feature high-level
participation by government and business leaders in the EU and
the U.S.
Iraq Sourcing Initiative: Partnering with the
Institute for Defense and Business to support the DOD Task
Force to Improve Business and Stability Operations in Iraq.
National Guard and Reserve: Worked with the Commission
on the National Guard and Reserves to help provide businesses
the needed predictability to plan for when and how long their
employers may be called up. Coordinated with the Employer
Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) Defense Advisory Board
to strengthen the compact between employers and the Reserve
Component.
IN SUMMARY, these US Chamber of Commerce initiatives provide just a
sampling of the work that is underway by the private sector to
strengthen this country's emergency preparedness and response
capabilities. Business Executives for National Security also provides
effective cross-sector forums for advancement of leading edge
approaches to these critical issues.
What cannot be underestimated by policymakers is the enormous
amount of private sector resources that are being devoted to finding
solutions--with government partners--designed to achieve greater
effectiveness in our country's security and response programs. The
private sector has demonstrated its willingness to commit significant
financial resources and expertise to strengthen critical business
practices. At the same time, it has dedicated time and energy and
expertise to its work with government partners to address emerging
legal and regulatory considerations. A key business concern is to not
become encumbered by unnecessary oversight and controls that may
restrain, rather than encourage, innovative solutions to emergency
preparedness and response.
III. Working Towards Greater Effectiveness: Almost six years have
passed since 9-11. During this time, much has been accomplished by
private and Government sectors in achieving more effective emergency
preparedness and response for our country and its citizens. Yet
significant work remains. In the months ahead, it will become even more
essential for partners to carefully prioritize initiatives, ensure that
real partnership cooperation and inclusion is achieved and that
critical pieces of ``unfinished business'' are addressed.
Interagency and Private Sector Cooperation at the Regional and
Local Level: In Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5
(HSPD-5), the President directed the establishment of the
National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the National
Response Plan (NRP) to align Federal coordination capabilities
and resources into a unified, self-disciplined and all-hazards
approach to domestic incident management. The basic premise of
the NRP is that incidents are generally handled at the lowest
jurisdictional level possible.
In recent weeks, a ten-day ESF-2 (the Communications Support
Function annex to the National Response Plan) exercise, training
program and technology demonstration took place in New Orleans. It was
designed to bring Federal agency personnel and State, regional and
local emergency response personnel together to exercise, train and
become better acquainted with agency roles, responsibilities and
resources. It also brought in the private sector to help plan and
participate in an active and meaningful way.
The program mustered personnel and resources from agencies such as
the National Communications System, the Federal Communications
Commission's Homeland Security Bureau, FEMA and GAO. Other agencies had
more limited representation. The initiative achieved success from many
standpoints--especially in bringing critical Communications Sector
representatives together to establish relationships and to clarify
roles and responsibilities.
This approach is crucial--especially as Federal agency personnel
work to establish a lasting presence at the local and regional level.
The private sector must be viewed as intrinsic to such training and
exercise programs, not as an understudy. The private sector resources
and expertise brought to bear in the New Orleans exercise made that
program more meaningful to all.
And the presence of key federal agencies encouraged a better
understanding of how Joint Field Office programs and leadership can
work together in time of crisis.
From a broader perspective, meaningful business and government
partnerships are created not just through dialogue and planning, but by
testing operational readiness and exercising together. The early
insertion of private sector ideas and expertise in training exercises
brings greater meaning to such programs--whether at the local and
regional level or in the development of national exercises such as
TOPOFF 4.
Coordinated Private Sector Outreach: The Department of Homeland
Security has been well-served by both its Private Sector Liaison office
and by the Infrastructure Protection Partnership and Outreach office.
These offices have been visible and accessible, while being proactive
in bridging the private sector with the work of the Department on
issues ranging from information sharing to pandemic planning. At the
same time, they have worked with limited resources on an unlimited
stage. As a result, their combined impact has been educational in
nature, rather than being operationally focused.
As additional resources are devoted to standing up Department
programs at the regional level in support of Joint Field Office
requirements, agencies such as FEMA must create stronger private sector
outreach and coordination capacity that will encourage and sustain
private sector participation over the long term. Such efforts will
yield stronger private sector interest and resources that can be
leveraged in agency emergency preparedness and response programs.
I am happy to report that FEMA Administrator, David Paulison and
his regional administrators are taking this public/private partnership
seriously. As an example, senior leaders from Verizon's regional
offices have recently met with the senior leadership from the FEMA
Region 1 (Boston) and FEMA Region 6 (Denton, TX) offices in an effort
to further develop already-existing disaster preparedness
relationships. The goal of these meetings has been for FEMA to better
understand Verizon's capabilities in time of crisis so that the public
sector has a better knowledge of what the private sector has to offer
by way of response, recovery and restoration capabilities. Likewise,
Verizon has been able to more clearly understand FEMA's operational
needs, as a result of these discussions.
Renewed Focus on ``Unfinished Business'': Much has been
accomplished by business and government partners to address emergency
preparedness and response issues raised by actual events. In some
instances though, jurisdictions have established localized ``model''
programs to improve response capacity that are not adopted in
neighboring jurisdictions. In other instances, broader solutions have
been developed that have failed to garner the necessary multi-
jurisdiction to make them effective.
Access and Credentialing: Priority access to disaster sites is
critical for private sector emergency responders to enable them
to recover, repair, and reconstitute critical communications
infrastructure essential for NS/EP communications. There is a
provision in the WARN Act designating telecommunications
companies as ``essential service providers,'' which entitles
them to unimpeded access to disaster sites ``to the greatest
extent practicable.''
However, because such access will only be allowed to the greatest
extent possible, government authorities have the discretion to deny
access when they determine it is not ``practicable.'' It is unclear
whether such discretion can be challenged, and this provision is not a
panacea to the access problems exposed in the aftermath of Katrina.
This priority issue requires additional work effort for both business
and government partners. Moreover, as the Katrina experience indicated,
telecommunications and other utility providers need resources as well
as access to effectively restore services. Additional changes to the
Stafford Act are needed to correct this.
Credentialing is a related issue that requires additional
attention. At the Federal level, DHS has developed a national
identification (ID) card system that can verify identities of
responders who appear at an incident scene. The Department's ID card
effort is part of a two-pronged solution for credentialing that also
includes defining and creating categories of emergency responders,
including firefighters, hazardous materials teams, and private sector
workers. While this is viewed as a long term solution to emergency
credentialing, state jurisdictions are developing localized approaches.
Business and government partners must press ahead now to achieve cross-
jurisdictional, short-term solutions. Wireless Shutdown and Restoration
Protocols: Given the rise in terrorist activity in the past few years,
and an incomplete understanding of the technology involved in such
activities, certain government authorities have, in certain
circumstances, wondered whether the need may arise to disrupt or
disable access to cellular service within a particular geographic area
in the name of public safety. Because a disruption of even a portion of
a cellular network would impact the public, the National Communications
System (NCS) has taken on the role of coordinating any actions leading
up to and implementing such decisions. Business and government partners
must now educate and enlist the support of local jurisdictions to
implement the protocols.
Better Coordination in Crises: The Katrina experience demonstrated
the need for improved coordination, cooperation and communication at
and among all levels of government. Recent administrative and
legislative reorganizations at DHS have moved functions and missions
across components and created new structures and offices (for example
the Office of Emergency Communications, enhanced role of FEMA etc.). It
remains to be seen if all these changes will be effectively and
efficiently implemented by the time the next disaster strikes.
IN SUMMARY, private and government sector partnerships in emergency
preparedness and response remain a work in progress. Although stronger
in quality and scope, much work remains. The real value of progress
made to date will be measured by the collective response to this
country's next major natural disaster or terrorist attack. If our
emergency preparedness and response yields more favorable results for
the security of our citizenry and our critical assets we will know that
we have been heading in the right direction.
At Verizon, we will continue to fine tune our business continuity
practices, our investments and our internal protocols to build upon
past successes. And yet our ultimate success as a communications
provider and corporate citizen will rely on the success of our external
relationships with sector peers, cross-sector allies and government
partners. We need to press ahead to better target priorities, establish
trusted relationships and address gaps.
Mrs. Christensen. I now recognize Mr. Howard to summarize
your statement for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JOHN HOWARD, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL
COUNSEL, W.W. GRAINGER, INC.
Mr. Howard. Thank you. Madam Chair, Ranking Member Dent,
members of the subcommittee, it is a privilege for me to appear
here today on behalf of W.W. Grainger, Inc. and the Business
Roundtable to address the role of the private sector in
strengthening emergency preparedness and response.
The subcommittee is to be commended for its vigilance in
pursuing more effective emergency response and preparedness and
promoting the role of the private sector. This is important
work in an era of enormous challenge. Richard Keyser, Chairman
and CEO of Grainger is also Chairman of the Business
Roundtable's Partnership for Disaster Response. Through this
initiative, some of the leading companies in the United States
have joined together to help coordinate resources at the
private sector so that they can respond more effectively to
disasters both large and small.
The Business Roundtable seeks to leverage the resources and
expertise of its members to create a more efficient response to
disasters. The Roundtable stresses that the business community
must take three steps: prepare, respond and recover. These
three things are necessary to assist the first responders and
the organizations that provide relief and help rebuild. This
mission is critical to the well-being of the Nation's citizens
and the vitality of our economy.
My testimony addresses Grainger's and the Business
Roundtable's efforts to assist emergency preparedness and
response. Grainger provides small and large businesses,
institutions, d government agencies a broad range of products
and supplies--at last count, more than 160,000 different
products that they need to run their businesses and maintain
their operations. Whether it be tools or hardware, lighting or
pumps, motors or safety devices, our day-to-day objective is to
help our customers save time and money by providing them the
right products to keep their facilities up and running.
While each customer has a different problem to solve, every
one of our customers shares the same requirement. When they
need one of our products, they need it right away. We have over
17,000 employees and over 600 branches and distribution centers
to accomplish this goal. Our commitment to assist emergency
response is directly related to our core business, delivering
the right products when and where they are needed.
Grainger and other members of the Business Roundtable have
watched a world that has experienced the devastation and horror
of terrorist attacks and natural disasters. Our customers, our
communities, and our employees are the ones affected. For
Grainger and the Business Roundtable, we understand how
critical it is to get the right supply to the first responders.
This cannot be left to chance.
An extensive amount of planning and work, preparedness, if
you will, is necessary to make this happen. It is because the
experience of the Roundtable launched the Partnership for
Disaster Response. Through the partnership, we were able to
capitalize on the private sector to accelerate on-the-ground
relief and recovery activities. The partnership fosters public-
private collaboration to prepare for the health, social, and
economic challenges created by disasters.
The partnership also works to ensure that the business
community's response helps address the community's most
critical needs by mobilizing the unique and diverse assets of
our member companies. At Grainger, when a community is hit by
disaster, we work with State and local governments and FEMA to
get supplies to first responders. We also work closely with the
American Red Cross. Since 2001, Grainger has partnered with the
Red Cross, other relief organizations, and local governments to
provide financial support and essential products to disaster
areas.
We are a founding sponsor of the American Red Cross Ready
When the Time Comes program. Through this program, local Red
Cross chapters work with the business community to recruit and
train corporate employees as volunteers in advance of a
disaster. When a disaster strikes, the Red Cross can then
mobilize this preexisting network of well-trained volunteers.
So, whether distributing water in severe heat waves, providing
meals, assisting families, or participating in emergency
drills, we are proud of all the employees both at Grainger and
at other companies who volunteer for this very important work.
To date, the Red Cross is training Grainger employees and
major companies. We are particularly pleased more than 60
companies have now joined this effort, and today we have more
than 1,600 employees who have been trained to respond to help
their local communities when a disaster strikes. These
volunteers truly are ready when the time comes.
Grainger's product line, our distribution facilities, and
our extensive knowledge base makes it so that we are quickly
able to bring expertise and assistance where needed.
We have several event-specific plans to mobilize internal
and external resources to assist first responders and relief
organizations. These plans focus on two primary objectives:
handling incoming requests and managing logistics to distribute
the unit supplies as quickly as possible.
In all cases, FEMA, State and local governments, and first
responders receive first priority. Grainger's efforts include
research on products' critical and specific emergencies. For
example, after a flood we know that pumping equipment will be
vital. During a wildfire, safety and fire-retardant material
will be at a premium. We work closely with the manufacturers
who supply these products to secure and load the supply chain
to make sure that we can respond quickly to provide the items
at highest demand. In some cases, we ask our suppliers to carry
extra inventory or even reserve manufacturing capacity
specifically for these vital products.
During and after an emergency, we provide special services.
Our branches stay open 24 hours a day, and additional personnel
are brought in from around the country to take orders, assist
customers, and load trucks. Within hours of an emergency,
trailers containing these critical products are dispatched to
support the relief effort.
Here, our advanced planning pays off. The contingency plans
with our employees and our suppliers allow us to expedite tools
and supplies to the sites. Based on our experience, success in
getting the right products to an emergency location requires
three factors: first, processes that are flexible and user
friendly; second is an understanding of the range of emergency
circumstances and knowing what products will be required; third
is secured reliable supply chains.
It is these in types of efforts that the Business
Roundtable's Partnership for Disaster Recovery brings to the
private sector so it can put resources to work in time of need.
In October 2006, the partnership launched a comprehensive
information clearinghouse to help the business community better
prepare and respond to disasters. The clearinghouse is one way
to show companies how to integrate disaster planning into the
business continuity plans. The partnership also provides
guidance on ways to communicate with employees about disaster
preparedness.
Again, advanced planning is one way to help ensure that
there are effective disaster relief and recovery efforts. With
the commencement of the most current hurricane season
Grainger's CEO Dick Keyser communicated with the CEOs of all
160 Roundtable member companies, encouraging them to use the
partnership's resources to be better prepared to respond to
disasters.
Highlighted was a need for advanced planning and educating
the workforce about what they can do as individuals. It is
critical that all of us--employees, businesses and
communities--understand what it takes to be ready when the time
comes.
This completes my statement. Grainger and Business
Roundtable share your commitment to enhancing emergency
preparedness and response. We look forward to, working with the
subcommittee. Thank you.
Mr. Cuellar. [Presiding.] Thank you again for your
testimony. We appreciate your being here.
[The statement of Mr. Howard follows:]
Prepared Statement John Howard
Introduction
On behalf of both W.W. Grainger, Inc. and Business Roundtable's
Partnership for Disaster Response, I would like to thank the
subcommittee for this opportunity to talk with you today.
W.W. Grainger, Inc. is a leading broad line supplier of facilities
maintenance products serving businesses and institutions in the United
States, Canada, China, and Mexico. Through a highly integrated network
including nearly 600 branches, 18 distribution centers and multiple Web
sites, Grainger's employees help customers get the job done, saving
them time and money by having the right products to keep their
facilities running.
In May of this year, Richard Keyser, Chairman and CEO of W.W.
Grainger, Inc, became chairman of Business Roundtable's Partnership for
Disaster Response, an initiative to coordinate the resources of the
private sector to respond more effectively to disasters.
Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers
of leading U.S. companies with over $4.5 trillion in annual revenues
and more than 10 million employees. The Roundtable launched the
Partnership for Disaster Response a little more than two years ago
following the devastating tsunami in Asia and the subsequent outpouring
of contributions from the business community. Even though companies
contributed generously--cash, products, services and expertise--
Roundtable CEOs saw a need to create a more coordinated effort to
prepare for and respond to catastrophic disasters. Twenty-five CEOs--
from across various industries--have joined forces as members of the
Partnership for Disaster Response Task Force to leverage their
corporate resources and expertise to create a more efficient response
to disasters.
The Partnership aims to capitalize on the many capabilities of the
private sector to accelerate on-the-ground relief and recovery
activities to help save lives. The Partnership works to foster public-
private collaborations to prepare for the health, social and economic
burdens created by disasters in the United States and abroad. The
Partnership also works to ensure that the business community's response
efforts address a community's most critical needs, by mobilizing the
unique and diverse assets of our member companies.
The U.S. private sector, which owns and operates nearly 85 percent
of the nation's critical infrastructure, has myriad resources useful in
disaster preparedness and critical for disaster response. These range
from basic necessities such as food and safe drinking water to
communications and energy networks, as well as logistics and technical
expertise.
Grainger's participation in the Partnership is particularly fitting
given Grainger's product mix and distribution capabilities. Grainger
helps customers--primarily businesses--find the right products to keep
their facilities operating. We do this every day as well as in the
event of an emergency. Grainger can move critical items into hard-hit
areas fast. Our support helps customers get back to business--and that
helps bring their communities back too. We know that getting commerce
up and running is vital to a community's recovery from a disaster.
Public/Private Collaboration
Typically, in a disaster Grainger works together with state and
local governments and FEMA around disaster situations to get needed
product into first responders' hands.
Our company works closely with the American Red Cross as well,
providing them products and financial support. Since 2001, Grainger has
partnered with the Red Cross to provide more than $4 million worth of
financial support and essential products. Grainger makes significant
product donations to relief organizations beyond the American Red Cross
and to municipalities affected by disaster.
In addition to philanthropy, we are especially proud that Grainger
is the national founding sponsor of the American Red Cross Ready When
the Time Comes (RWTC) Program. Through this program, local Red Cross
chapters collaborate with businesses in their area to recruit and train
corporate employees as volunteers. When a disaster strikes, the Red
Cross can quickly mobilize this network of well-trained corporate
volunteers. Grainger both promotes the program to other companies and
arranges for our own employees to be trained in disaster relief.
Through Ready When the Time Comes, Grainger employees and their
family members around the country, ages 18 and older are trained as
volunteers to help support local disaster relief efforts. These
corporate volunteers staff call centers at their local Red Cross
chapter, assist with mass care sheltering and feeding operations, and
conduct damage assessments. In addition, Grainger calls upon other
companies to get involved with corporate volunteer programs in disaster
relief. The Red Cross then trains these volunteers.
To date, The Red Cross has trained more than 700 Grainger employees
as volunteers in Chicago, Denver, Tampa, St. Louis, Kansas City, MO,
Houston, New York, Baltimore, Orange County, CA and San Francisco.
We are pleased that more than 60 companies have joined this
innovative volunteer program and today more than 1,600 employees have
been trained to respond to help their local communities when a disaster
strikes.
For example, Grainger's and other companies' employees have been
called upon to:
Distribute bottled water following a severe heat wave
in Baltimore in June 2007.
Staff a shelter and serve meals and snacks from an
emergency response vehicle in New York, following storms in
April 2007.
Assist families in Kansas City during ice storms and
again following a chemical fire in January and February 2007.
Staff phone centers in Chicago and Denver to answer
questions from those seeking support and information following
Hurricane Katrina in September 2005.
Participate in a state bioterrorism response exercise
in Illinois in 2003.
Planning to Bring Business and Communities Back
Grainger serves approximately 1.8 million businesses and
institutions across North America and they operate a range of
facilities. Many of the products we carry are essential for our
customers' preparation for and response and recovery efforts after a
disaster.
Grainger has developed robust plans for almost every type of
emergency situation--winter storms, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes,
power outages, wildfires and hurricanes--that causes a disruption of
business. We help our customers plan to protect their employees and
their business with the necessary supplies.
In the event of a disaster or an emergency, Grainger has developed
a series of event-specific plans to quickly mobilize internal and
external resources to assist communities in trouble.
Grainger's workforce is trained in our procedures to first and
foremost locate and ensure the safety of our employees and secure
Grainger's infrastructure. Then, our employees reorganize into cross-
functional teams designed to serve our customers, especially the many
emergency responders, municipalities and critical institutions such as
hospitals.
Our teams focus on two primary areas: handling incoming requests
from customers and managing logistics in order to quickly distribute
needed products. In all these cases, requests from FEMA, municipalities
and first-responders are given priority.
During and after an emergency, Grainger provides special services
to our customers and their communities. The Grainger branches
frequently stay open 24 hours (unless curfews are imposed by local
authorities) and additional personnel are brought in to take orders,
assist customers at the counter, and load trucks. Our Call Centers are
able to accept phone orders 24 hours a day. Within hours of an
emergency, trailers containing critical products are dispatched to
support the relief effort. Contingency plans with our suppliers allow
us to expedite additional equipment to the sites.
Given our line of business, we must be flexible and nimble in
working with our customers to understand and address the unique set of
challenges a disaster wreaks on their business. For example, after
Hurricane Katrina, Grainger expedited equipment and supplies to
government agencies and local companies to help repair an
infrastructure that had been devastated.
Making Sure our Products are Ready
Grainger has conducted detailed research on products that are
critical after specific types of disasters. For example, after a flood,
pumping equipment is vital. After a wildfire, safety and fire retardant
materials are at a premium. Grainger works closely with manufacturers
to secure and load the supply chain to ensure that we can respond
quickly to provide items in high demand. In some cases we have asked
our suppliers to carry inventory or reserve manufacturing capacity for
vital products.
Grainger has been successful in getting the right products to just
about any location in the country facing an emergency, sometimes within
a matter of hours, because of three key factors. First, we have the
right processes in place. Next, we have done the research to know what
products will be needed. Finally, we plan well so have secured supply
chains that enable us to quickly and efficiently distribute our
products.
A good example of how we work concerns the gasoline powered
portable generator, a piece of equipment in high demand after a
disaster or in an emergency, particularly a power outage. The generator
is essential to support businesses, hospitals and emergency shelters.
Grainger worked directly with Briggs and Stratton, the company that
manufactures the generator to secure the supply chain on the equipment.
This past winter, that forethought and collaboration with Briggs
and Stratton enabled Grainger to move more than 2,000 generators to
customers in St. Louis within 24--28 hours of power outages due to ice
and snow storms.
Grainger's expertise in disaster response has been honed over time.
We learned quite a bit during and after the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001 and we strengthened our own emergency planning
process after that experience. We supplied a crew of more than 30
people working hand-in-hand with local providers and FEMA and local
authorities to get supplies to emergency workers and rescuers at the
World Trade Center site.
When we do have some notice about a disaster, like a hurricane,
Grainger pre-positions trailers of product including some items that
Grainger does not typically carry. During hurricane season, Grainger's
Jacksonville distribution center is a hub of activity. Grainger tracks
weather conditions and conducts pre-storm conversations on a daily or
sometimes hourly basis so we know when to begin loading trailers and
stocking products including pallet-loads of water, large emergency
generators, first aid kits, cots, blankets and emergency food rations.
The Partnership in Action_Providing Resources and Information
The Business Roundtable's Partnership for Disaster Response and its
companies serve as a valuable resource, helping companies and their
employees better prepare for and respond to disasters. In October 2006,
the Partnership launched www.respondtodisaster.org, the first
comprehensive clearinghouse of information to help the business
community better prepare and respond to disasters. The Web site
features commonly requested information and valuable tools on how
companies can better integrate disaster planning into their business
continuity plans, communicate to their employees about disaster
preparedness and response and contribute effectively to disaster relief
and recovery efforts.
Dick Keyser, Grainger's CEO and the Chairman of the Partnership,
sent a letter to the CEOs of all 160 Roundtable member companies on
June 1, 2007 the start of hurricane season, encouraging them to use the
resources the Partnership had developed to help the business community
more effectively prepare and respond to disasters. He highlighted the
fact that advance planning and educating a company's workforce about
preparedness can help protect employees, businesses and communities and
reduce the impact of a disaster.
Conclusion
Thank you again for this opportunity to talk with you about the
work of Grainger and the Partnership for Disaster Response. We look
forward to continuing to work with the Administration, Congress and
state and local government to enhance our nation's disaster response
system. Working together--business, government, relief agencies and
many others--we will continue to be vigilant in preparing our
businesses, our employees and our communities for a disaster.
Mr. Cuellar. At this time, I will recognize Mr. Dinvaut,
Sr. to summarize his statement for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF BARRY DINVAUT, SR., CEO, DINVAUT'S TRUCKING
SERVICE INC.; MEMBER, NATIONAL BLACK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Mr. Dinvaut. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the
subcommittee. My name is Barry Dinvaut, Sr. I am the President
and Chief Executive Officer of Dinvaut's Trucking Service.
Thank you for inviting me to Washington in order to testify
before you on the state of recovery of New Orleans and the gulf
coast.
Dinvaut's Trucking Service has enjoyed serving businesses
in the State of Louisiana for 30 years. Based in New Orleans,
DTS has grown from a small trucking company doing general
hauling and sugarcane to a premiere hauling and demolition,
hazardous waste transportation and construction firm. For 10
years DTS has been serving a major part of the Federal sector
with the help of the Small Business Administration under the
8(a) certification program. We have extensive experience
working for many parts of the Federal Government, including the
Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers,
Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of
Homeland Security. These jobs include but are not limited to
Gentilly Street, EPA Superfund job working with the Corps of
Engineers.
Since Katrina I have also done debris hauling, demolition
and goods removal for the Environmental Chemical Corporation,
ECC, who is a contractor for FEMA. This is an ongoing project
which supports the recovery of the lower Ninth Ward and the
return of New Orleans citizens to their homes.
Throughout the years, the business of Dinvaut's Trucking
Service has enjoyed the support of many of the organizations
which includes the Black Chamber of Commerce, the Louisiana
Economic Development, LAPAC, City of New Orleans, National
Association of Minority Contractors, and SBA.
We are also certified and permitted with the following
agencies: the Interstate Commerce Commission, USDOT, Federal
Highway Commission, EPA Superfund, and Louisiana Department of
Environmental Quality.
Although Dinvaut's Trucking Service was severely impacted
by the events of Hurricane Katrina, we resumed operation in
less than 2 months after the storm. Working with FEMA in the
recovery of the city of New Orleans has awarded me with a great
deal of knowledge and experience.
Compared to their first arrival to the present, FEMA has
shown major improvement in the cleanup and recovery of New
Orleans. Since the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,
FEMA has continued to bring more companies with valuable real-
world experience. The standards for companies to which FEMA
awards their contracts have increased substantially since their
first arrival in New Orleans. The information available to the
public has also greatly increased, both in amount and in
quality.
Another improvement by FEMA is the addition to new
programs, scheduling the debris pickup into different areas
other than the Ninth Ward. My experience with FEMA for the most
part has been positive. The people to whom I have interacted
with FEMA give me the impression that they are trying their
best to make the recovery process go as smoothly as possible.
While FEMA has made many improvements since they have come
to New Orleans, there are some things that they could still
improve on. One of the major improvements is to hire local
small business firms from the greater New Orleans area and from
southern Louisiana in general. I think that the solution to
many of the problems that occur with the recovery could be the
resolution with better communication. There seems to be
complications wherever people need to communicate between the
Federal, State, and local levels. My advice would be to try to
reduce more of the red tape, improved communications between
levels of government and improved communications between
government and the public.
In closing I would like to thank the subcommittee for their
time today. I would be glad to answer any questions.
Mr. Cuellar. Mr. Dinvaut, again I want to thank you very
much for your testimony, and I want to thank all the panel
members for being here.
[The statement of Mr. Dinvaut, Sr. follows:]
Prepared Statement of Barry M. Dinvaut Sr.
Good Morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittees
My name is Barry M. Dinvaut Sr., I am the President and Chief
Executive Officer of Dinvaut's Trucking Service. Thank you for inviting
to Washington in order testify before you about the Army Corp, and the
state of recovery in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
Dinvaut's Trucking Service Inc. has enjoyed servicing businesses in
the State of Louisiana for 30 years. Based in New Orleans, DTS has
grown from a small trucking doing general hauling and sugar cane to a
premier haul, demolition, hazardous waste transportation, and
construction firm.
For 10, DTS inc. has been servicing the major part of the federal
sector with the help of Small Business Administration under the 8A
certification program. We extensive experience working for many parts
of the federal government including, the Environmental Protection
Agency, the Army Corp of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Agency, and
the Department of Homeland Security. These jobs include, but are not
limited to the Gentilly St. EPA Superfund job, working with the Army
Corp on the Algiers levee project, the Violet, LA levee project, the
Barataria pumping stations, the Airline/310 levee project, the Williams
Blvd. levee embankment, and the Intercoastal levee project.
Since Katrina, I have also done debris hauling, demolition, and
white goods removal for the Environmental Chemical Corp, (ECC) who is a
contractor for FEMA. this is an ongoing project which supports the
recovery of the lower ninth ward and the return of New Orleans citizens
to their homes.
Throughout the years of business Dinvaut's Trucking service has
enjoyed the support of many organizations, which include Black Chamber
of Commerce, Louisiana Economic Development, LAPAC, City of New
Orleans, Natl. Association of Minority Contractors, and SBA. We are are
also certified and permitted with the following agencies, Interstate
Commerce Commission, USDOT--Federal Highway Commission, EPA--and the
Louisiana Dept. of Environmental Quality.
Although Dinvaut's Trucking Service was severely impacted by events
of hurricane Katrina, we resumed operations in less than 2 months after
the storm.
Working with FEMA in the recovery of the city of New Orleans has
awarded me with a great deal of knowledge and experience. Compared to
when they first arrived to the present FEMA has shown major improvement
in the clean up and the recovery of New Oreleans. since the immediate
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina FEMA has continued to bring on more
companies with valuable real world experience. The standards for
companies to which FEMA awards their contracts to have increased
substantially since they first arrived in New Orleans. The information
available to the public has also greatly increases, both in amount and
also in quality. another improvement by FEMA is the addition of new
program scheduling for debris pick in different areas other than the
ninth ward. My experiences with FEMA for the most part have been
positive ones. The people with whom I interact with at FEMA give me the
impression that they are trying their best to make the recovery process
go as smoothly as possible.
While FEMA has made many improvements since they have come to New
Orleans, there are some things in which they can still improve on.One
of the major improvements is to hire more local small business firms
from the greater New Orleans area and from southern Louisiana in
general. While these small businesses have had success in procuring
work for FEMA, it seems that many times that they are qualified
companies who are pushed aside for the big out of state companies who
know nothing about Louisiana and it's culture and have no stake in the
recovery of this city or this state.
I think that the solution towards many of problems that occur with
the recovery could be resolved with better communication. There seems
to be complications whenever people need to communicate between the
federal, state, and local levels. My advice would be to try and reduce
some of the red tape, improve communications between all levels of the
government, and improve communications between the government and the
public.
In closing I would like to thank Mr. Chairman and members of the
subcommittees for their time today. I would be glad to answer any
questions about FEMA, New Orleans, or explain anything I have just
said.
Mr. Cuellar. I would remind each member that he or she will
have 5 minutes to question the panel. I would now recognize
myself for questions.
First set of questions will go to Mr. Martinez-Fonts and to
Mr. Bourne. What are the Department's plans for pursuing
credentialing and access programs for private-sector essential
personnel during disasters? As you know--you know, let's just
put ourselves in a particular situation. You have got somebody
from the private sector wants to come in. Police will stop and
say, oh, can't let you in. And that, of course, disrupts the
overall strategy in trying to get the private sector involved.
So could both of y'all just go ahead and address that
question as how do we make that work so we can get the private
sector to play a more timely, more appropriate role during
disasters?
Mr. Bourne. Mr. Chairman, I will take the first swing at
that. One of the things that FEMA has been working on with our
friends at the Department and State and local levels is on
formalizing a credentialing process, a concept, basically
common protocol for credentialing. Part of the issue is that
for the vast majority of the country, it is the local
governments that actually know who should be there, who
shouldn't be there, especially when 90 percent of the disasters
are locally based.
What we need to do is to create a platform, an
understanding of common resource typing, common protocols for
how credentialing should be done. Certainly the Federal
Government can't maintain a gigantic database of everybody who
could potentially respond and be credentialed. It is important
that local and State governments do a lot of this planning.
FEMA's business management systems under the NIMS program
has specifically been developing for the last 2-1/2 years a
credentialing system. What we started off is resource typing,
resource typing of emergency response assets first, because
those are going to be first on the scene. We have got over 174
resource types and types of teams and equipment and services
type.
They are now moving forward into the next phase which will
also include special resource assets that include private-
sector offerings, whether it be engineers or, you know, medical
supplies, other types of things that can be brought in so that
there is a common lexicon.
Part of the problem is--and I come from Massachusetts, and
where I grew up, an ambulance was called a rescue squad. You go
to another part of the country and a rescue squad is a heavy
rescue vehicle with a jaws-of-life, and they don't carry
patients.
We didn't even have within the emergency service community
a common lexicon for the types of resources we bring in under
mutual aid during disasters. We have begun that process,
completed significantly the emergency management first
responder portion of it, and now we are working closely to go
to the next phase on the resource typing for other
nongovernmental assets. That leads us to a common understanding
that can allow for credentialing to exist.
What is credentialing? Essentially it is a way of
understanding that the resources that are arriving at the
scene, one, belong there; two, are what they say they are. Do
you have, you know, the training, the certification, the
understanding of the job that you are being asked to perform?
But it is important--and we had stressed this--that State and
local governments need to think in their planning about what
kind of resources they are going to be calling through mutual
aid, making sure that the business community ties into that
planning early on so when those resources are tapped, they know
what is coming, they are the right people, they are showing up
with the right stuff.
The harder part is the unintentional or the best of
intentioned volunteer. And I use that in the broader scope.
Business communities, people, they just send things. That is
the hard part in getting a handle on that. What we have done to
try to address that is work with the Aidmatrix Foundation to
funnel and channel those donational resources so that they are
known to all of the folks in the emergency management chain;
what is available, where it is, and who would be providing it.
And that should help also in making sure that the proper access
to disaster scenes is handled.
You want to add anything to that?
Mr. Martinez-Fonts. Sir, there is probably very little I
could add to that great explanation. But a great example is
within New York City. Sadly, from the lessons learned after 9/
11, the city of New York, Office of Emergency Management, has
done just an outstanding job at making sure that they can get
businesses back into--whether it is Verizon needs to repair
something for the entire downtown Manhattan or the Citibank
group needs to get people in their building. So it is just an
example of what has worked.
Mr. Cuellar. And I can understand, Mr. Bourne and Mr.
Martinez-Fonts, Jr., that we should let the locals address a
lot, but I still think we--probably like you said--have some
common protocol.
In developing those common protocols, I think you hit it on
the nail. You need to know who must be there or should be
there, and how do we know that that person is supposed to be
with Verizon or some other sector? Do you have some sort of
draft that we can start looking at?
Mr. Bourne. I will go back to our folks and we will get the
latest update on exactly where they are on the process and the
materials that they are using to sit down with the private-
sector community to start fleshing out the rest of this
resource typing.
We are also actively engaged with the Department on the
larger issue of identification, and that involves the
Secretary's Office, with Kathy Kraninger and her folks that are
working on this broader credentialing issue for transportation
workers and others. What we want to do is not create multiple
systems, but a basic framework that can serve folks. And we
will get you that information.
Mr. Cuellar. OK. Do you have a timetable when you all will
get this done? I think you mentioned 2-1/2 years.
Mr. Bourne. That has been the first--that has been for the
vast majority of the resource typing that has been done today.
We hope to complete as much of the resource typing as we can
over the next year. Part of the issue is as technology changes
and new assets and new capabilities are brought to bear, we
have to make sure that it gets added to the typing and
credentialing lexicon that we are developing. So that will
always be an ongoing process. But a common protocol for
credentialing for those that might respond to a disaster is
probably at least a year away.
Mr. Cuellar. OK. Go ahead and submit what you have to the
committee so Mr. Dent myself and the rest of the committee can
look at it, number one.
Number two, on the common protocol, Eagle Pass is very
different from New York City--Eagle Pass, Texas. So give us
your perspective also as to how you are addressing the small
communities versus the big communities also.
Also, you are including the business--you are not doing
something and here it is, from step one, they are----
Mr. Bourne. No. Every credentialing effort, every resource
typing effort that has been done to date has been made up of
work groups that involve the experts in the field in which we
are trying to do the resource typing or credentialing. There
have been a number of meetings that have been held at
association meetings of various organizations, first responder
groups, et cetera.
We did a large meeting in Seattle with the business
community as well to try to look at this issue of credentialing
for business and how they can get engaged in understanding the
national response plan; and the private sector, the role that
they can play in that.
One of the things that has come out of that is the private
sector's adoption of incident command and understanding of it.
That is not something that they had used before, but they
realized that it is a recognizable and understandable way to
plug into an emergency response.
And we also have been developing standard operating
procedures for our joint field offices so that they can take in
input from the private sector at a real operational level, not
just at a Washington, D.C. level, where we might get inundated.
The folks working in the field need this information. And they
are working on that as well. So it is an ongoing collaborative
process with the Chamber and others to try to do this.
Mr. Cuellar. Appreciate it. And again, just the fact that
we have got a couple witnesses, if you don't mind, at least--if
they are here, I would ask you--if any of y'all three want to
participate or get involved--I would ask you to do that. Do you
all want to add any more to that? This is just my last series
of questions, and I will pass this on to Mr. Dent.
Mr. Hickey. Chairman Cuellar, Mike Hickey with Verizon.
First I want to say that I think Verizon has great confidence
in Director Paulison and the work of FEMA. They are re-creating
an agency that has had some challenges and we have got great
confidence in the direction that they are moving.
States, I am from New Hampshire, just north of Mr. Bourne's
home State, and all politics obviously is local. We are a
strong believer in home rule. And I know that ultimately it is
local decision makers that make the difference on issues like
credentialing, and we applaud the efforts on the part of the
Department to create a national system that can be used, maybe
customized to Eagle Pass or Pennsylvania.
But in the meantime, I think that there are probably
approaches that can be taken, maybe nontraditional approaches
perhaps with FEMA through its 10 regional offices serving as a
convener of States within that particular region. For instance,
Verizon just met with Bill Peterson in Denton, Regional FEMA
Administrator. And we met his team, a great team. And there
might be a way of thinking through a regional approach so that
the States under that FEMA jurisdiction could be convened to
take a look at best practice.
For instance, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida have approaches
to credentialing. They may be very straightforward, very
simple, and very short term. But to get us over the next season
or two, that might be one approach we want to consider taking.
Mr. Cuellar. Yeah. Mr. Bourne, why don't y'all maybe talk
to Mr. Hickey a bit after this? I don't know if you plan on
doing that. So I am a big believer in looking at that approach.
But if you can find some of the best practices, it might be
that Pennsylvania might be doing a better job than some of the
other States. I mean, just look at the best practices. But
again, it is going to be local.
But I still feel we have to have some sort of common core
issues that we have got to look at on a national basis.
Mr. Bourne. That is exactly the approach we are taking,
sir.
Mr. Martinez-Fonts. Mr. Chairman, if I could add, as
someone who has lived on the U.S.-Mexico border for many
years--and I am not only familiar with Eagle Pass, but really
when we talk about all this, really a three-layered strategy
here--there is the local, there is the State and there is the
Federal. And, again, as the magnitude of the disaster, whether
it is natural or man-made, increases, you have got to be able
to kick it up a notch, as they say, so they are ready to move
in.
So I think that is what you are asking for. You are asking
for those protocols to a certain degree to be ready. If it is
only Eagle Pass, you are going to just call on the fire
department. If it needs a State, they need to be able to kick
in. And then when you get a JFO that is set up by FEMA, then
you have got to make sure that everybody is speaking the same
language and being able to get aid from the surrounding area
and everyone is on the same page, as they say.
Mr. Cuellar. Thanks. The other two witnesses. I am sorry,
Charlie. And I apologize. Mr. Howard or Mr.----
Mr. Dinvaut. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Barry Dinvaut. I will be
glad to help and approach this situation as a small business,
also having been involved in Katrina in Louisiana. My
experience in that, I have a great deal of opinion on what
could be done to help FEMA maybe--another disaster may hit
Louisiana or the gulf coast that may help them in assisting
them and preparing something that is much better.
And just to communicate and work with the organizations
that support the small business within the regions that need
their help, let them know. This information can be passed down
to the small business and the private sector.
I think that line of communication is blocked. I put out an
effort. When I evacuated to Baton Rouge, I returned in a few
days, trying to get into New Orleans to work with FEMA and the
Corps of Engineers.
Also, you have to take into consideration what is going to
be done once the emergency has started. Are we coming back? And
I came back to see if I could offer any help in the recovery of
building the levees and so forth.
So I think the whole thing would revolve around getting the
information out to the small businesses and the private sector
what they need, and to see what can be offered to the different
agencies and so forth.
Mr. Cuellar. Well, one of the benefits of being a witness
here is that you will get access to some of the folks here. So
I would ask both Mr. Dinvaut, Mr. Howard, and Mr. Hickey if you
all want to sit down with Mr. Bourne. I want to ask you if you
all can get some of their ideas and follow up at a later time,
I really would appreciate to get that local input.
All right. Mr. Dent.
Mr. Dent. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. And to Mr. Hickey, I just
had a few quick questions. I want to get your thoughts on some
issues. In your testimony, you indicated that Verizon has a
strong relationship essentially with the Department's Private
Sector Office and the Office of Infrastructure Protection. You
also suggest that FEMA, which does not have an official private
sector office must--or at least should have a stronger
mechanism for private sector outreach and cooperation. Can you
describe what you believe are FEMA's shortcomings as they
relate to public-sector outreach?
And then secondarily, do you believe that FEMA should have
its own private sector division and that we should have a point
of contact within FEMA, such as a private sector officer or
liaison, that would improve this public-private sector
partnership?
Mr. Hickey. Mr. Dent, first of all I would say I think
Verizon has a very good working relationship with FEMA. At the
ground level we have worked for years from an operational
standpoint to get the job done when events occur. We are just
now getting around from a more senior level to meet with the 10
regional administrators, and FEMA has made themselves very
accessible on that front.
I guess my sense is that at the--that really action occurs
at the local and regional level. To the extent that FEMA has
the focus and the resources to make itself available on a
sustained basis, whether it is in Pennsylvania in Region 2--or
Region 3 rather--or down in Texas, that helps because we then
have a consistent and a very proactive point of contact with
that organization.
I can't speak to the appropriations side of it. But given
the fact that FEMA has done so much positive work in terms of
restructuring its organization, to the extent that the private
sector has consistent solid access at the local level going
forward, I think that really helps. It helps us as partners,
and we view FEMA as a good partner, but we can strengthen the
relationship.
Mr. Dent. You also mentioned in your testimony, that the
Federal Government's credentialing ID program, that that was--
that there were obviously some challenges. And you also
indicated the States and localities are developing their own
approaches to credentialing.
I know Mr. Bourne has been talking about that a little bit
during this hearing. Can you describe the problems that a non-
integrated approach to credentialing amongst various Federal,
State, and local governments presents to private-sector workers
during a response to a disaster?
And maybe Marko Bourne wants to jump in on that at some
point.
Mr. Hickey. Two points. First, in response to the 9/11
attacks in New York, because of the excellent relationships
that Verizon had with local police and fire, it was quite easy
with our credentials to get through the barricades and get to
our key facility at 140 West Street to begin restoration
immediately. And we actually work with other infrastructure
providers through our relationships to get folks in to begin
repair.
The challenge with an area like the gulf coast is that it
is so expansive and it crosses so many political jurisdictions,
it is a challenge. And I will approach it from two standpoints.
Verizon Wireless has a major presence in the Gulf Coast States.
We have regional offices, we do a lot of work across bounds.
And in order to get in quickly, we need to make sure that
whatever credentials are required we have just as quickly as
possible.
I think FEMA, I think DHS in general, certainly the
national communications system, the White House post-Katrina,
were absolutely focused on quick restoration of communications
services. And if we are stymied in terms of getting into
sites--and I understand why that happens--it puts us further
behind the eight-ball.
So where you have a large cross-jurisdictional region like
the gulf coast, if we can find regional approaches that go down
to the local level, through political leadership within DHS,
with the Governors' Associations like SGA, and with the private
sector, at least for the short term, that would be of help.
Mr. Dent. Marko, do you want to add anything?
Mr. Bourne. Yes. If I could just add, part of the challenge
is certainly that up until a few years ago, nobody even knew
what credentialing was. So the dialogue that has been going on
has been very helpful because it didn't exist before.
The challenge, too, for FEMA is that it is not
necessarily--we are not in a position where we can make folks
do these things. But what we can be is the facilitator of the
standard, that folks can then apply whatever their goals and
resources to if they are going to create a credentialing
process for their community, their State, that it follows the
basic patterns that would be recognizable from jurisdiction to
jurisdiction. That is going to be critical because obviously,
you know, this isn't a closed environment where we control all
of the resources and all of the requirements.
So the process that we have been taking is providing the
forum and the dialogues that folks can look at what are the
common basic principles that can exist in a credentialing
system, regardless of the community it is serving, and allow
those communities to understand these are the basic premises,
and you can build your systems to accommodate those, and then
anything else you feel is necessary based on the uniqueness of
the area you serve. That is the challenge. Because ultimately,
they are in control not only of those emergency scenes, but
they are responsible for the public health and safety of their
communities. So they are ultimately going to have the last say
as to who gets in and who doesn't.
Mr. Bourne. What we want to try to provide is a forum under
which everybody at least has a common understanding and can
work towards a credential that is recognizable regardless of
the community they go to serve.
Mr. Dent. And just real quickly, Mr. Hickey. To your
knowledge, do you think Verizon would face the same
credentialing problems in New Orleans that it faced during
Katrina?
Mr. Hickey. Mr. Dent, I am optimistic that we would not,
because we--at least in that locale, because we have really
made an effort, as have our government partners, to get to know
each other and to be very well aware of what our requirements
are. With FEMA and with the IT Directorate within the
Department, there are personnel on the scene. We would continue
to work with our sector-specific agency, the National
Communication System.
And if I think about Katrina and the gulf coast and New
Orleans specifically, I think we have made much progress in
terms of getting to know each other, and in an emergency, if
the official protocol was not established, that we would find,
you know, ways to get to the sites that we needed to quickly.
I was remiss earlier in not referencing one organization
that might be of assistance. This morning there was the first
meeting of the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory
Council, CIPAC. It was created by the Department of Homeland
Security. It brings together partners from 18 critical sectors,
from water and dams to telecom and food and ag, and every
other--including State, local, tribe and territorial. It is a
brand new sector council. And with that new council at a table
with all of the other infrastructure providers there, the CIPAC
might be one vehicle to really address the issue of
credentialing in quick fashion, because all the right players
are there not just from the private sector, but from government
as well. That is just a thought.
Mr. Dent. Thank you.
Mr. Cuellar. Thank you. There will be some other questions
that will be submitted, but as you can see, today is one of
those days, so we're going to go ahead and conclude at this
time. I want to thank all the witnesses for being here, your
valuable testimony, and, of course, the Members for the
questions.
As I mentioned, the members of the subcommittee may have
additional questions for the witnesses, and we will ask you to
respond to them as soon as possible in writing to those
questions.
Mr. Cuellar. Hearing no further business, the hearing is
adjourned. And again, thank you, and have a good day.
[Whereupon, at 11:14 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
----------
Additional Questions and Responses
Questions submitted by the Honorable Henry Cuellar, Chairman,
Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response
for Marko Bourne Responses
Question 1.: What types of resources and assistance can the private
sector most effectively bring to bear in the immediate aftermath of a
disaster and later in the early stages of recovery--what types of
private sector entities should be involved and when?
For example, what should be the private sector role in debris
removal? To what extent would this rely on coordinated action by small,
local businesses?
Response: There are many types of resources and opportunities for
the private sector to assist in the disaster response and recovery
process, especially long-term recovery. For example governments can
create pre-negotiated contracts which can provide goods and services
for disaster response and recovery. Additionally governments can also
look to the private sector to learn more about what types of
capabilities and reach that they can employ during a disaster. As with
any type of planning, these relationships and agreements need to be
built well in advance of a disaster and most importantly should be
coordinated on a regular basis through a formalized partnership, forum
or organization. There are many examples of State and local governments
who have created public-private partnerships to integrate the private
sector in emergency response and recovery.
For example in the State of California, SB 546 authorizes the
Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES), in coordination with
other state and local agencies, to expand existing public/private
partnerships and to allow greater participation by the private sector
in governmental emergency management efforts. This legislation
encourages collaboration between OES and private interests and
increases integration of available disaster preparedness resources by:
Enabling the integration of private sector activities
with governmental emergency preparedness programs, and
expanding preparedness beyond government-to government
relations;
Encouraging formal relationships between government
and the private sector to monitor the status of the important
lifelines controlled by the private sector--from food supply to
telecommunications to transportation--during disasters, and to
focus resources on their restoration when it is essential to
the well being of the general public;
Providing a means for government to communicate
critical information to business during emergencies so that the
citizens of California, who spend much of their day at their
jobs, can protect themselves and their families;
Allowing private sector access to government
facilities and information systems in order to maximize best
practices and systems, and to assist and coordinate with
governmental emergency operations; and
Creating the Disaster Resistant Communities Account in
the General Fund into which private donations may be deposited.
This type of public private partnerships are happening across the
country to better include the private sector in emergency response and
recovery. FEMA is also helping State and local governments connect with
private sector resources. Taking debris removal as an example, the
private sector, made up of many small and large debris removal
contractors, who can play a primary role in the debris removal process
when debris removal contracts are competitively bid and appropriately
procured by state, local, and tribal governments. State, local, and
tribal governments can undertake pre-disaster debris management
planning activities and develop debris management plans and pre-qualify
debris removal contractors or enter into pre-event debris removal
contracts. To help State and local governments, FEMA has developed for
State and local governments the Debris Removal Contractor Registry
(https://asd.fema.gov/inter/nerr/home.htm) to assist State, local, and
tribal governments identify debris removal contractor resources. This
information is populated by the private sector. .
In addition, small and large debris removal contractors also play a
primary role in the debris removal process when debris removal is
managed under a mission assignment requested by the state and managed
by the ESF #3 lead agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The private sector has a large role to play not only to prepare for
and respond to an emergency, but it is the backbone of the community's
economy and should be intimately involved in the long-term recovery. It
is critical for a local business community to work with emergency
management to ensure that businesses can open as quickly as possible to
restore commerce and bring back economic vitality to the region. It not
only is essential for businesses to be open to restore the economy, but
it is equally important for them to return to be able to deliver goods
and services to its community. Long term recovery planning should be an
ongoing part of State and local emergency planning.
Beyond response and recovery, the private sector has an important
role to play to prepare its employees, operations and assets for the
unexpected. The private sector also has an opportunity to also provide
leadership in community preparedness by utilizing its connection with
local emergency management and community based organizations like
Citizen Corps to encourage both citizens and businesses to be better
prepared. These combined actions can set the stage for greater
community resiliency.
Question 2.: How do existing regulatory and statutory structures
affect the ability to draw on private sector resources and develop
flexible means of using their capacities?
For example, after Katrina, Rite-Aid offered to refill
prescriptions of those who had been evacuated to other states, but when
it sent in pharmacists to help with in the increased demand, it found
that in some cases its out-of-state pharmacists could not do so because
they were not licensed in the state. How can those issues be
appropriately addressed?
Response: As the question indicates, there are challenges for
individuals who are licensed in one state traveling to another state
and utilizing their professional knowledge without being licensed or
credentialed in the second state. This is a state regulated matter that
is generally recognized. FEMA has been encouraging states to address
this issue in a fashion that will allow more qualified individuals to
come to affected states to help during emergencies and to permit
private sector resources to be used during emergencies.
Current licensure regulations may impede multi-state practice of
pharmacists and other licensed healthcare providers. The Emergency
Management Assistance Compact, adopted by all 50 states, the District
of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam, enables health
care professionals licensed and/or credentialed in participating states
to render assistance when the governor of an affected state declares an
emergency or disaster and requests aid from a participating state
pursuant to the compact, although the Compact's reference to state
officers and employees may make it difficult for states to exchange
private sector health care professionals. Enabling licensed providers
to practice nationwide in the event of a disaster or emergency
situation could be beneficial in the aftermath of a disaster. Mutual
state licensure is a potential solution.
The Department of Health and Human Services administers the
Emergency System for Advanced Registration of Volunteer Health
Professionals (ESAR-VHP) program, which supports the development of a
national system of State-owned and operated systems to register and
verify the licenses and credentials of health professional volunteers
in advance of an emergency. While state ESAR-VHP systems do not solve
the problem of enabling licensed providers to practice across state
lines, the registry of interested health care volunteers and real-time
licensing and credentialing verification information these systems
provide should facilitate the use of health care professionals
intrastate and, in cases where states have a mechanism in place to
allow out-of-state health professionals to practice, across state
lines.
Given that many of the potential impediments to involvement of
private sector resources in disaster response and recovery are state or
local laws, regulations, or licensing issues, the best way to avoid or
reduce this problem is for states and localities to incorporate these
issues into their disaster planning and to the extent possible,
establish waivers or other systems in advance to reduce anticipated
impediments.
Question 3.: It is necessary to identify the roles and
responsibilities and associated tasks that are appropriate and
necessary for disasters of different types and magnitudes--e.g.,
providing food, ice, water, prescriptions, pet care, temporary housing,
etc.
Which of these roles, responsibilities are inherently governmental
(e.g., law enforcement and public safety) and which can be shared with
nongovernmental organizations?
To what extent does the revised National Response Plan consider
roles and responsibilities of nonprofits and the private sector in
preparedness and respone for major disasters?
Response: State, territory, and tribal governments have the primary
responsibility for the public health and welfare of their citizens,
including law enforcement, fire, medical, emergency management, public
works and environmental response. However, many of these
responsibilities and associated tasks can be shared with
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). NGOs serve a vital role in
providing an effective response by mitigating potential risks and
performing essential service missions within communities in times of
need. These services bolster and support government efforts at all
levels. Examples of services that may be provided by NGOs include:
mass sheltering,
supplying food and clothing,
counseling services,
training and managing volunteer resources,
caring for displaced pets and service animals,
identifying those whose needs have not been met and
coordinating the provision of assistance and,
assisting with post-emergency cleanup.
In fact, some major NGOs have been officially designated as support
elements to national response capabilities. The American Red Cross, for
example, is a supporting agency to the National Response Plan's (NRP)
Emergency Support Function (ESF) #6 Mass Care, Housing, and Human
Services; and, the American Humane Society helps care for displaced
pets and service animals.
NGOs are also encouraged to develop contingency plans and
Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP) and to work with state and local
planners to ensure that their plans are consistent with pertinent
community, state and tribal plans, the National Incident Management
System and the NRP.
To what extent does the revised National Response Plan consider
roles and responsibilities of nonprofits and the private sector in
preparedness and response for major disasters?
Response: The process of revising the NRP is nearing completion,
following extensive input from representatives of all sectors of our
society, including nonprofit and private sector organizations. The
final approved revision will address and identify potential roles and
responsibilities of nonprofits and the private sector in all phases of
emergency management.
The role of the private sector as owners and operators of much of
our nation's critical infrastructure will be vital in maintaining and
restoring essential services during and following disasters. The
revised NRP will focus on the need to strengthen partnerships between
all levels of government, the private sector and NGOs in enhancing the
nation's readiness profile.
The revised NRP will also recognize that the private sector
supports the national incident management efforts by performing
vulnerability assessments, developing emergency response and business
continuity plans, enhancing overall readiness, implementing appropriate
prevention and protection programs, and donating goods and services or
providing them through mutual aid agreement, contractual arrangement,
or government purchases.
NGOs also serve an important role in community preparedness,
coordinating resources, and marshalling community recovery efforts.
NGOs support government incident coordination efforts by sending
representatives to participate in State and local exercises and
Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs). When incidents are of such
magnitude that a Joint Field Office (JFO) is established, NGOs and
other private-sector interests may participate in the JFO when
appropriate.
There are two overarching organizations particularly instrumental
in organizing NGO participation in incident preparedness and response:
the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (NVOAD), a
consortium of more than 30 national disaster relief organizations, and
Citizen Corps, a DHS-administered, community-level program that brings
government and nongovernmental groups together and coordinates the
emergency preparedness and response activities of community members.
Question 4.: There have been calls for increased participation of
the private sector in emergency operations centers so that in times of
crisis, government officials can gain a business perspective and also
have a liaison identified for outreach to the large community.
What is the Department doing to ensure private sector participation
in emergency operations center? What protocols and standards must be
put in place before an initiative like this moves forward?
Response: For years, many State and local emergency operations
centers have had members of the private sector integrated as full
partners in emergency response and recovery, especially in the utility
and telecommunications industries. Since 9/11 States and localities
have increased their ability to include the private sector to also
include non-critical infrastructure representatives.
At the Regional level FEMA has supported State and local
coordination with the private sector. For example in FEMA Region 2,
FEMA administered a grant to New York City to support private sector
integration into New York City's emergency and crisis management
through a nonprofit business partnership, BNET. This organization was
created as a result of a 1997-1998 study titled the Joint Loss
Reduction Partnership (JLRP), funded by FEMA and conducted by the New
York State Emergency Management Office in partnership with
representatives from NYS businesses. The goal of the JLRP was to study
and determine the needs of private-sector businesses following a
serious emergency or disaster. The findings of the study identified a
need for closer collaboration between the public and private sector,
but most importantly a process for allowing critical business personnel
to re enter their place of business within defined restricted areas to
begin business recovery activities.
The Corporate Emergency Access System (CEAS) program was created as
an outgrowth of the recommendations of the JLRP. CEAS uses a 'critical
employee access card' credentialing system to mitigate the economic
loss incurred through unforeseen emergencies where access to the
workplace is restricted. To learn more about CEAS: https://ceas.com/
ceas.psp.
New York City represents many best practices in public private
partnerships with the business community. Many other cities and States
have also created similar systems such as ChicagoFIRST and Florida's
Office of Emergency Management has formally established Emergency
Support Function (ESF) 18 ``Business, Industry and Economic
Stabilization." which focuses on partnership building with businesses
throughout many aspects of emergency management.
Each State and locality has its own priorities and abilities to
incorporate the private sector into its incident management planning.
Just like New York City, many States and localities for years have
included the private sector in their EOCs. It is a State and local
responsibility to coordinate their priorities and make determinations
on private sector representation and coordination during disaster
response and recovery.
The Department is taking a proactive role in private sector
coordination by having federal private sector and infrastructure
liaisons to work with the private sector during an incident of national
significance. Through the Office of Infrastructure Protection, the
Department provides Infrastructure Liaisons to support and liaison to
the 17 critical infrastructure and key resources sectors. These
representatives are located that the national level through FEMA's
National Response Coordination Center and the Office of Infrastructure
Protections' National Infrastructure Coordination Center. To supplement
this coordination during an incident, the Private Sector Office
provides Private Sector Liaisons works alongside the Office of
Infrastructure Protection's Infrastructure Liaisons both at FEMA's NRCC
and the Joint Field Office to assist non-Critical Infrastructure
industry to specifically provide public information and donation and
resource management support. The protocols and processes of this
coordination are currently being developed and are being raised for
inclusion into the revised National Response Plan.
Question 5.: The private sector needs to understand NIMS, and more
importantly needs to exercise and train in the areas of which they are
expected to play a role.
To what extent is the Department working with the private sector
and states and localities to ensure and encourage private sector
involvement in these types of exercises?
Response: The Department has actively encouraged private sector
involvement in these exercises.
The Training Branch of the Incident Management Systems Division,
National Integration Center, created and implemented a NIMS
Implementation Workshop for the Private Sector (a one-time event held
in the Summer of FY06). The intent of this workshop was to obtain
feedback from the various elements of the Private Sector on how well
the implementation process has proceeded within their respective
organizations. FEMA will continue to capture comments from the private
sector (as well as from non governmental and volunteer organizations)
and review them to help us revise our recommendations on the policies,
plans and procedures we use as guidance to other Private Sector
entities. It is hoped that the outcome will strengthen the Private
Sector's ability to align their incident response capabilities with
NIMS.
The following programs provide examples where the Department has
encouraged private sector involvement in exercises:
Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP)
The Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) is a
capabilities and performance-based exercise program that provides a
standardized policy, methodology, and language for designing,
developing, conducting, and evaluating all exercises. HSEEP recognizes
the necessity and importance of private sector exercise involvement and
encourages participation of private sector partners in all aspects of
preparedness exercises. To ensure HSEEP methodology and guidance are
properly implemented and applied to Federal, state, and local exercise
activities, the National Exercise Division (NED) emphasizes private
sector participation in all programmatic initiatives, as well as
supporting HSEEP implementation with Subject Matter Experts SME and
technical assistance and online resources. The NED works closely with
the DHS Private Sector Office and Office of Infrastructure Protection
through the HSEEP Steering Committee and HSEEP Policy and Subcommittee
to develop exercise policies and guidance that maximizes private sector
participation in national level as well as regional exercises. The NED
also coordinates national level exercises and directly engages private
sector partners in those planning and execution activities as well. In
the Top Officials (TOPOFF) federal exercise series, the NED is
coordinating with the DHS Private Sector Office and Office of
Infrastructure Protection to increase the level of private sector
participation in this year's TOPOFF 4 exercise. Last year's TOPOFF 3
exercise involved more than 5,000 members of the private sector. The
NED recognizes and values its private sector partnerships and is
resolved in increasing their role in future exercise initiatives.
Emergency Management Institute (EMI)
The Emergency Management Institute (EMI) includes representatives
of private sector organizations such as students in its exercise-based
courses and other courses where those organizations are part of the
integrated state, tribal and local response for emergencies and
disasters. In addition, the general public, including private sector
organizations, may take EMI's independent study courses at no charge
which includes a menu of over 60 courses. However, EMI is not resourced
to provide training for the private sector on a large scale.
Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP)
The Center for Domestic Preparedness' (CDP) primary mission is to
provide homeland security training to state and local emergency
responders across the Nation. The private sector has regularly
approached the CDP leadership requesting training for their response
teams. At present, the CDP is training private sector responders on a
``space available'' basis, which translates to less than 4-5 private
sector student seats per class. Currently, the CDP does not have
reimbursement authority to accept funds associated with the cost of
training. The CDP leadership has proposed enabling language that would
give it permanent authorization to allow reimbursement for this one-of-
a-kind training. This authorization would provide the private and
public sectors the opportunity to train for response activities that
are required in an incident in their respective community/jurisdiction.
Questions submitted by the Honorable Henry Cuellar, Chairman,
Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response
for J. Michael Hickey Responses
Question 1.: Regarding the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's pandemic
preparedness initiative:
Is the private sector taking pandemic preparedness seriously?
Yes, the Chamber and its members appreciate pandemic influenza
needs to be on the minds of all businesses. We have heard constantly
that it is not an ``if'' but a ``when'' scenario. Like hurricanes,
tornadoes, and earthquakes, pandemics happen. We can't stop pandemic
influenza but the US Chamber of Commerce is encouraging preparedness
for an influenza pandemic within the business community.
What results are you seeing out of this preparedness effort?
Business owners and leaders are becoming more knowledgeable about
the risks associated with the threat of an influenza pandemic and, in
turn, adequately prepared for the possibility of a pandemic that could
have both significant social and economic costs.
Businesses are preparing their education programs to clarify their
policies during an avian flu outbreak and using publicly available
information to educate their employees on the need to take relatively
simple precautions to limit exposure to a flu outbreak.
Many businesses, particularly large multinational corporations,
have established pandemic planning committees and have altered their
business continuity plans.
Of primary importance to a business, is having an adequate
workforce that can be drawn upon, given the prediction that a large
percentage of workers may be unable to fulfill their responsibilities
over the span of a pandemic.
Given that forewarning, employers are doing a number of things to
ensure worker availability and productivity. Among these is making the
investment to support working from home or other remote sites and
developing worker training programs that emphasize cross-training,
replacement training, and recalling and training retirees.
Some companies are establishing additional supply and delivery
chain alternatives. Some businesses are also ensuring that their third
party suppliers are also prepared for the special circumstances brought
about by the pandemic and have necessary contingencies in place.
Can such efforts be applied towards other possible natural or man-
made disasters that would affect business operations?
If a business is prepared to deal with pandemic influenza, it's
better able to handle other events, whether a biological attack or a
natural disaster. Business planning and continuity plans can be
adjusted for the circumstances. It's also very effective to have a team
that is already built, and to have regular communication with operating
groups. Whether it's a pandemic influenza or whether it's another type
of disaster, it's very important to have a team in place.
Question 2.: Re: recent administrative and legislative
reorganizations at DHS and their effect on emergency preparedness and
response coordination:
Do these recent reorganizations benefit cooperation and
communication among all levels of government, the private sector and
the public?
Policymakers have spent considerable energy in organizational and
functional responsibilities at the Department of Homeland Security.
While such initiatives may help clarify expectations for stronger
outreach and coordination in emergency preparedness and response,
actual outcomes will depend on more effective joint implementation by
government agencies and the private sector.
For instance:
Policymakers have recognized that meaningful emergency
preparedness and response measures must be shaped and managed
at regional, state and local levels. As a result, government
resources have been devoted to standing up Department programs
at the regional level in support of Joint Field Office
requirements. To ensure stronger links between government and
private sector interests, agencies like FEMA and the DHS
National Protection Programs Directorate must establish
stronger state and local private sector outreach and
coordination capability to encourage and sustain private sector
participation over the long term.
In Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD-
5), the President directed the establishment of the National
Incident Management System (NIMS) and the National Response
Plan to align Federal coordination capabilities and resources
into a unified, self-disciplined and all-hazards approach to
domestic incident management. These initiatives will fall short
if they do not fully recognize and integrate private sector
roles and capabilities into emergency preparedness and response
frameworks.
Meaningful business and government partnerships are created not
just through dialogue and planning, but by testing operational
readiness and exercising together. The early insertion of private
sector ideas and expertise in training exercises is essential in order
to bring greater meaning to such programs--whether at the local and
regional level or in the development of national exercises such as
TOPOFF 4.
To ensure a higher level of joint government/private
sector preparedness and response, sound practice must be
adopted and implemented where it matters most. On initiatives
ranging credentialing to emergency wireless protocols, public
and private sectors must be prove to be more effective in
seizing upon good ideas and programs and finding ways of
getting such programs implemented ``on the ground.''
The Department of Homeland Security has been effective in
establishing a framework for the eighteen critical infrastructure
sectors to advance emergency preparedness and response measures and to
coordinate within sectors, across sectors and with government partners.
The 2006 National Infrastructure Protection Plan, resulting from
Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7. HSPD-7 focused on the
identification, prioritization and protection of the nation's critical
assets. It required the development of the National Infrastructure
Protection Plan and corresponding Sector Specific Plans. Perhaps most
significantly, the NIPP encouraged the establishment of sector
coordinating councils. In so doing, it brought greater sector diversity
to the table and significantly advanced the institutional capacity of
sectors to formally and proactively address cross-sector dependencies.
Cross-sector initiatives have been advanced by the establishment of the
Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security (PCIS.) Its mission
addresses critical infrastructure matters from prevention, planning,
and preparedness to business continuity, mitigation, response and
recovery. This forum provides "real opportunity for discussion,
cooperation and successful execution of programs by government and
industry partners. Measures to advance government and private sector
coordination were further advanced when Secretary established the
Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC) in 2006.
This Council brings together private sector representatives and sector
specific agencies to the same table to advance coordination in
emergency preparedness and response.
Question 3.: Re: Participation in Ready Business Summits:
The Ready Business Summit was a pilot initiative with DHS and the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce to increase engagement of business owners and
operators on the importance of business continuity planning, emergency
response coordination and pandemic flu preparedness. The Ready Business
Summit is designed primarily for small and medium size companies. As a
result Verizon has not participated directly. The first Ready Business
event was held with the City of Charlotte and the Charlotte Chamber of
Commerce. The Summit provided the business community a to engage
Charlotte's Office of Emergency Management and its local first
responder community as well as federal state and local health officials
regarding pandemic flu and to highlight best practices in Charlotte's
business community on the importance of business continuity of both
small and large businesses. DHS and the Chamber plan to hold additional
Ready Business Summits around the country.
QuestionS from the Honorable Henry Cuellar, chairman, Subcommittee on
Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response
Responses from John L. Howard
Mr. Howard, as you stated in your testimony, the Business
Roundtable launched its Partnership for Disaster Response in part as a
way to address the need to better coordinate the generosity and
willingness to assist the public, by the private Sector.
How has the roundtable worked to draw upon and
organize the resource capability of its members? And
specifically, how has Grainger worked with the Department and
state and local authorities to provide services?
Did you meet personally with federal, state and local
officials?
Do you have pre-negotiated contracts in place?
The Partnership has worked to draw upon and organize the resource
of its industry membership in an effort to create a more coordinated
response to disasters. Companies involved in the Partnership are
working closely to harness their expertise to create a more proactive
approach in how the business community can help our nation prepare for,
respond to and recover from disasters. The Business Roundtable strongly
believes in the importance of a coordinated solution to assist
emergency response, to mitigate the suffering of communities affected
by a disaster and to support economic recovery.
For example, the Partnership has:
Developed an emergency protocol for how the private
sector will communicate with the government and relief agencies
immediately following a disaster.
Launched a web site, www.respondtodisaster.org, the
first clearinghouse of information on disaster preparedness and
response, to help businesses develop more comprehensive
disaster response programs.
Organized a Business Response Team comprised of
representatives from several industries, including
Telecommunications, Manufacturing/Chemical, Retail/Supplies,
Insurance, Health/Medical, It, Financial Services,
Transportation/Logistics, Energy/gas and Electric to gather and
communicate needs to the Partnership, and to determine which
corporate resources are needed during the response phase of a
disaster. To facilitate communications, the Partnership also
launched a secure web site that enables members to easily
communicate information and obstacles confronting the general
business community and specific industry sectors in real-time.
These challenges can then be shared with federal and local
government representatives to speed response and recovery
activities.
Developed new educational resources addressing all
phases of disaster--preparation, response and recovery--to help
a company's business continuity, security, communications,
human resources and all operating departments refine the
company's disaster plan. The subject areas include:
1. Top Ten Myths of Disaster Relief--aims to identify and
correct some of the most common misconceptions about disaster
response.
2. Do's and Don'ts of Effective Giving provides employees with
accurate information about how they can best contribute after a
disaster.
3. How Can My Company Help?--provides a guide for Country
Managers in responding to natural disasters
4. Family Preparedness Guide--intended for all employees to
educate them disaster preparedness and encourage them to take
specific actions
5. Human Resource Guide on Benefits and Financial Issues--
designed for HR leaders to help them support employees whose
lives have been affected by a disaster
6. Protecting Your Business provides a guide for security, real
estate, tax and legal staff on issues to consider when sharing
office space after a disaster
7. Rebuilding Communities--provides advice for philanthropy and
community relations leaders to help set priorities in
contributing to long-term recovery efforts
The Business Roundtable's efforts have involved ongoing discussions
addressing strategy and particular challenges with federal and local
authorities.
As to your question related to W.W. Grainger, Inc, representatives
of our company have met and discussed our commitment with
representatives of the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA. Just
as important, Grainger's extensive field operations provide the
opportunity for its employees throughout the country to pursue similar
discussions and coordination with state and local government
representatives. The vast majority of products that we supply during an
emergency are available for purchase as a result of previously awarded
competitive contracts.
2. The prioritization of product distribution is an important point
often missed in times of emergency.
From your testimony we understand that requests from
FEMA, cities and first responders are given priority -does this
mean that one of your business customers will have to get in
the back of the line for assistance and goods needed to get
back on line?
While this is understood in times of great crisis, to
what extent is Grainger notifying its customers of a possible
disruption and working with them to identify what is needed to
keep them operations for the first 36 to 48 hours post event?
In disaster scenarios, Grainger makes every effort to give first
priority to Federal, State and local agencies and to first responders.
Prioritizing FEMA and first responder item demands may in certain
limited instances cause temporary product shortages for commercial
customers. However, our pre-planning and historic analysis anticipates
this challenge. Given the inventory redundancy within Grainger's supply
chain, the pre-identificationlre-stocking of sensitive items, our re-
supply relationships with our main suppliers and our capabilities to
source product from multiple suppliers, few shortages are likely to
extend beyond 48 hours.
Within the first 36 to 48 hour time frame Store and Sales
management are being continuously updated by Grainger's Supply Chain
management on estimated delivery of product and in turn store and sales
employees are communicating directly with customers in the disaster
area. Customer needs in this time frame are being captured via face to
face customer contact at our local branches and the monitoring of
inventory levels feed directly into and are acted upon by Grainger's
supply chain systems and processes.
3. How does Grainger research the needs of customers, plan to
secure the supply chain and work to pre-position trailers of products
that you and the affected community may need? Have you shared your best
practices with the Department?
Grainger has leveraged its unique position as a long-standing,
national broad-line distributor with a robust local footprint to
understand the ``on the ground'' product needs in an extensive array of
emergency situations. By virtue of our local presence throughout the
nation, we have not only learned from those historical customer demands
in the first hours of a particular type of event but we have also
learned from our own local employees living through the emergency
themselves. Our research as to what, when, where and how much product
is needed comes from our long history and day in day out experiences
dealing with emergency need. We will continue to share our experience
and practices with the Department as part of the Roundtable's
commitment to emergency response.