NIMS Compliance Objectives and Metrics for Local Governments

A breakdown of the FY 2008 NIMS Compliance Objectives by NIMS component: Adoption, Preparedness: Planning, Preparedness: Training, Preparedness: Exercise, Communications and Information Management, Resource Management, Command and Management: Incident Command System, Command and Management: Multi-Agency Coordination System, and Command and Management: Public Information

Introduction

Meeting the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 National Incident Management System (NIMS) Compliance Objectives and Metrics forms the basis for NIMS compliance determinations for States, Territories, Tribal Nations, and Local Governments (i.e., schools). NIMS compliance directly impacts eligibility for Federal Preparedness Awards under Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-5, Managing Domestic Incidents.

HSPD-5 called for the establishment of a single, comprehensive national incident management system. As a result, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released NIMS in March 2004. NIMS provides a systematic, proactive approach guiding departments and agencies at all levels of government, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations to work seamlessly to prepare for, prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity, in order to reduce the loss of life, property, and harm to the environment. This consistency provides the foundation for implementation of the NIMS for all incidents, ranging from daily occurrences to incidents requiring a coordinated Federal response. The NIMS document, as revised in 2007, reflects contributions from stakeholders and lessons learned during recent incidents.

States and territories, Tribal Nations and local governments play an important role in ensuring effective NIMS implementation; not only must they implement NIMS within their jurisdictions, but also ensure that the systems and processes are in place to communicate and support NIMS compliance at all levels of government. In some instances, when Tribal Nations or local government may not have the resources to implement all NIMS elements on their own, States and territories should support their efforts by encouraging them to cooperate with other localities in their regions and pool their resources to implement NIMS.

The long-term goal of NIMS is to provide a consistent framework for all aspects of emergency management and incident response. This framework should be sustainable, flexible, and scalable to meet changing incident needs and allow for integration of other resources from various partners through mutual aid agreements and/or assistance agreements.

Objectives by NIMS Component

The following is a breakdown of the FY 2008 NIMS Compliance Objectives by NIMS component.

Adoption

1. Adopt NIMS for all Departments/Agencies; as well as promote and encourage NIMS adoption by associations, utilities, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and private sector emergency management and incident response organizations.
   
   
2. Designate and maintain a single point of contact within government to serve as principal coordinator for NIMS implementation jurisdiction-wide (to include a principal coordinator for NIMS implementation within each Department/Agency.
   
   
3. Ensure that Federal Preparedness Awards [to include, but not limited to, DHS Homeland Security Grant Program and Urban Area Security Initiative Funds] to State/Territorial/Tribal/ local Departments/Agencies support all required NIMS Compliance Objectives.
   
   
4. Audit agencies and review organizations should routinely include NIMS compliance requirements in all audits associated with Federal Preparedness Awards.

Preparedness: Planning

1. Revise and update emergency operations plans (EOPs), standard operating procedures (SOPs), and standard operating guidelines (SOGs) to incorporate NIMS and National Response Framework (NRF) components, principles and policies, to include planning, training, response, exercises, equipment, evaluation, and corrective actions.
   
   
2. Promote and/or develop intrastate and interagency mutual aid agreements and assistance agreements (to include agreements with the private sector and NGOs).

Preparedness: Training

1. Use existing resources such as programs, personnel and training facilities to coordinate and deliver NIMS training requirements.
   
   
2. Complete IS-700 NIMS: An Introduction or equivalent by appropriate personnel (as identified in the Five-Year NIMS Training Plan, February 2008).
   
   
3. Complete IS-800 National Response Framework (NRF): An Introduction or equivalent by appropriate personnel (as identified in the Five-Year NIMS Training Plan, February 2008).
   
   
4. Complete ICS-100 Introduction to ICS training or equivalent by appropriate personnel (as identified in the Five-Year NIMS Training Plan, February 2008).
   
   
5. Complete ICS-200 ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents training or equivalent by appropriate personnel (as identified in the Five-Year NIMS Training Plan, February 2008).
   
   
6. Complete ICS-300 Intermediate ICS training or equivalent by appropriate personnel (as identified in the Five-Year NIMS Training Plan, February 2008).

Preparedness: Exercise

1. Incorporate NIMS concepts and principles into all appropriate State/Territorial training and exercises.
   
   
2. Plan for and/or participate in an all-hazards exercise program [for example, Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program] that involves emergency management/response personnel from multiple disciplines and/or multiple jurisdictions.
   
   
3. Incorporate corrective actions into preparedness and response plans and procedures.

Communications and Information Management

1. Apply common and consistent terminology as used in NIMS, including the establishment of plain language (clear text) communications standards.
   
   
2. Utilize systems, tools, and processes to present consistent and accurate information (e.g., common operating picture) during an incident/planned event.

Resource Management

1. Inventory response assets to conform to NIMS National Resource Typing Definitions, as defined by FEMA Incident Management Systems Division.
   
   
2. Ensure that equipment, communications and data systems acquired through State/Territorial and local acquisition programs are interoperable.
   
   
3. Utilize response asset inventory for intrastate and interstate mutual aid requests [such as Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC)], training, exercises, and incidents/planned events.
   
   
4. New FY 2008: Initiate development of a jurisdiction-wide system to credential emergency management/response personnel to ensure proper authorization and access to an incident including those involving mutual aid agreements and/or assistance agreements.

Command and Management: Incident Command System

1. Manage all incidents/ planned events in accordance with ICS organizational structures, doctrine and procedures. ICS implementation must include the consistent application of Incident Action Planning (IAP), common communications plans, implementation of Area Command to oversee multiple incidents that are handled by separate ICS organizations or to oversee the management of a very large or evolving incident that has multiple incident management teams engaged, and implementation of unified command (UC) in multi-jurisdictional or multiagency incident management, as appropriate.

Command and Management: Multi-Agency Coordination System

1. Coordinate and support emergency management and incident response Objectives through the development and use of integrated multi-agency coordination systems, i.e. - develop and maintain connectivity capability between local Incident Command Posts (ICP), local 911 Centers, local Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs), the State/Territorial EOC and Regional and/Federal EOCs and NRF organizational elements.

Command and Management: Public Information

1. Institutionalize, within the framework of ICS, Public Information, [e.g., Joint Information System (JIS) and a Joint Information Center (JIC)] during an incident/planned event.
   
   
2. Ensure that Public Information procedures and processes can gather, verify, coordinate, and disseminate information during an incident/planned event.

FEMA's Incident Management Systems Integration (IMSI) Division has developed objective metrics to determine NIMS compliance. Additionally, the NIMS Compliance Assistance Support Tool (NIMSCAST) has been expanded to incorporate these metrics as well as provide stakeholders with a way to collect and report data relating to NIMS implementation and compliance. IMSI will analyze this data to help shape the future of its NIMS compliance program.

The complete 34-page FEMA document, FY 2008 NIMS Compliance Objectives and Metrics for Local Governments, can be viewed by clicking the link below.