Another Information Sharing System
FEMA has contracted an IT company to create an information-sharing system for emergency response:Emergency responders nationwide will soon have access to vital information via a single online source.
Questions: Let's say I'm with another federal agency, working at the Joint Field Office (JFO) under one of the Emergency Support Functions (ESFs). Do I have access to this system? Do I have access to this information? Is this system compatible with the other information systems that I already use?
The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded a contract Sept. 28 to CNI All Points Logistics to set up FEMA’s Emergency Management Information Management System (EMIMS) as a repository for emergency management information.
"The system will be used to coordinate and effectively manage the incident, to develop future operational plans, to prepare comprehensive periodic reports, to track information requests and other pending actions, and to maintain accurate records,” according to a FEMA news release.
EMIMS sorts emergency information for validity and importance and then distributes it to multiple offices, including the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC), Regional Response Coordination Center and the Joint Field Offices.
"Any person who’s in a position of command-and-control responsibilities, such as [the head of] the NRCC, needs instant access to information that he needs to make decisions in reference to the proper way to respond to whatever happens to be going on,” said John Richardson, contract specialist at FEMA. “This system will consolidate all that information and provide it in a format which [responders] will be able to read.”
Richardson said the basic system should be installed in two weeks, with additional customization to follow.
Also, will the information be shared with state and local personnel? If I'm working at a state Emergency Operations Center - same deal.
2 comments:
Not another system...I seriously don't even know which does which anymore. We have HSIN, DMIS, all of the private solutions out there (WebEOC, E-team, etc), cybercop, LEO, LLIS, Disasterhelp.gov, RISS...and the list goes on and on for information sharing.
Yep. And given the speed with which they're setting this one up - just a couple of weeks to establish the basic system - I doubt it will be integrated with any of the other systems.
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