Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 National Incident Management System (NIMS)

Description

Our nation faces a wide range of threats and hazards. As FEMA's 2018-2022 Strategic Plan states (under Strategic Objective 2.3: Posture FEMA and the Whole Community to Provide Life-Saving and Life-Sustaining Commodities, Equipment, and Personnel from all Available Sources), "No one agency or organization is able to store enough equipment, supplies, and commodities, or marshal enough internal teams to quickly and fully meet all the needs of a catastrophic incident. These devastating incidents necessitate the collective assets and contributions of many supporting organizations aligned through a coordinated structure." Communities can address these challenges by using a systematic approach that builds on proven preparedness activities. The National Incident Management System (NIMS) provides stakeholders across the whole community with the shared vocabulary, systems, and processes to deliver the capabilities described in the National Preparedness System (NPS). The implementation of NIMS directly supports Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR) Mission 5: Strengthen National Preparedness and Resilience and Goal 5.3: Ensure Effective Emergency Response. To this end, the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) provides at the national level a consistent and reliable approach to emergency resource allocation.EMAC, which is a congressionally ratified mutual aid compact that defines a non-federal, state-to-state system for sharing resources across state lines during an emergency or disaster. Signatories include all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. EMAC's unique relationships with states, regions, territories, and Federal organizations, such as FEMA and the National Guard Bureau, enable it to move a wide variety of resources to stabilize community lifelines immediately after an incident. EMAC, established in 1996, is a national mutual aid compact that offers assistance during governor-declared states of emergency. It assists states in sending personnel, equipment, and commodities to support disaster relief efforts in other states. This NOFO aids EMAC's development and maintenance of a consistent system for the request, dispatch, use, and return of resources necessary to support local capabilities during incident response and recovery operations. The development of a multi-jurisdictional, interstate regional mechanism for coordinating incident management and obtaining assistance to stabilize community lifelines immediately during large-scale, complex, or catastrophic incidents will help to build, sustain, and deliver the core capabilities essential to achieving the National Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient nation. The FY 2020 NIMS cooperative agreement supports the priority to enhance mutual aid capabilities through EMAC to advance implementation and support the whole community to provide lifesaving and life-sustaining commodities, equipment, and personnel. The NIC's two strategic priorities listed below illustrate the NIC's efforts to enhance the emergency management partnership between FEMA and the EMAC administrator: Integrate stakeholder feedback in the development, implementation, and updating of national doctrine, guidance, and technical assistance to ensure their relevance and value to whole community emergency management.Provide high-quality, customer-oriented tools and resources to enhance nationwide understanding and implementation of NIMS and NPS.EMAC will support these strategic priorities by supporting the development and implementation of National Qualification System (NQS) work items, Resource Typing (RT) definitions, and mutual aid tools. The EMAC-generated after-action reports, quarterly reports, and reports on demand will provide data that will enhance current and future emergency management initiatives. This cooperative agreement also advances the NPS - the instrument the nation uses to build, sustain, and deliver core capabilities to achieve a secure and resilient nation. Complex and far-reaching threats and hazards require a collaborative, whole-community approach to national preparedness that engages individuals, families, communities, the private and nonprofit sectors, faith-based organizations, and all levels of government. The guidance, programs, processes, and systems that support each component of the NPS promote integrated preparedness efforts that build, sustain, and deliver core capabilities and achieve the National Preparedness Goal's desired outcomes. DHS and FEMA focus on building stronger capabilities across jurisdictions at all levels and with the whole community. All types of mutual aid are integral to efforts that enhance our nation's resilience, ensure an effective response to disasters, and stabilize community lifelines regardless of size, scope, or complexity. The FY 2020 NIMS cooperative agreement objectives outlined below supplement the ongoing collaborative efforts of the NIC and EMAC.

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