Building Collaborative Preparedness
(aka, Herding Cats in the Wild West)
National Homeland Security Conference
June 2015
Scott Kellar
Homeland Security Coordinator
North Central Region
Lin Bonesteel
Program Administrator
Denver Area UASI
All-Hazard Emergency
Management Regions
• Region’s established by Governor Bill Owens in 2003
• Evolutionary step in planning and building
capabilities for historically independent &
autonomous entities
• Return on investment increased
– Common procedures and working relationships established
through training and exercises
– Limited resources highlight the need for risk-based
assessments
– Redundancy of equipment and effort eliminated
Colorado All-Hazard Emergency
Management Regions
North Central Region
• Region is a quasi-governmental entity consisting of
the 10 counties surrounding the Denver metro area
• Board of Directors make-up is 2 members per
county and one member from each RETAC
• Members represent Fire, Law Enforcement,
Medical, EMS, Emergency Management & other
fields
• Combined metro, mountain and rural make-up
creates unique challenges for the NCR
Denver Area UASI
• UASI Working Group established in 2003
• WG Members identified by contiguous boundary
with core city; original membership consisted of 27
members; now 22 members
• Members represent Fire, Law Enforcement,
Medical, EMS, Emergency Management & other
fields
• Approximately 1/3 – 1/2 of the UASI Working
Group are shared members with the NCR Board of
Directors
North Central Region
Rocky Mountain
National Park
DIA
Eisenhower
Tunnel
Denver
Limon
Monument
Hill
Regional Vision
• Intent is to provide an inclusive organization that
will serve as a conduit to expand multijurisdictional functionality
• Focus is on preparedness activities – planning,
training, exercising
• Planning activities will link identified capability
gaps to Regional and local programs/projects
• Objective is increased return on investment
enabling more rapid capability building
Governance & Geographical
Challenges
• Overlap of member jurisdictions and agencies
caused a logical integration of planning and
assessment activities
• Overall strategic intent of maximizing preparedness
return on investment
• NCR and UASI use common subject matter expert
committees to conduct business and evaluate
projects
• Two entities conduct common strategic planning
and risk assessment activities
Common Planning Processes
• Single Regional THIRA and
Strategy are developed; adopted
by the governance bodies of
NCR and UASI
• Common Regional Risk and
Capability Assessments are completed
• Single annual TEPW is conducted to synchronize
training and exercise efforts across the Region
• Other planning efforts are Regionalized to optimize
the use of resources; e.g., Mass Fatality Plan, GIS
Data Repository
Regional Committee Structure
• 13 Standing Committees
– Planning
– Training & Exercise
– Incident Operations
– Communications
– Public Health
– Citizen Preparedness
– Medical/Hospitals
-
Operational Coordination
Emergency Management
Fatality Management
Recovery/CIP
Information Sharing
Cybersecurity
Incident Operations Committee
Structure
• 7 Standing Sub-Committees
– Operational Coordination
– EMS
– Explosive Device Operations
– WMD HAZMAT
– Public Safety & Security
– Search & Rescue
– Health & Safety
Preparedness Project
Development
• Projects are developed within
the multi-jurisdictional
committee structure
• Project utility and capability
impact validated by SMEs
• Ideal projects span multiple agencies and impact
broad segments of the UASI/Region
Project Evaluation and
Scoring
• Jointly established Grant Development
Committee evaluates and scores all
submitted projects
• Committee consists of 10 County
Emergency Managers plus 6 disciplinary reps
• Group integrates different disciplinary priorities
and establishes an integrated priority list to guide
funding
Project Scoring Criteria
• Scoring Criteria is established before project
application process is initiated
• Criteria are:
– Risk Mitigation
– Strategy Linkage
– THIRA Planning Scenario Linkage
– Improvement Plan Linkage
– Budget Management/Matching Funds
– Core Capability Impact
– Multi-jurisdictional Collaboration
– Regional Committee Prioritization
Integrated Priority List
• Final result is an IPL that guides prioritized
funding for the year
• Above the line items include Planning, Training &
Exercise projects
• UASI and HSGP grants are used to fund projects
down the list
• Project savings are applied to next highest priority
if able to fund full amount
Integrated Priority List
Cyclical Nature of Processes
• Annual planning processes focused on capability
enhancements or risk mitigation
• Cyclical nature allows standing committees to
adjust work plans and take bite sized approaches
• Emerging issue areas are aligned to core capability
and then assigned to standing committee
• Sustainment of established capability increases is
high priority
Sample Success Areas
• Regional GIS Data Repository
• EMS/Fire Active Shooter
Ballistic Protection
• Rescue Task Force Full Scale
Exercise
• Recovery Planning Project
• Regional Communications Infrastructure
– Mountain VHF System Buildout
– ISSI Infrastructure Integration
• Bearcat Upgrades
• Animal Sheltering Equipment
• Shelters Pre-Wiring
Building Collaborative Preparedness
(aka, Herding Cats in the Wild West)
National Homeland Security Conference
June 2015
Scott Kellar
Homeland Security Coordinator
North Central Region
Lin Bonesteel
Program Administrator
Denver Area UASI