Chapter Appendix A - Recommendations
Section Non-governmental Aid
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Critical Challenge: Non-governmental Aid
Lesson Learned: The Federal response should better integrate the contributions of volunteers and non-governmental organizations into the broader national effort. This integration would be best achieved at the State and local levels, prior to future incidents. In particular, State and local governments must engage NGOs in the planning process, credential their personnel, and provide them the necessary resource support for their involvement in a joint response.
Recommendations:
98. DHS should revise the NRP to designate responsibility for coordinating non-governmental assistance, including faith-based organizations, during emergencies. These responsibilities should fully address the following:
a. Improve communication of requirements from the incident site;
b. Pre-identify and catalogue non-governmental goods and build a process to deploy these goods to specific regions for catastrophic events;
c. Develop a statewide support function for volunteers (both pre-trained and spontaneous) in each State to assist local emergency managers and NGOs to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters;
d. Recruit, train and identify National Incident Management System (NIMS) trained volunteers;
e. Incorporate NGOs into the planning, training, and exercising process; and
f. Ensure there is a mechanism to coordinate spontaneous, unaffiliated volunteers.
99. DHS should establish an office with responsibility for integrating non-governmental and other volunteer resources into Federal, State, and local emergency response plans and mutual aid agreements. Further, DHS should establish a distinct organizational element to assist faith-based organizations. There is no single office within DHS that is responsible for integrating non-governmental and faith-based assistance into emergency response planning. By establishing such an office, DHS can foster an integrated planning process through which government at all levels can identify and communicate their requirements to NGOs during response and recovery operations. This office should also study and recommend improvements to the process to deploy resources and personnel to specific regions for catastrophic events, through emergency assistance compacts or other mechanisms.
The responsibilities of the office should include, but not be limited to the following:
a. Increasing relationship-building to include conducting a national conference for NGOs and the private sector on emergency preparedness and response where they can share best practices;
b. Identifying potential donation sources; and
c. Identifying and eliminating difficulties pre-incident that NGOs encounter with the Federal government when delivering services.
d. Inventory, develop partnerships with and promote the best practices of successful Faith-Based disaster relief programs such as the United States Emergency Chaplains Corps.
100. DHS should condition State and local grants, under the Homeland Security Grant program, on incorporating NGOs and the private sector into their emergency planning, training, exercises, and disaster relief efforts. These revised plans should include the following:
a. Participation of NGOs, including small regional and local groups, in planning for disaster response and recovery efforts; and
b. Pre-determined roles and responsibilities for volunteer organizations, which identify their mission, capabilities, training, and certification.
An improved plan to incorporate and connect volunteers and private sector assets with emergency management officials would have enabled the better use of NGO contributions. Some states have improved how NGOs respond to incidents by creating a volunteer and social service infrastructure. In Florida and North Carolina, NGOs and emergency managers have formalized their relationships at the State and local level by including a volunteer coordinator in the State EOC. As a result, their State and local emergency managers better understand what non-governmental assistance is available before, during, and after a disaster.
Federal, State, and local officials should use the National Preparedness Goal’s Target Capabilities List: Volunteer Management and Donations as the standard to improve capabilities. The next version of the Target Capabilities List should expand the explanation of the roles and responsibilities of volunteer organizations and include establishing their role in staffing State emergency operations centers.
101. DHS should improve access to, and awareness of, private sector and non-governmental resources available for use during emergency response operations. This process should include the following:
a. Pre-arranged and contingency contracting;
b. Provision of requirements estimates to NGOs and private sector organizations that are willing to provide resources during catastrophic events;
c. Consistent, accurate, and timely messaging of resource needs to NGOs;
d. Providing NGOs and private sector organizations with information on reimbursement and access to Federal aid;
e. Development of robust donations and volunteer management software system standards;
f. Completing the development of a credentialing system, already being created by FEMA’s NIMS Integration Center, to allow authorized volunteers and workers restoring critical infrastructure access to relief sites; and
g. Identification of what Federal, State, or local support NGOs will need to sustain operations (sanitation, electricity, food, and water).
The Federal government cannot comprehensively plan and coordinate how NGOs and private sector entities will respond locally or regionally in a catastrophic disaster. State and local officials must take the lead in planning the best use of non-governmental resources at the local level. All States should consider existing models to coordinate and integrate non-governmental resources in disaster planning and response, recognizing that business-government partnerships require a level of trust and agility most easily built at the regional level. One such model which has proven successful is the Business Executives for National Security (BENS) Business Force project. Business Force partnerships of regional, State, and local officials, together with businesses and NGOs, have been successful in emergency response planning and using private sector resources and volunteers to fill gaps in preparedness and response capabilities. The BENS model also includes a web-based catalogue of private sector resources. The Federal government should recognize that the private/non-government sectors often perform certain functions more efficiently and effectively than government because of their expertise and experience in applying successful business models. These public-private partnerships should be facilitated, recognized, and funded.
Additionally, integrating regional partnerships and resource databases (like the ones created by BENS) with national databases and response capabilities gives incident commanders full visibility of supply and volunteer sources. The capability to draw on these resources should inform and be part of Federal, State, and local logistics systems and response plans.
102. Legal and liability impediments to the use and coordination of non-governmental and private sector resources during a catastrophic event should be removed. Measures that should be implemented include:
a. DHS should lead an interagency effort to remove Federal legal and liability impediments to the use and coordination of non-governmental and private sector resources during a catastrophic event. Encourage the passage and enactment of S.1747, currently pending in the 109th Congress, a Bill to limit liability for volunteers and those providing goods and services for disaster relief.
b. Recommending uniform provisions for State law similar to the Non-Liability of Federal Government provision in the Stafford Act, to ease State and local government fear of legal liability;
c. Recommending uniform State “good Samaritan” laws to protect organizations donating goods and services from legal liability;
d. Revision of the two-year maximum service rule for national service programs, such as AmeriCorps, to allow experienced volunteers to continue serving after two years; and
e. Simplification and clarification of Federal auditing and oversight procedures during a disaster. We should allow trusted organizations (those with established Federal relationships) to respond quickly during a disaster and wait to review their activities post-disaster.
103. DHS should encourage NGOs and the private sector to plan their giving streams at the local level in order to provide comprehensive support to affected local areas during an emergency and prevent duplication of relief efforts. By improving the integration of planning among voluntary organizations at the local level, these organizations will be better positioned to serve citizens during an emergency. FEMA should authorize local voluntary organizations to accept gifts and donations of cash, goods, and services pledged to FEMA at the local level.
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