Federal Manager's Daily Report

In early 2003 the Kansas City based General Services

Administration and the Department of Homeland

Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency regional

counterparts, approached the Kansas City federal executive

board to form a continuity of operations plan working

group, according to a regional GSA report.


It noted that in 2003, the Office of Personnel Management

had instructed federal agencies to utilize federal

executive boards to organize coordinated and practiced

COOPs for federal communities in metropolitan areas across

the country.


The regional counterparts selected the federal executive

board as a clearinghouse for communication and cooperation

in emergency response and chartered the Kansas City working

group in May 2003, said the report.


The group established goals including a multi-agency COOP

exercise, that grew to include 300 participants, 28

agencies and more than 800 action items.


The group conducted monthly training sessions leading up

to the exercise, partly based on training templates

developed by GSA, something it says compelled agencies to

augment and strengthen their plans.


“The exercise held April 29, 2004, was designed to test each

of the 28 agencies in several key areas: basic principles

of the individual COOP plans, essential functions,

communication among agencies and public, and continued

functionality,” said GSA.


It said the event was a success and that it is planning

another for 2005 following the review of best practices and

lessons learned by working group.


“We designed the first exercise to foster learning,

communication and cooperation among Kansas City