In early January, Mayors Ron Dellums (Oakland), Gavin Newsom (San Francisco), and Chuck Reed (San Jose) held a press conference to roll out the UASI-funded Regional Emergency Coordination Plan. Also attending were representatives from State OES and multiple Bay Area counties. The press conference marked the culmination of a two-year effort involving hundreds of
stakeholders to develop a comprehensive emergency coordination plan for the 10 Bay Area counties, the critical elements of which have the potential to be incorporated throughout the state. The Plan serves as an excellent example of a successful project that could not have been accomplished without Homeland Security grant funding, and also serves as a model for what can be accomplished through regional cooperation and collaboration – a key emphasis of our mission.
As we begin the New Year, I am pleased to report that most of the projects funded through our 2006 SUASI grants are in their final phases. Major projects, such as CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radioactive, Nuclear, Explosive), Interoperable Communications, Training and Exercise, Mass Care and Shelter and Medical Surge assessments and strategic and/or operational plans, as well as communications infrastructure projects, will be completed by the end of March. Most of these projects already have some draft work products in circulation for review. Several Citizen Preparedness projects are now complete and were unveiled at the January workgroup meeting. Please see both the Citizen Preparedness Project Updates and the Spotlight on Initiative articles for details.
During the December meetings, our work groups completed development of the Scopes of Work for the 2007 project contracts and the Requests for Proposals (RFPs) have been released on the
sfgov.org website. (To view, please select Consultants and Professional Services in the drop-down menu.) Contract awards are targeted for April, with a goal to complete these projects by December 2008. Some of the more notable projects include a Public Information and Warning assessment and strategic plan, development of a region-wide shelter inventory and database, standardization of the financial recovery process, and a comprehensive exercise program. Approximately $12 million in SUASI funding will be invested in communications infrastructure projects, in addition to over $20 million in communications projects funded through the Public Safety Interoperable Communication (PSIC) and Community-Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant programs.
All of the work groups also completed the development of proposals for the 2008 Investment Justifications (IJ). The management team is preparing the first draft of the 2008 application for submission to the California Office of Homeland Security on January 28, 2008. Members of the management team will participate in an internal review of California’s IJs, along with the other California UASI programs. Based on input from this project, we will revise our IJs prior to the anticipated deadline of April 1, 2008 for submission to the Department of Homeland Security.
The feature article this month focuses on a SUASI-funded Maritime Interdiction training program in late 2007, which involved representatives from six agencies (SWAT teams) from throughout the Bay Area SUASI region and represented the first time that the region has had formal maritime interdiction capabilities. This also represented the first time that Bay Area SWAT teams functioned in a multi-jurisdictional training. The Spotlight on Initiative article highlights a recently completed training video about Emergency Volunteer Centers and the unveiling of two new resource toolkits. These new offerings, developed by the Volunteer Center of Silicon Valley and funded through Bay Area SUASI Citizen Preparedness grants, will benefit the entire Bay Area SUASI region.
In conclusion, I would like to recognize the efforts of the many individuals and organizations that responded during our first major storms of the season. Some of these efforts – from sandbagging to water rescues – are highlighted in this month’s Bay Area in Action article.
Onward!
to identify, intercept, and safely board non-compliant vessels at sea. The training was provided by veteran Navy Seals through A-T Solutions, Inc., and was funded through the Bay Area SUASI.
This project is supported by Award No. 4123-06, awarded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Grants & Training (G&T). The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Homeland Security.