NIMS Question from FEMA

[ellwood1]

Quick question: Recieved a question from FEMA this week about NIMS compliance, is this a good sign for funding our 2007 AFG request?

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Did it come from DHS or FEMA? FEMA has nothing to do with AFG anymore as far as communications goes. Everything comes through DHS email addresses so if you're getting one from FEMA then it's just looking for info.

Besides, Peer Review doesn't start until Monday so no movement has been made on 2007 awards at all.

[ktb9780]

Did it come from DHS or FEMA? FEMA has nothing to do with AFG anymore as far as communications goes. Everything comes through DHS email addresses so if you're getting one from FEMA then it's just looking for info.

Besides, Peer Review doesn't start until Monday so no movement has been made on 2007 awards at all.

BC did they delay peer review? I thought they had aleady done it for 07 AFG?

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

Nope, never moved from the 11th and 18th dates. Whoever reported about being at NFA and seeing it saw moderator training (DHS people). I've got several people I know going up for review that told me they were still scheduled for the next 2 weeks.

[ChiefDog]

Our State HSU unit has been pushing the NIMS compliance questions out lately too. My guess is that with BC79 having information and the fact the State is asking also, The NIMS requirement is being pushed by the feds and it is not grant related.

[ktb9780]

Part of what I expect is happening here is the "requirment" in federal DHS grants that agencies applying are in fact NIMS complaint in accordance with HSPD-5. Up till now, the compliance has been a "soft" compliance; in other words, they were taklng you at your word and not checking, as they really had no way to do so. It would not surprise me if this is all part of a systematic way of gathering compliance records so that a check can be made to assure that actual compliance is being achieved prior to a grant award going out, or the applicaton even being accepted for review, for any Fire Act Grant. Technically, mandatory compliance has been law since October 1st, 2006. Forewarned, is forewarned ! If you have bene dragging your feet on NIMS compliance, you better move this to the front burner and start getting your records ready to prove your case or face a loss of grant dollars.

[mplass]

Yes, but what is NIMS compliancy? It's different if I talk with the State. I can't get a straight answer out of the Fed's. I guess we are looking at it this way. We have a 32 member volunteer department. We have 25 people that have passed IS-100 & 200. We have 27 people that have passed IS-700. And we have 4 of the 5 officers that have passed IS-800.
Is this NIMS compliant? No one has been able to give me a for sure, straight answer as to what NIMS compliancy is. There is no definite answer that I've seen in a book, on a web page, in a newspaper.
If someone knows the answer to this, please post it here! I'm sure there are others that have the same feelings as myself.
Thanks.

[ktb9780]

Yes, but what is NIMS compliancy? It's different if I talk with the State. I can't get a straight answer out of the Fed's. I guess we are looking at it this way. We have a 32 member volunteer department. We have 25 people that have passed IS-100 & 200. We have 27 people that have passed IS-700. And we have 4 of the 5 officers that have passed IS-800.
Is this NIMS compliant? No one has been able to give me a for sure, straight answer as to what NIMS compliancy is. There is no definite answer that I've seen in a book, on a web page, in a newspaper.
If someone knows the answer to this, please post it here! I'm sure there are others that have the same feelings as myself.
Thanks.

You raise an excellent point and one that I have tried on numerous occassions to get a straight answer for also, to no avail. I have even gone so far as to tell NIC that their " complaince metrics nand matrices" are written in Federalese and government goobledegook and that if they expect everyone to comply, they should hire a good linguist to put the requirements into simple English so that we can understand what they want from us. I would wirte aletter to your Congressman telling him your thoughts and asking him if HE/SHE can make snese of these requirments.

[BC79er_OLDDELETE]

As long as the powers that be adopt NIMS as the official version of ICS and have plans for training all personnel to the appropriate level for their job description you will be in compliance. It says nothing about 100% of the staffing because that's impossible. Career organizations have retirements and new hires, vollies have people in and out all the time too so you'll never have everyone always up to date. So as long as the plan is in place to train new people and stay current with CEs you'll be fine. Most of the feds don't understand the requirements either so auditing isn't much of a worry.

[WJVaughn]

Yes, but what is NIMS compliancy? It's different if I talk with the State. I can't get a straight answer out of the Fed's. I guess we are looking at it this way. We have a 32 member volunteer department. We have 25 people that have passed IS-100 & 200. We have 27 people that have passed IS-700. And we have 4 of the 5 officers that have passed IS-800.
Is this NIMS compliant? No one has been able to give me a for sure, straight answer as to what NIMS compliancy is. There is no definite answer that I've seen in a book, on a web page, in a newspaper.
If someone knows the answer to this, please post it here! I'm sure there are others that have the same feelings as myself.
Thanks.

I have heard "unofficially" that if you can maintain an good 80% or better that will count. Again that is the "unofficial" answer I got.

[KenNFD1219]

Here is the NIMS compliance web page. There is a lot more to NIMS than having your FD take the online class.

This page has FY2007 compliance information.

Refer to the NIMS Implementation Matrix for Tribal and Local Jurisdictions and the FY2007 NIMS Compliance Metrics Local and Tribal.