The NIH Continuity of Operations (COOP) Plan provides details on how NIH will continue to operate should there be service disruptions that affect any NIH facility. COOP Planning is mandated for the Executive Branch by Federal Continuity Directives 1 and 2 issued by FEMA. COOP Planning had been in place prior to September 11, 2001 and NIH’s first COOP Plan was drafted in 1996. The COOP Plan is regularly tested through the use of table top exercises and operational exercises.

 

The Crisis Response Team (CRT) Program is designed to better coordinate the response to emergencies with the Institutes and Centers. The CRTs link into the NIH COOP response through the Disaster Recovery Coordinator. This link allows information to flow from the NIH Corporate resources, used during a response, to a point of contact within the IC. The Emergency Coordinator is the point of contact for their IC and is responsible for building out the program in their IC. The DEPC works with the Emergency Coordinators to exercise their plans using table top and operational exercises.

 

 

The NIH Emergency Operations Command Center (EOCC) has been in operations for over 15 years, specifically established for the COOP program. The EOCC serves as the operations center where NIH officials, including the Emergency Support Team Leaders, coordinate, monitor, and direct all COOP activities during an emergency event. The EOCC is activated at the direction of the Disaster Recovery Coordinator (DRC), and continues to operate throughout an event or until either the EOCC is shut down at the direction of the DRC, or the incident forces evacuation of the EOCC. When the EOCC is activated, all COOP communications will go through the EOCC to maintain centralized control of communications.  Please note - all emergency response communications (i.e., those related to fire and police activities), will be managed through the Emergency Communications Center which will  always remain separate from COOP disaster communications