before NEMIS can be used to support the plan.  One FEMA official was 

concerned that there are no funds available for correlating the organizational 

changes with IT processes.  This official was unaware of any IT involvement 

in the National Response Plan development process.  Consequently, FEMA's 

IT managers now must identify ways to adapt existing systems to meet new 

response plan requirements.     

In conjunction with the National Response Plan, DHS developed the National 

Incident Management System in 2004 to provide guidance, such as common 

terminology and organizational processes, to enable first responders at all 

government levels to work together effectively during disasters.  First 

responders include federal, state, local, and tribal governments and private 

sector and nongovernmental organizations.  The National Incident 

Management System policy requires inter operability of response structure, 

equipment, communications, qualifications, and certifications.  According to 

National Incident Management System guidelines, maintaining an accurate 

picture of resource utilization is a critical component of incident management.  

The system requires standardized resource management across various first 

responder entities, as well as asset tracking over the lifecycle of an incident.   

LIMS III, FEMA's current logistics system, does not provide the type of up 

to date resource management that the National Incident Management System 

requires.  Resource tracking and management was the source of numerous 

problems during the Florida hurricanes, as will be more fully discussed in 

later sections of this report.  However, not only is LIMS III not integrated with 

other systems within FEMA, it does not provide the capability to view and 

share resource information across federal, state, and local first responders.  

Personnel at nearly all sites that we visited commented on the need for an 

improved resource tracking system to support NIMS.  A FEMA official said 

that system capacity requirements do not reflect the catastrophic magnitude of 

today's threats, and that system upgrades and integration have not kept pace 

with recent organizational, business process changes, or operational concepts.   

Departmentwide Initiatives Affect EP&R IT

DHS is developing two new departmentwide systems that have implications 

for EP&R IT management.  Specifically, 

Electronically Managing Enterprise 

Resources for Government Effectiveness and Efficiency

, known as 

eMerge

2

, is 

an ongoing project to consolidate and integrate DHS' budget, accounting and 

reporting, cost management, asset management, and acquisitions and grants 

functions.  In conjunction with 

eMerge

2

, DHS is also developing a 

departmentwide integrated human resource management system, the 

MAX

HR

Emergency Preparedness and Response Could Better Integrate Information Technology  

with Incident Response and Recovery 

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