Lastly, some users said that if FEMA had adopted an off the shelf product 

instead of NEMIS, it would have the additional functions that they need.  For 

example, multiple off the shelf enterprise resource planning systems 

developed by the private sector could possibly support coordination of 

response and recovery activities.  Once FEMA has completely defined all 

business requirements, it will be in a better position to evaluate available 

commercial products. 

Reactive IT Implementation to Meet Expedited Requests 

Federal regulations require that agencies plan in an integrated manner for 

managing IT throughout its life cycle.  However, EP&R's tendency to rush 

systems acquisition to meet immediate needs has encouraged ad hoc   

development and implementation of IT programs, which has contributed to 

many systems integration and performance problems.  The EP&R CIO budget 

in FY 2004 was approximately $80 million.  About 90 percent of that amount 

was earmarked for operating and maintaining existing systems, leaving only 

10 percent for new IT initiatives.  Consequently, the CIO is dependent on the 

program offices for any new systems funding.   

EP&R has documented plans which propose initiatives and priorities for 

strategic implementation of long term IT solutions.  However, the program 

offices in many cases are the owners of the systems, typically do not fund the 

long term strategic IT initiatives, and take a cursory approach to short term 

systems acquisition.  They often do not authorize or fund IT initiatives until 

disasters occur and specific systems needs become critical.  The CIO is 

working to implement a process for reviewing and approving capital 

investments including IT investments to prevent this from repeating.  Until 

this process is fully implemented, however, the CIO has no means of ensuring 

that IT investments are well integrated or aligned with mission needs.   

For example, nine months prior to the 2004 hurricanes, FEMA's recovery 

program offices provided funding to develop and implement an online 

registration capability for NEMIS.  The online system is to allow disaster 

victims to submit claims via the internet without having to call the National 

Processing Service Centers. When the 2004 hurricanes occurred, the number 

of disaster victims registering for assistance increased significantly, thus 

overloading systems and staff of the National Processing Service Centers.  

The EP&R CIO was able to deploy the online registration system a full three 

months earlier than initially planned.  However, an EP&R CIO official 

involved in development of the online systems said that its implementation 

did not follow standard change management or configuration management 

Emergency Preparedness and Response Could Better Integrate Information Technology  

with Incident Response and Recovery 

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