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Coordinating: Appendix B: National Incident Management System Concepts and Principles

To provide this framework for interoperability and compatibility, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) is based on an appropriate balance of flexibility and standardization:

Flexibility—NIMS provides a consistent, flexible, and adjustable national framework within which government and private entities at all levels can work together to manage domestic incidents, regardless of their cause, size, location, or complexity. This flexibility applies across all phases of incident management: prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation.
Standardization—NIMS provides a set of standardized organizational structures—such as ICS, multi-agency coordination systems, and public information systems—as well as requirements for processes, procedures, and systems designed to improve interoperability among jurisdictions and disciplines in various areas, including: training; resource management; personnel qualification and certification; equipment certification; communications and information management; technology support; and continuous system improvement.

NIMS integrates existing best practices into a consistent, nationwide approach to domestic incident management that is applicable at all jurisdictional levels and across functional disciplines in an all-hazards context. Six major components make up this systems approach:

Command and Management—NIMS standard incident command structures are based on three key organizational systems:
- ICS—ICS defines the operating characteristics, interactive management components, and structure of incident management and emergency response organizations engaged throughout the life cycle of an incident.
- Multi-agency Coordination Systems—These define the operating characteristics, interactive management components, and organizational structure of supporting incident management entities engaged at the Federal, State, local, tribal, and regional levels through mutual-aid agreements and other assistance arrangements.
- Public Information Systems—These refer to processes, procedures, and systems for communicating timely and accurate information to the public during crisis or emergency situations.
Preparedness—Effective incident management begins with a host of preparedness activities conducted on a steady-state basis, well in advance of any potential incident. Preparedness involves an integrated combination of planning, training, exercises, personnel qualification and certification standards, equipment acquisition and certification standards, and guide management processes and activities:
- Planning—Plans describe how personnel, equipment, and other resources are used to support incident management and emergency response activities. Plans provide mechanisms and systems for setting priorities, integrating multiple entities and functions, and ensuring that communications and other systems are available and integrated in support of a full spectrum of incident management requirements.
- Training—Training includes standard courses on multiagency incident command and management, organizational structure, and operational procedures; discipline-specific and agency-specific incident management courses; and courses on the integration and use of supporting technologies.
- Exercises—Incident management organizations and personnel must participate in realistic exercises—including multidisciplinary, multi-jurisdictional, and multi-sector interaction—to improve integration and interoperability and optimize resource utilization during incident operations.
- Personnel Qualification and Certification—Qualification and certification activities are undertaken to identify and publish national-level standards and measure performance against these standards to ensure that incident management and emergency responder personnel are appropriately qualified and officially certified to perform NIMS-related functions.
- Equipment Acquisition and Certification—Incident management organizations and emergency responders at all levels rely on various types of equipment to perform mission essential tasks. A critical component of operational preparedness is the acquisition of equipment that will perform to certain standards, including the capability to be interoperable with similar equipment used by other jurisdictions.
- Mutual Aid—Mutual-aid agreements are the means for one jurisdiction to provide resources, facilities, services, and other required support to another jurisdiction during an incident. Each jurisdiction should be party to a mutual-aid agreement with appropriate jurisdictions from which they expect to receive or to which they expect to provide assistance during an incident.
- Guides Management—Guides management refers to forms and forms standardization, developing guide materials, administering guides—including establishing naming and numbering conventions, managing the guide and promulgation of documents, and exercising control over sensitive documents—and revising guides when necessary.
Resource Management—The NIMS defines standardized mechanisms and establishes requirements for processes to describe, inventory, mobilize, dispatch, track, and recover resources over the life cycle of an incident.
Communications and Information Management—The NIMS identifies the requirement for a standardized framework for communications, information management (collection, analysis, and dissemination), and information-sharing at all levels of incident management. These elements are briefly described as follows:
- Incident Management Communications—Incident management organizations must ensure that effective, interoperable communications processes, procedures, and systems exist to support a wide variety of incident management activities across agencies and jurisdictions.
- Information Management—Information management processes, procedures, and systems help ensure that information, including communications and data, flows efficiently through a commonly accepted architecture supporting numerous agencies and jurisdictions responsible for managing or directing domestic incidents, those impacted by the incident, and those contributing resources to the incident management effort. Effective information management enhances incident management and response and helps insure that crisis decision- making is better informed.
- Supporting Technologies—Technology and technological systems provide supporting capabilities essential to implementing and continuously refining the NIMS. These include voice and data communications systems, information management systems (i.e., record keeping and resource tracking), and data display systems. Also included are specialized technologies that facilitate ongoing operations and incident management activities in situations that call for unique technology-based capabilities.
Ongoing Management and Maintenance—This component establishes an activity to provide strategic direction for and oversight of the NIMS, supporting both routine review and the continuous refinement of the system and its components over the long term.

Detailed information on NIMS is available at www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/index.shtm.

Appendix A | Table of Contents

Last Updated on 8/18/2006