| |
National Incident Management System (NIMS) |
|
The National Incident Management System (NIMS) provides a systematic, proactive approach to guide departments and agencies at all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work seamlessly to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity, in order to reduce the loss of life and property and harm to the environment.
NIMS works hand in hand with the National Response Framework (NRF). NIMS provides the template for the management of incidents, while the NRF provides the structure and mechanisms for national-level policy for incident management.
| |
NIMSCAST Integration in PrepCAST |
|
The National Integration Center and National Preparedness Assessments Division will be launching NIMSCAST version 5.0. The purpose of this message is to inform NIMSCAST users and stakeholders of updates made for the NIMSCAST 5.0 release and NIMSCAST integration into the Preparedness Compliance Assessment System Tool (PrepCAST). It is important to note that PrepCAST acts as the portal through which NIMSCAST is accessed – it is not a new reporting system. NIMSCAST will continue to be the tool that local, State, Tribal and Federal governments use to report their NIMS implementation status. Other than changes to NIMSCAST access, user profile management and user password management, NIMSCAST remains virtually the same. NIMSCAST accounts, assigned user roles, and the assessment management process remain the same.
NIMSCAST Outage update: The NIMSCAST/PrepCAST development team is still handling technical issues that will further delay the launch of NIMSCAST 5.0 beyond the originally planned March 22 launch date. Further, due to effects of budget constraints, the National Integration Center cannot articulate a definitive timeframe for the next NIMSCAST launch. More information to follow as it becomes available.
NIMS incorporates incident management best practices developed and proven by thousands of responders and authorities across America. These practices, coupled with consistency and national standardization, are carried forward throughout all incident management processes: exercises, qualification and certification, communications interoperability, doctrinal changes, training, publications, public affairs, equipping, evaluating, and incident management. All of these measures unify the response community as never before.
