The General Services Administration announced it is ready to support federal agencies and state, local, and tribal governments during incidents of national significance through its leadership and participation under the National Response Plan.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the completion of the NRP on January 6, 2005. The NRP was mandated by President Bush in February 2003 to establish a unified and standardized approach within the U.S. for protecting citizens and managing homeland security incidents.
GSA is the lead agency under the terms of the NRP for performing the emergency support function (ESF) referred to as “ESF-7 Resource Support” during Incidents of National Significance. Specifically, GSA’s role-along with those of the ESF-7 support agencies-in an emergency is to provide support such as buildings and space; supplies and tools; telecommunications and information technology; transportation; and services. GSA uses a number of contracting vehicles on behalf of its customers to implement its emergency support function such as GSA Global Supply, blanket purchase agreements, GSA schedules, and government-wide acquisition contracts.
These services are further described here under the Web site’s library of documents.
GSA’s Administrator Stephen A. Perry has taken a number of steps in the last several months to ensure GSA is prepared to fulfill its responsibilities under the NRP, including:
— Establishing an emergency management national response task force to guide GSA’s development of the agency’s role in the NRP
— Facilitating interaction and integration among all GSA participants, and ensuring that GSA is well represented in all aspects of the ongoing NRP effort
–Forming an executive steering committee that will drive the NRP process within GSA.
“NRP partners, stakeholders, and the public can depend on GSA during an incident-man-made or natural-to provide a diverse range of resource support during an incident,” said GSA Deputy Administrator David Bibb.
“GSA has a track record of success in providing resource support during crises and we stand ready to assist the nation by serving as a single point of contact for a diversity of resources.”
GSA is a centralized, federal procurement, property management and policy agency, created by Congress to improve government efficiency and help federal agencies better serve the public. GSA acquires, on behalf of federal agencies, office space, equipment, telecommunications, information technology, supplies and services. It also plays a key role in developing and implementing government-wide policies.
