Oregon’s disaster toolkit put to the test
For procurement staff working from the Emergency Response Center war room, things happen fast. Half a dozen phones ring off the hook. Supply requests come in from towns that look like swamps of muddy water. The potential for fouled communication abounds: No! I thought you canceled that order for two more backhoes!
Recently, during an emergency caused by heavy rains, Oregon’s award-winning disaster response purchasing toolkit was put to use with great results. The toolkit has user-friendly forms that help organize the rapid flow of requests for supplies and services. Even a phone script is included to ensure that adequate information is obtained when supply orders are called in from the field. “We didn’t have time to look at thick binders when we were in the Emergency Command Center” said Melissa Canfield, Oregon procurement internal operations manager. “The flow chart and the one-page forms in the toolkit gave us the guidance we needed.”
In case of a full-scale disaster, a mobile office also is on hand that contains paper purchase orders, lists of contracts that have disaster-related supplies, employee phone numbers, locations of Wi-Fi hot spots, and other items necessary to do business from the trunk of a car.
Looking back just a few years, the level of disaster preparedness and inter-agency cooperation mostly involved silo efforts and dusty binders filled with business continuity plans.
The Wakeup Call
On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit landfall. The storm left approximately 1,800 people dead, nearly destroyed New Orleans, and cut a wide swath of destruction across seven states. The frightening chaos that ensued prompted agencies around the nation to examine their disaster response plans. At that time in Oregon, procurement wasn’t in the picture at the Oregon Office of Emergency Management (OEM). “I didn’t even think about the role of procurement, but during a disaster procurement eventually touches everything” said Ken Murphy, who was then Director of the OEM.
A multi-agency effort ensued to develop the first disaster toolkit and to implement many necessary changes in procedures. For example, managers needed purchasing cards with high limits, such as $75,000, to expedite emergency purchasing. The new toolkit was soon put to use in 2007 during the extensive flooding of Vernonia, a town near the coast of Oregon. During the mop-up stage, the procurement tracking forms for FEMA reimbursement proved their worth. Stacie Younk, charged with sorting out the disaster-related expenses, was able to assemble accurate purchasing records from the notes on the forms. “We got 100 percent reimbursement from FEMA because we had all of the documentation they needed,” she said.
Refining the Toolkit
After the 2007 début, Marscy Stone, outreach manager for the Oregon State Procurement Office, led a multi-agency stakeholder team charged with refining the toolkit. Unlike many committees that never seem to gel, this group became a high-performing team. The group relied on a well-defined charter to keep their efforts on track. “The charter didn’t just sit on a shelf,” she emphasized. “We used it continuously to keep focused.”
Tim Hay, a procurement analyst and a key member of the team, commented on the effectiveness of the group. “The team didn’t get bogged down in a lot haggling. Everybody had assignments to work on, and they had to bring these back to the table.” Having the same people on the team for more than three years also created cohesiveness. “We broke down a lot of barriers between agencies through this planning process,” he noted.
The group’s hard work has paid off with a comprehensive set of disaster response resources that support procurement activities. To avoid the trap of good ideas that don’t really work, the checklists and templates were tested through table-top exercises. “We brought in people who hadn’t participated in disaster planning and had them run through the book. We asked them ‘what makes sense, and what doesn’t make sense?’” Tim Hay explained.
Dave Stuckey, deputy director at the Oregon Office of Emergency Management, expressed his appreciation for the effort: “In a major disaster, the procurement people will be like gold. We simply must get things like large cranes from private contractors. Procurement people will always have a seat at the table.”
The disaster response team now meets quarterly to review progress and plan next steps. They can be proud of major progress that has been made in cross-agency coordination and procurement support tools shaped and refined in the crucible of a real disaster response.
The toolkit resources are available as free downloads from the state’s website [http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/SSD/SPO/disaster-preparedness.shtml]. The resources are also bundled on an innovative flash drive in the form of a plastic wrist bracelet that can be ordered for $15. The resources include a list of items to build your own grab-and-go mobile office.
Greg Hopkins teaches procurement classes for the Oregon State Procurement Office. He has written articles for Government Fleet magazine, Government Procurement, and Training and Development Journal. Besides writing and teaching, he is also a conference presenter and is an active participant in the green procurement movement.