Unfortunately, government struggles to effectively make these relationships happen in a way that brings the private sector to bear in a response and recovery framework.
The private sector is however, more capable and prepared than the public sector realizes. The key is to try to understand the private sector from their perspective and language.
The private sector manages its business everyday using Risk management, Continuity, and Supply Chain as the language of preparedness.
Rather than trying to pull the private sector into the public sector in a haphazard manner, maybe the public sector should be engaging the private sector in its environment and by adopting its language.
There are some emerging initiatives that are attempting to bridge this gap:
The mid-Atlantic All Hazards Consortium led by Tom Moran and Joe Picciano is a state-centric group that has private sector sponsorship. The Consortium will begin focusing its efforts on bringing in owner-operators to develop projects that build regional resilience through Intergrated Regional Planning.
The Infrastructure Security Partnership (TISP) is collaborating with Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII) to explore the progress on the federal government's PS-Prep program. DRII is a natural partner since they have 8000 continuity professionals worldwide that have been certified by their continuity training and exams.
The TISP team is also developing an owner/operator resilience handbook.
These efforts are the beginning a renewed focus on creating a Homeland Security enterprise that builds on private sector capability that already exists.
Thanks for checking in.
Dennis
www.drs-international.com
