Ensure Continuity of Operations During Emergencies

Every agency should have procedures to address what it will do with its website during disasters or emergencies.

Why This Is Important

The public depends on federal websites to get information and services and do business on a daily basis. Organizations need to plan how the website will communicate vital information during an emergency and what services will be available to the public. All kinds of emergencies can have an impact on website operations – weather and natural disasters, fires, catastrophic accidents, and other man-made events. Agencies need to have contingency plans, to ensure that your website can continue to provide essential information and services in these emergencies.

In addition, it’s critical for agencies to work together during times of emergencies to ensure that information provided to the public is consistent and accurate across agencies.

OMB Policies for Federal Public Websites require agencies to (#1A) "disseminate information to the public in a timely, equitable, efficient and appropriate manner" and (#2A) "maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information and services provided to the public. This includes making information and services available on a timely and equitable basis." By planning ahead and establishing procedures to use in emergencies, you can ensure that the public will get the information and services they want and need, in a timely way.

Implementation Guidance

Your agency should develop plans that will address what you will do with your website during disasters or emergencies. At a minimum, your plans should cover:

Situations in which websites may need to be taken off-line
Procedures for bringing websites back on-line and ensuring access to systems
Procedures for updating, approving, and maintaining content in an emergency
Procedures for providing critical information that the public expects and needs most; and
Procedures for collaborating with other agencies to minimize redundancy and to ensure that similar information is consistent and accurate across agencies.

Website plans should be documented in, and be consistent with, your organization's Continuity of Operations plans.

Examples

Department of Homeland Security’s guidance on Hurricane Katrina was developed in collaboration with over 20 federal agencies to help web managers post government-wide information related to the hurricane and relief efforts.
HUD's web policies describe, in detail, the process for posting to the website during emergencies. It is especially important to develop these kinds of procedures when the responsibility for the website is spread across several different parts of the organization; otherwise, everyone may assume that someone else will be responsible for the site in an emergency.
The Department of Commerce's system security policies require contingency planning for all systems. While content managers might not be responsible for contingency planning, they should be involved in the process and know what their role is in any plans that have been out into place for their websites.

Many federal public websites follow this best practice. This practice is part of the guidelines and best practices published by the Interagency Committee on Government Information to aid agencies' implementation of OMB Policies for Public Websites.

Page Updated or Reviewed: February 28, 2006