Ongoing Management and Maintenance

• National Integration Center (NIC) Incident Management Systems Integration (IMSI) Division
• NIMS Standards Development

The National Integration Center (NIC) Incident Management Systems Integration (IMSI) Division

The Secretary of Homeland Security, through the National Integration Center (NIC), Incident Management Systems Integration Division (formerly known as the NIMS Integration Center), is responsible for:

• Administration and Compliance: To manage ongoing administration and implementation of NIMS, including specification of compliance measures, the NIC is responsible for working toward the following:
• Developing and maintaining a national program for NIMS education and awareness.
• Promoting compatibility between national-level standards for NIMS and those developed by other public, private, and professional groups.
• Facilitating the establishment and maintenance of a documentation and database system related to qualification, certification, and credentialing of emergency management/response personnel and organizations.
• Developing assessment criteria for the various components of NIMS, as well as compliance requirements and timelines.
• Standards and Credentialing: The NIC works with appropriate standards development organizations to ensure the adoption of common national standards and credentialing systems that are compatible and aligned with the implementation of NIMS. The standards apply to the identification, adoption, and development of common standards and credentialing programs.
• Training and Exercise Support: The NIC leads the development of training and exercises that further appropriate agencies’ and organizations’ knowledge, adoption, and implementation of NIMS.
• Publication Management: Publication management for NIMS includes the development of naming and numbering conventions, the review and certification of publications, development of methods for publications control, identification of sources and suppliers for publications and related services, management of publication distribution, and assurance of product accessibility.

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NIMS Standards Development

A fundamental responsibility of the NIC Incident Management Systems Integration (IMSI) Division is to adopt existing standards that are consistent with NIMS doctrine and recommend those standards for voluntary adoption to State and local jurisdictions as guidance in fully implementing NIMS. 

The IMSI Division's standard review process is conducted by a multidisciplinary field-based Practitioner Working Group (PWG) and Technical Working Group (TWG) to ensure the adopted NIMS standards are relevant, implementable, and useful in implementing NIMS. Results of the PWG and TWG review processes are captured in the NIMS Recommended Standards List (RSL). 

By adopting these voluntary consensus standards and recommending their adoption by State and local governments, the IMSI Division provides guidance and direction to first responders by further defining NIMS and providing established standards to build their incident management policies and programs around.

Coordination with standards development organizations (e.g., ANSI, ASTM, OASIS, etc.), the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Office for Standards, Testing, and Evaluation, and DHS S&T Office for Command, Control, and Interoperability are key to the IMSI Division's success in standards and interoperability work.

DHS S&T maintains a National Standard List, which is populated by standards used by and in support of DHS program offices. As standards recommended for use in implementing NIMS are added to the NIMS RSL, they are usually submitted to S&T for consideration as DHS adopted standards. The list of standards adopted by DHS can be found at the following Web site: www.dhs.gov/xfrstresp/standards/editorial_0420.shtm

• NG 0004: National Incident Management System (NIMS) Communications and Information Management Standards [1/08] (PDF 50KB, TXT 14KB)
• NG 0005: National Incident Management System (NIMS) Preparedness and Incident Management Standards [1/08] (PDF 270KB, TXT 5KB)
• NG 0006: General Standards Overview [7/08] (PDF 67KB, TXT 13KB)
• NIMS Recommended Standards List [1/08] (PDF 41KB, TXT 10KB)

NIMS Standards Case Studies:

• Emergency Dispatch in Alameda County, CA [8/08] (PDF 482KB, TXT 12KB)
• Responder Authentication [8/08] (PDF 464KB, TXT 16KB)
• Houston Regional Information Sharing [8/08] (PDF 480KB, TXT 13KB)
• Los Angeles Regional Interoperability [7/08] (PDF 1000KB, TXT 17KB)

NIMS Standard Quarterly Briefs:

• NIMS Standard Quarterly Briefs [9/08] (PDF 363KB, TXT 7KB)
• NIMS Standard Quarterly Briefs [6/08] (PDF 380KB, TXT 7KB)
• NIMS Standard Quarterly Briefs [3/08] (PDF 388KB, TXT 14KB)

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