May 8, 2009 By Corey McKenna
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) a contract to provide training support to the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP).
Under the contract, SAIC will design and develop emergency responder curriculum and provide instructors to teach each course, the company said in a press release.
Thirty-nine courses will cover a range of subjects including: HAZMAT; incident command; hazardous evidence collection; crime scene management; management of civil unrest; agricultural emergency response; respiratory protection; pandemic influenza protection; health-care emergency response operations; radiological emergency response; and public information officer courses. The courses will range from basic certificate courses to advanced-level response courses, Melissa Koskovich, a SAIC spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail.
The courses will be developed by subject matter experts in conjunction with SAIC and the CDP, and taught by full-time CDP staff and professionals in the various disciplines. The training will be held at the CDP campus in Anniston, Ala.
The courses will offer both classroom-based instruction and hands-on exercises. Health-care courses will be conducted at the Noble Training Center, the only working hospital in the United States solely devoted to training. Many courses offer first responders the option of finishing at the chemical, ordnance/explosive, biological, and radiological/nuclear (COBRA) toxic agent training facility, where responders gain confidence in their protective equipment by performing victim extrication and evidence collection in a toxic environment.
State agency administrators for responder training can schedule responders for training at the CDP or arrange for mobile delivery of CDP courses within their jurisdictions. All expenses related to the training are borne by the CDP. These courses are eligible for continuing education credits.
This Digital Communities white paper highlights discussions with IT officials in four counties that have adopted shared services models. Our aim was to learn about the obstacles these governments have faced when it comes to shared services and what it takes to overcome those roadblocks. We also spoke with several members of the IT industry who have thought long and hard about these issues. The paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption.
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