ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MD - In support of the General Service Administration and Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command's Software Engineering Center developed and fielded the new National Interest Action, NIA, code for the recent Oklahoma Tornado and Storm 2013.
Oklahoma was devastated by deadly tornado outbreaks this past spring, including two rare EF5 tornadoes, which produced wind speeds of more than 200 miles per hour. These storms claimed the lives of 44 people and damage estimates may run as high as $8 billion for the area.
As in any disaster, communications capabilities for civil authorities and emergency responders are imperative. SEC played a major role in providing affected Army communities with new NIA code, a critical component as it captures valuable data made available to government entities. SEC's Federal Procurement Data System -- Next Generation team developed the code in the system; conducted system modifications to ensure full functionality and interoperability; and finally directly notified the user community of the new code along with usage directions.
The SEC team collects data on contract actions related to national disasters via the NIA codes, which identify how many federal contracts and dollars are awarded as a result of national disasters; how many belong to GSA; which vendors are awarded contracts; and identifies the business size and social economic status of the vendor.
This effort is one of many examples as to how the SEC provides defense support to civil authorities in times of national disaster and emergency. SEC provides support through a variety of initiatives, to include providing interoperability services to non-Department of Defense agencies through its Joint On-Demand Interoperability Network, joining multiple communicates world-wide.
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