GSA Establishes New Emergency Response, Recovery Office
In a move designed to meet the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) vital role in national emergency preparedness, response, and recovery, the agency’s administrator today announced the creation of its new Office of Emergency Response and Recovery (OERR).
OERR will leverage all the resources within GSA into one central office and provide a new level of support and assistance to first responders, emergency workers, and recovery teams. GSA is the nation’s premier contracting and acquisition resource and now those assets will be specifically organized to respond to national emergencies.
GSA Administrator Lurita Doan signed GSA Order ADM 5440.599 on November 1, 2006, creating the new office. Established in GSA’s Central Office in Washington, D.C., OERR is headed by the Chief of Emergency Response and Recovery Officer who reports to the administrator through the Chief of Staff. OERR consists of the Policy and Plans Division, Training and Exercise Division, Disaster Support Division, Communications and Security Division, and the Historic Preservation Team.
The GSA Order also abolishes the agency’s Office of Emergency Management and transfers its functions to OERR. Some of the duties of those divisions include developing agency-wide disaster readiness, implementing disaster plans, and integrating emergency historic preservation requirements in response and recovery plans.
As an interim measure, GSA Chief of Staff John Phelps will also serve as Acting Chief of Emergency Response and Recovery Officer. Phelps has served as GSA’s Chief of Staff since July 3, 2006. Prior to his arrival at GSA, Phelps served as Chief Operating Officer of the Arizona Red Cross, where he was responsible for operations of the sixth-largest American Red Cross chapter in the United States.
Additionally, Phelps was the Deputy Director of the Arizona Office of Homeland Security and led the creation of systems and processes within that office to provide more effective and efficient support to hundreds of first responder organizations.
Founded in 1949, GSA serves as a centralized procurement and property management agency for the federal government. GSA manages more than one-fourth of the government’s total procurement dollars and influences the management of $500 billion in federal assets, including 8,300 government-owned or leased buildings and 170,000 vehicles. GSA also serves as steward of more than 420 historic U.S. properties and as manager of FirstGov.gov, the official portal to federal government information and services. GSA’s mission to provide superior workplaces, expert technology solutions, acquisition services, purchasing and e-travel solutions, and management policies at best value allows federal agencies to focus on their core missions.
In its response to Hurricane Katrina, GSA provided more than $1 billion in supplies and services to the hardest-hit regions, answered more than 1.5 million hurricane-related inquiries, and dispatched more than 700 agency experts to help citizens.
