Strengthen Incident Management for Early Crisis Response. Recipients must maintain open lines of communication between state, tribal, and local health agencies as well as CDC to ensure they are prepared to receive updated guidance and must be able to revise their proposals and tailor their activities based on the nature and scope of the crisis, and the updated supplemental guidance. Upon occurrence of a PHE and receipt of funding under this NOFO, recipients that are not in an active response phase should begin accelerated crisis planning by identifying and assembling, if not already in place, a public health emergency response incident management structure (IMS) that includes subject matter experts (SMEs) best suited for responding to the particular PHE. When recipients are in an active response phase, the incident manager should ensure PHE response activities are coordinated across the response’s functional areas, including those funded by CDC, HHS, and other federal grant programs, including, but not limited to, CDC's Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) and Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) cooperative agreements, where applicable. Following are emergency operations coordination activities applicants should consider. • Appoint a senior representative to coordinate PHE response efforts and lead activation and continuation of IMS structure. • Test, exercise, refine, and implement comprehensive PHE response plans for the funded emergency event. • Manage the response to align with CDC guidance on emergencies and any supplemental guidance related to a specified emergency. • Review and implement jurisdictional PHE protocols. • Assess current capacity and capability and determine decision-making processes and authorities for necessary public health activities. • Provide technical assistance to state, local and tribal health departments, as applicable, on development of PHE response plans and assist in the identification of resources. • Review and implement administrative preparedness plans to ensure emergency rapid hiring and expedited contracting processes are in place. • Organize regular meetings between the PHE response incident manager and the jurisdiction’s preparedness and response partners, both traditional and nontraditional partners, to discuss plans and current progress and to ensure broadly understood decision- making processes are in place. • Review, or develop if needed, an infectious disease preparedness and response plan for the specific event and tailor as appropriate for its impact on...
