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Responder Credentialing

Benefits of FRA Project Sponsor Mandates & Directives

In an effort to facilitate the exchange of First Responders’ information amongst emergency response organizations for deployment and credentialing, the DHS Science and Technology Directorate, Human Factors and Behavior Sciences Division through the Regional technology Initiative (RTI) initiated the development of the First Responders Attributes (FRA) Information Exchange Package Documentations (IEPD) project.

Paragon Technology Group, Inc. under a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contract started its work with local first responder communities to develop and mature a set of data attributes for the emergency first responders. The resulting attribute set can serve as a standard that facilitates the efficient and accurate first responder deployment and credentialing across multiple jurisdictions.

Paragon Technology Group, Inc. is assigned to engage selected state and local emergency response offices and communities on behalf of DHS Science & Technology Division to collect requirements and validate the first responders’ data attributes.

FRA IEPD is a multi-phase project and Paragon Technology Group, Inc. is working towards the completion of phase II of this project. The goal of the phase II is to mature the baseline model by incorporating the newly released federal guidelines, and to reach out to State Level and Local Jurisdictions in order to gather additional requirements which in turn can be used to further develop the functionality and reach of the exchange.

The development of a nationwide credentialing system is a fundamental component of NIMS. However, this model represents the fundamental doctrine and business rules, and is not an information technology system. The First Responders Attribute (FRA) Exchange Model is being developed as a model that can document minimum professional qualifications, certifications, training, and education requirements that define the baseline criteria expected of emergency response professionals and volunteers for deployment as mutual air to disasters. Based on this model, one can develop systems to verify the identity and qualifications of emergency responders. In turn, these credentialing systems can help prevent unauthorized (i.e. self-dispatched or unqualified personnel) access to an incident site.

Paragon Technology Group, Inc. has conducted site visits and developed prototyped applications for demonstration and attribute validation sessions with local first responder communities. On the completion of the validations from multiple jurisdictions, A First Responders’ Attributes Information Exchange Package Document (FRA IEPD) will be generated and submitted to DHS Enterprise Data Management Office (DHS EDMO) and National Information Exchange Model Program Management Office (NIEM PMO) for approval. Upon approval, FRA IEPD will be registered and adapted by DHS Data Architecture Repository (DHS DAR), available for nationwide use by emergency first responder communities.

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Benefits of FRA
In addition to National Information Exchange Model (NIEM), Logical Entity Exchange Specification (LEXS) was used as a complementing standard when designing the FRA Exchanges. Future versions of the IEPD will be able to use different message envelopes to exchange data between interested parties. FRA information exchange and documentation will adhere to the NIMS, NIST standards, and support the implementation of credentialing information exchange service for emergency communities across all relevant domains. The successful implementation of will FRA benefit the emergency planning and response community by providing rapid access to relevant information by reducing complexity and ambiguity, streaming lining data definitions and semantic integrity, reducing cost through standardization and reuse of common data exchange specifications, and scalability.

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Project Sponsor

The DHS Science and Technology Directorate, Human Factors and Behavior Sciences Division through the Regional technology Initiative (RTI) has initiated the development of the Information Exchange Package Documentations (IEPD) and associated Enterprise Architecture activities in support of National Incident Management System (NIMS), National Information Exchange Model (NIEM), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standardization of data exchanges related to Data Models for Emergency Management First Responders Attribute (FRA).

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Mandates & Directives

HSPD 12 (FIPS-201)

In 2004, HSPD-12 Mandated the development of a common identification credential for Federal Employees and contractors. This Resulted in development of FIPS-201 Personal Identity Verification (PIV) standard, and the rollout of credentials to Federal Employees and Contractors .

HSPD 5
The National Incident Management System (NIMS) was created through the Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) - 5, Management of Domestic Incidents, as put forth by President George W. Bush in February of 2003. HSPD-5 directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop and administer a system by which federal agencies could coordinate individual domestic incident management and emergency prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation programs and activities. The directive further required federal departments to make adoption of NIMS including NIMS training and compliance, mandatory for state, tribal, and local organizations as pre-condition for federal preparedness assistance.