U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Federal Emergency Management Agency

Resource: EOC Finance/Administration Section Chief/Coordinator (See Definition Below)
Category: Command & Control
Kind: Personnel
Minimum Capabilities (Component) Minimum Capabilities
(Metric)
Type I Type II Type III Type IV Other
Personnel Experience, Training, and Comprehension

Supervisory role in Finance/Admin in 3 or more federally declared disaster situations in different States. Has organized and supervised subunits of Section in a federally and/or non-federally declared disaster. Has extensive experience and training in IC system familymeds.com

Supervisory role in Finance/Admin in a federally declared disaster situation in home and/or other State. Has organized and supervised subunits of Section in a non-federally declared disaster in home State. Has experience and training in IC system

Training and/or experience in Finance/Admin for non-federally declared disaster situations in home State. Has training in IC system

 
Equipment  

Laptop with wireless Internet capabilities; Satellite/cell phone; Standardized forms commonly used in the execution of this function

Laptop with Internet capabilities; Satellite/cell phone; Standardized forms commonly used in the execution of this function

Equipment provided by requesting State: Laptop, comm., and standardized forms commonly used in the execution of this function

 
   

 

Comments:

Individual at the EOC responsible for tracking incident costs and reimbursement accounting, and coordinating/administering support for EOC personnel during disaster operations. This function is part of the standardized ICS structure per the National Incident Management System. If situation warrants, chief/coordinator oversees subunits of this function to include Compensation/Claims, Procurement, Cost, and Time. (See Figure 1.) When there is a specific need for financial reimbursement (individual and agency or department), and/or administrative services to support incident management activities, a Finance/Administration Section is established. Under the ICS, not all agencies will require such assistance. In large, complex scenarios involving significant funding originating from multiple sources, the Finance/Administrative Section is an essential part of the ICS. In addition to monitoring multiple sources of funds, the Section Chief must track and report to the IC the financial “burn rate” as the incident progresses. This allows the IC to forecast the need for additional funds before operations are affected negatively. This is particularly important if significant operational assets are under contract from the private sector. The Section Chief may also need to monitor cost expenditures to ensure statutory rules that apply are met. Close coordination with the Planning Section and Logistics Section is also essential so that operational records can be reconciled with financial documents. Note that, in some cases, only one specific function may be required (e.g., cost analysis), which a technical specialist in the Planning Section could provide. The Finance/Administration Section Chief will determine, given current and anticipated future requirements, the need for establishing specific subordinate units. In some of the functional areas (e.g., procurement), an actual unit need not be established if it would consist of only one person. In such a case, a procurement technical specialist would be assigned in the Planning Section instead. Because of the specialized nature of finance functions, the Section Chief should come from the agency that has the greatest requirement for this support. The Section Chief may have a deputy.

Source: National Incident Management System, March 2004

Figure1



National Mutual Aid & Resource Management Initiative
Emergency Management