COMITATO ANNO 2000
Proposal for a
National Contingency Plan
VERSION 1.1, SEPTEMBER 13, 1999
Foreword
Following the latest EEC Resolutions on the Year 2000 computer problem, which recommend that all member States focus on contingency planning (to assure essential services to the civil community and handle possible emergencies), and based on this past semester survey results as disclosed at the June 17-18 National Conference, on September 8, 1999 the Comitato Anno 2000 forwarded a National Contingency Plan proposal to the Minister's Committee, which was approved on the whole.
To develop the proposal into an operational document, 5 work groups were established.
All of the activities have been tightly scheduled, so as to allow nationwide smooth handling of the Year 2000 transition and contain the possibility of service disruptions or accidents to a minimum.
Below, are:
Year 2000 National Contingency Plan Proposal
(Version 1.1 of September 13, 1999, updated with first work group progress reports)
As we know, most disasters that hit the civil community strike suddenly, along unpredictable patterns and places; at times, however, these are predicted or predictable, but forecasts are either brushed aside or underrated to the extent that preparation is judged unnecessary even in consideration of the substantial organizational and financial efforts often involved.
In any case, whenever a calamity strikes, effective handling and damage containment largely depend not only upon ex-ante preparation, but also upon quality, swiftness, professionality, organization, harmonization and coordination of the various subjects that are called-in ex-post, to manage related emergencies and restore services which are essential to the civil community.
This first draft document, is intended to outline an organizational model for the handling, in Italy, of possible problems connected with the so called "Year 2000 Computer problem" (otherwise known as "Millennium Bug" or "Y2K"), which is caused by the inability of information and computer systems to correctly process two digit date fields.
Such problem may, to a certain extent, be assimilated to a natural disaster, albeit predicted. It might, in fact, cause failure or disruptions of services which are essential to the civil community, cause personal and property damage, trigger a domino effect within interconnected industrial and commercial networks, encourage criminal behaviour.
Obviously, this document is not intended to overrule civil emergency authorities' ordinary rules and procedures, but represents an initiative, based on similar past experiences, aimed to conveying the efforts of each public and private subject toward a most effective handling of this new Year 2000 emergency, so as to keep direct or indirect damage to a minimum.
A calamity is defined as a predictable or unpredictable event which causes damage, even irreparable, to persons and property whose effects--due to its dimension, extension and consequent service disruptions--cannot be dealt with via the normal procedural and organizational instruments and resources which emergency services and local authorities are normally endowed with.
In certain cases, as, for example, business at risk, it is possible to prepare both service disruption and accident prevention plans, and work out cautionary rules which would reduce possible accidents and service disruptions and the possibility that wrong decisions be made under emergency conditions should these events occur.
Indeed, calamities (especially when unpredicted or unpredictable as in the case of the Year 2000 Computer Problem) might have widespread consequences on civil society, the management of which goes beyond local authorities emergency response capabilities and structure, but would require additional, larger resources.
The need arises, in the case in question, for a coordinated response wherein local authorities' capabilities and resources be adequately enhanced by central authorities' capabilities and resources within a coordinated framework, so that schedule conflicts and shortcomings be avoided, and coordination responsibilities clearly outlined.
Emergency handling and service restoration activities must therefore take place within a well prepared, integrated context, wherein the professionality of each participating subject be fully untapped.
This coordinated response is directed to supporting the tasks which civil emergengy authorities are normally entrusted with, namely:
Experiences gathered from natural disaster management suggest some good practices which may be summarized as follows:
Based on the above as well as on the peculiarity of the Year 2000 Problem, on the necessary involvement of all of the institutional emergency entities and to other Countries' deliberations on the matter, we have prepared a "Functional- Organizational Model for the Contingency Plan" (hereinafter referred to as "the Model") a draft of which is included in this document.
NATIONAL CONTINGENCY PLAN COMMAND, CONTROL AND COORDINATION
To maximize effectiveness of Year 2000 service disruption and accident handling, national and local emergency services and any other interested subjects must be closely interconnected.
The "Model" has been designed to meet the following targets:
The "Model" is designed as follows:
It is structured over three levels of command, control and coordination: Operational Level, Tactical Level and Strategic Level. The necessity of activating all three levels will depend on service disruption or accident severity and extent; normally, however, limited disruptions or accidents are dealt with at the operational level.
If a subject activates the subsequent level (activation proceeds bottom-up as in a typical escalation procedure), this must be reflected upon the other subjects as well.
Level definition makes it possible to use a common terminology and provides orientation toward a common organization in service disruption or accident management.
The contemporary presence in the field of several subjects calls for a Command, Control and Coordination horizontal-wise function, which must be present at each level.
In the "Model", vertical dependencies (normally hierarchycal) and horizontal dependencies (functional or hierarchycal) are indicated by arrows pointing towards the subject in charge of command, control and coordination.
At the operational level, service disruptions or accidents are directly dealt with.
As a service disruption or accident occurs, emergency services report on the spot (normally public security forces) and take the necessary measures, assess problem extent and take over operation command, control and coordination. These act under specific legal mandate and responsibilities, and report on event and subsequent development to their higher organizational level.
Essential service (power, water, telecommunications, etc.) operators will participate in problem handling using their service disruption and accident standard management procedures.
In the "Model", operational level subjects normally are:
Local media may join these subjects, depending on service disruption or accident extent.
In case of extensive problem, the tactical level must however be activated.
At the tactical level a coordination of the various subjects takes place, and a priority of action plan, resource allocation and request for additional resources defined.
Given the presence of several subjects from different entities, a coordination and control station must be established wherein command functions can be implemented from.
We believe that, for the Year 2000 Problem, such a function should be entrusted to the Ministry of Interior which can act through the Prefetture--Provincial Offices of the Ministry of Interior-- (or the Transport Ministry for marine occurrences) and to the Civil protection Agency, and all information be reported to a Situation Unit which will be connected with other countries' sister Units. Given the Year 2000 problem worldwide extent, in fact, information exchange could be very helpful.
In the "Model", tactical level subjects are:
Tactical level "Focal Point" is the Coordination Station where command, control and coordination responsibilities are implemented, decisions taken, connections with interested subjects established, logistics managed, etc.
Whenever management capabilities and resources of involved subjects appear inadequate, the highest level, that is, the strategic level must be activated.
It is the level where the context in which tactical levels operate is defined, and Countrywide vital decisions are taken as to priority, resource allocation, additional subject intervention (eg., the army) and normal condition restoration plans.
The Strategic Level is composed of:
NATIONAL CONTINGENCY PLAN WORK GROUP MISSIONS, RESULT AND PLANNING AREAS