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86 Interview Report 1âDallas/Forth Worth (DFW) Interview Guide ACRP Synthesis S01-11 Case Example: Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Date: October 14, 2015 This Case Example is based on an interview with Mr. Alan Black, director of public safety, on October 14, 2015; his responses to the survey; and airport information from FAA reports. Airport Characteristics NPIAS category: Large hub Governance: Joint board Number of operations (2014): 679,820 annual Number of airport employees: 60,000 The purpose of this interview to gather detailed information for case studies by learning about your continuity planning prac- tices and how effective it has been in bringing your airport back to normalcy from a broad range of disruptions. 1. How did the BCP/COOP/continuity planning start and how has it evolved? The trigger for BCP/COOP was the SARS or aviation flu and the need for Pandemic Plan. For this need DFW sought help from a consultant who advised DFW to have a BCP and have Pandemic Plan as an annex to that. However, at that time DFW only wanted a Pandemic plan. Later on DFW initiated an effort in-house to develop a BCP. DFW has a BCP/COOP for about three years. The key motivating factor for having a plan was âbest practice.â 2. Has there been a champion person/group for BCP/COOP? Director of Public Safety is the facilitator and integrator. Each department comes up with their own plan using a common template/worksheet, which is then integrated by the department of Public Safety. The example of the worksheet is shown in Appendix H (Sample 2). 3. How much time is devoted for BCP/COOP? It is hard to identify what each department put in as effort. There were continuing efforts over 2 to 3 years to develop the BCP/COOP. There is an ongoing effort where one-third of the plan gets reviewed each year and feedback is sought to make any updates, if needed. 4. How is BCP/COOP maintained? Updated? Describe the process regarding this. Multiple departments have developed their own BCP/COOP. All these are integrated for overall airport. One-third of the plan is reviewed each year and if needed updates are made. Office of Public Safety coordinates this. 5. Questions on checklists, templates, tools, and other information provided. Samples of checklists, templates, and other related information are provided in Appendix D. APPENDIX D Interview Reports for Airport with Business Continuity Plans/Continuity of Operations Plans
87 6. What kind of coordination is there between airport and airport tenantsâ plans? The airportâs BCP/COOP is an internal document/tool. The airport gets the copy of tenantâs BCP, including those from airlines. However, there is no specific coordination. Also, through participation in SEADOG airport is involved in mutual-aid agreements with smaller airports and other agencies. 7. What kind of cost is incurred in maintaining BCP? The cost is primarily related to staff hours devoted to maintaining BCP/COOP. This is about $60,000 annually. 8. How effective have continuity plans and programs been? How do you assess the effectiveness? There have been no issues to really assess the effectiveness. If any gaps are observed regarding awareness of capabilities or limitations then plans are updated, to the extent possible, to address those gaps. 9. What was the most recent significant airport disruption in the last five years? There have been loss of power, technical shortages, soil and sinkhole problems that affected runway operations, and other short-term disruptions. But, none of these have been significant. None of these required or triggered any activation of or improvements in current BCP/COOP. During this disruption, what recovery priority determinations were made? NA What were the essential, important, convenient, and non-essential functions impacted in this case? NA For each of these impacted airport functions, what was the maximum downtime in this case? NA How were human resources, physical plant and equipment, technology, processes, and other resources impacted in this case? How were they handled? NA 10. What do you consider as best practices in BCP/COOP and planning at your airport? 1. The plan is supported by top executives. 2. The plan is comprehensive, robust, as well as flexible. 3. The plan accounts for all essential functions. 11. What are lessons learned from your involvement in BCP/COOP? The ability to hypothesize disruptive scenarios and forecast related impacts has helped clearly identify roles and responsibilities and in being adequately prepared. 12. Are there any core airport functions that are contracted to commercial tenants or other agencies that may be outside the control of the airport? If yes, does the airport utilize any process, lease provision, or operating understanding with these entities that address dealing with recovering from disruptions? Please describe. There are some core airport functions that are contracted to commercial tenants or other agencies, but all are within the control of the airport. 13. Have there been any other stakeholder coordination practices that have been effective in dealing with airport business disruptions? Involvement in WESTDOG and SEADOG has been useful. There are quarterly exercises with TSA, Public Works Department, Energy Department, Transportation Department, and Customs and Border Patrol.
88 14. Are any core airport support functions covered by external or departmental business continuity practices off site? For example, if the airport is municipally owned, payroll functions may be handled at an off-location finance department. None. All are handled by the airport. The airport is owned by a Joint Board, which includes mayors from Dallas and Fort Worth. There is no coordination of airportâs BCP with that of the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. 15. What are the benefits to having an airport BCP? Transparency, collaboration, and consistency, resulting in quicker return to normalcy of the airportâs core functions and business. 16. What advice would you have to a small airport to develop business continuity practices or when contemplating creating a formal BCP? 1. Do not âover thinkâ it. 2. Look for what âbig rocksâ are. 3. Have a plan, not necessarily a comprehensive and complex plan right in the beginning. 4. Going forward, work on the plan as a living document and update it as needed. Interview Report 2âMinneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) Interview Guide ACRP Synthesis S01-11 Case Example: Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Date: October 13, 2015 This Case Example is based on an interview with Mr. Phil Burke, director of MSP operations, and Ms. Kristin Rollwagen, emergency program manager, on October 13, 2015; their responses to the survey; and airport information from FAA reports. Airport Characteristics NPIAS category: Large hub Governance: Authority Number of operations (2014): 412,695 annual Number of airport employees: 580 approximately The purpose of this interview to gather detailed information for case studies by learning about your continuity planning prac- tices and how effective it has been in bringing your airport back to normalcy from a broad range of disruptions. 1. How did the BCP/COOP/continuity planning start and how has it evolved? The airport BCP/COOP planning evolved as part of an airport initiative. The airport developed a BCP in 2004, hiring an outside contracting firm to develop the plan. The airport COOP was developed and approved in April 2015. It is based on the FEMA COOP guidance and follows the criteria set forth in a 2015 Governorâs Executive Order for COOP. The BCP is currently being revisited utilizing the ACRP 93 Tool. Both plans are being evaluated with the intent to combine them as one in the near future. The airport is also coordinating BCP/COOP with all of their tenants and hopes to incorporate the requirement into future leases. 2. Has there been a champion person/group for BCP/COOP? The Emergency Program Manager is overseeing the management of the COOP plan. The BCP plan is managed by the airportâs Risk and Safety Department.
89 3. How much time is devoted for BCP/COOP? The process of developing the airport COOP was an involved process taking place over an approximate six month period. The BCP plan currently has one person dedicated since July 1st until the end of the year for its review and revisions utilizing the ACRP 93 Tool in coordination/involvement of all airport departments. 4. How is BCP/COOP maintained? Updated? Describe the process regarding this. The plans will be reviewed in conjunction with the airportâs 3 year cycle of its emergency exercise program. They will be utilized with the exercise to determine critical recovery functions and measured against âlessons learnedâ from the exercise. The desire for future exercises will focus on more recovery processes and implementation of the plans during the events. 5. Questions on checklists, templates, tools, information provided. The airport suggests looking at the FEMA COOP site: https://www.fema.gov/planning-templates. They viewed 2 guide templates listed for Federal Department/Agencies and Non-Federal Entities incorporating guidance from each as was appropriate for them. They gathered feedback and questions from airport departments identifying any shortcomings and developed a spreadsheet to address. This will lead to a Phase II to establish budgets and capital improvement projects necessary to accommodate foreseeable disruptions. This may include relocation to off-site facilities, telecommunication and IT department arrangements. 6. What kind of coordination is there between airport and airport tenantsâ plans? The airport admits this is a challenge and there is much work to do with tenant coordination. The airport is currently in the process of turning over the concession agreements to 5-6 operators who will oversee approximately 100 stores. The intent is to incorporate COOP plans into future leases requiring tenants to meet the challenges of foreseeable disruptions. Phase I will reference COOP plans in the leases while Phase II may require COOP plans. The airport will initiate the COOP tenant plan process with the major airlines and continue with the remaining tenants working on emergency response procedures coordinating/developing recovery procedures. The airport has also visited with the Mall of America who has coordinated with its store owners for evacuation, shelter-in-place and lockdown procedures. 7. What kind of cost is incurred in developing BCP? Initially, the BCP was developed with a contracting firm but the exact amount was not known at the interview. What kind of cost is incurred in maintaining BCP? Maintaining BCP costs are minimal for MSP. Costs are primarily in terms of staff time to perform maintenance on the plans. 8. How effective have continuity plans and programs been? How do you assess the effectiveness? Although the airport recognizes the importance of the plans, not sure how effective the plans were in the past. They are being reviewed and revised now. The plans are now on the âradarâ in every airport department. Recently, a new landside director was hired and saw the benefit of updating the airport/responder contact list for resources. The effectiveness of the plans will be measured in downtime. The airport experiences major flight operations, passengers, and commerce all contributing to an economic impact that cannot sustain disruptions. 9. What was the most recent significant airport disruption in the last five years? The airport experienced the inability to monitor security card readers for 6 hours. There was also an unattended back pack on a ticket counter disrupting operations. During this disruption, what recovery priority determinations were made? For the security monitoring, several people were placed in strategic positions to assist in allowing continuity of operations. The backpack incident affected both airline and TSA areas. It was handled internally for a period of time. An after action discussion suggested outside resources may have been called in earlier to assist.
90 How were human resources, physical plant and equipment, technology, processes, and other resources impacted in this case? How were they handled? For these disruptions, it was primarily addressed with manpower/staffing resources. 10. What do you consider as best practices in BCP/COOP and planning at your airport? The airport has involved 4 primary departments: law enforcement, fire, operations and field maintenance. Coordination and utilizing a unified command has the best effect for minimizing disruptions. Practicing or reviewing scenarios in a table-top environment has been very beneficial. 11. What are lessons learned from your involvement in BCP/COOP? Disruptions and operation shutdowns cost money. Possessing a well-developed plan will minimize the duration of time the incident or emergency will impact operations. Many businesses and individuals count on the airport. Merging and integrating programs appear to be beneficial in developing the overall plan. MSP is beginning to look at its reliever airports (6) to develop a strategy to bring them âunder the umbrellaâ of MSPâs emergency management and COOP plan. 12. What advice would you have to a small airport to develop business continuity practices or when contemplating creating a formal BCP) I would recommend that folks utilizes best practices, documents and templates that have already been developed and to work with your EM [emergency manager] peers who have already developed a COOP Plan. Interview Report 3âMinden-Tahoe Airport (MEV) Interview Guide ACRP Synthesis S01-11 Case Example: Minden-Tahoe Airport Date: October 14, 2015 This Case Example is based on an interview with Ms. Bobbi Thompson, C.A.E., airport manager, on October 14, 2015; her responses to the survey; and airport information from FAA reports. Airport Characteristics NPIAS category: General aviation Governance: County department (Douglas County) Number of operations (2015): 90,000 annual Number of airport employees: 8 The purpose of this interview to gather detailed information for case studies by learning about your continuity planning prac- tices and how effective it has been in bringing your airport back to normalcy from a broad range of disruptions. 1. How did the BCP/COOP/continuity planning start and how has it evolved? BCP/COOP started as part of strategic planning session at county level. The airport is part of the county-wide COOP. The plan was developed in-house. First development required considerable staff hours over a period of six months. 2. Has there been a champion person/group for BCP/COOP? There is a committee within the Douglas County that oversees the review and update of the county-wide COOP. One section of the COOP is devoted to the continuity of operations planning for the airport. The committee is assisted by Airport Manager, Director of Operations, and ARFF Chief at Minden-Tahoe Airport.
91 3. How much time is devoted for BCP/COOP? About twenty-four hours per year is devoted for COOP. The committee meets once a year to review the input from different stakeholders, including airport, and look into ways of incorporating the feedback. 4. How is BCP/COOP maintained? Updated? Describe the process regarding this. Each stakeholder examines their section of COOP that is relevant to their department/agency and provides feedback to the steering committee. If there are significant issues then tabletop exercises are conducted. Some triggers in improving the COOP section pertaining to the airport have been plans for storage equipment or isolated staging areas. The review and related updating is done annually. 5. Questions on checklists, templates, tools, and other information provided. The COOP includes use of checklists, templates, communication details, memos, recovery priority determination decision tree and scale, mutual-aid agreements, and standard operating procedures. The policy is to not release any information related to COOP as it contains management of threats in addition to weather complications and how the county and airport handle threats and is not for public viewing. 6. What kind of coordination is there between airport and airport tenantsâ plans? Airport leases require FBOs, 20 commercial businesses, and tenants to comply with county-wide COOP. This compliance is monitored by Airport Management in consultation with County Emergency Management Department. 7. What kind of cost is incurred in maintaining BCP? The cost is primarily related to staff hours required for COOP and sometimes there is a need for investment in improving communication infrastructure or acquisition of key equipment. The cost has been less than $10,000 per year. 8. How effective have continuity plans and programs been? How do you assess the effectiveness? There have been no significant situations where effectiveness of COOP could have been assessed. Tabletop exercises are carried out once a year and live exercises are carried out once in 5 years. 9. What was the most recent significant airport disruption in the last five years? No significant disruptions encountered. There were some capital improvement project funding disruptions related to closeouts, but were before COOP was implemented. Current construction disruptions are related to conflicts between construction and normal operation, but are addressed by construction phasing plans. Emergency plans have been able to address some continuity issues as well. During this disruption, what recovery priority determinations were made? NA What were the essential, important, convenient, and non-essential functions impacted in this case? NA For each of these impacted airport functions, what was the maximum downtime in this case? NA How were human resources, physical plant and equipment, technology, processes, and other resources impacted in this case? How were they handled? NA 10. What do you consider as best practices in BCP/COOP and planning at your airport?
92 Having a plan has identified roles, responsibilities, and assignments effectively. It improves awareness of capabilities and limitations. 11. What are lessons learned from your involvement in BCP/COOP? It does take time to develop a comprehensive COOP. 12. Are there any core airport functions that are contracted to commercial tenants or other agencies that may be outside the control of the airport? If yes, does the airport utilize any process, lease provision, or operating understanding with these entities that address dealing with recovering from disruptions? Please describe. No core airport functions are contracted to commercial tenants or other agencies. However, the airport does coordinate with outside agencies such as security, fire, medical services, and other airports. 13. Have there been any other stakeholder coordination practices that have been effective in dealing with airport business disruptions? Airport does carry out live exercises with fire, medical, and police organizations. 14. Are any core airport support functions covered by external or departmental business continuity practices off site? For example, if the airport is municipally owned, payroll functions may be handled at an off-location finance department. It is handled at a central location in county. 15. What are the benefits to having an airport BCP? During disruption it helps address effectively and in timely manner: * Who to call * Who is in charge * How to handle it and level of threat This in turn increases preparedness, improves recovery and response, and improves coordination with emergency response organizations. 16. What advice would you have to a small airport to develop business continuity practices or when contemplating creating a formal BCP? Have a plan, even if it is just a page long. Cost to develop a plan is often the most significant barrier. Airport Improvement Program (AIP) Grant Oversight Risk Model Policy may motivate airports requiring federal grants. But, there are many airports not seeking grants so developing a plan may not be a high priority. This is of value to all airports. Critical elements to successful continuity plan development and implementation include coordination with emergency service providers, tabletop exercises, mutual aid and/or MOUs [memoranda of understanding]. Interview Report 4âOhio State University Airport (OSU) Interview Guide ACRP Synthesis S01-11 Case Example: Ohio State University Airport Date: October 15, 2015 This Case Example is based on an interview with Mr. Douglas Hammon, airport director, on October 15, 2015; his responses to the survey; and airport information from FAA reports.
93 Airport Characteristics NPIAS category: Reliever Governance: Institute of higher education (Ohio State University) Number of operations (2012): 72,635 annual Number of airport employees: 88 The purpose of this interview is to gather detailed information for case studies by learning about your continuity planning practices and how effective it has been in bringing your airport back to normalcy from a broad range of disruptions. 1. How did the BCP/COOP/Continuity Planning start and how has it evolved? OSU Airport is owned by Ohio State University. Five years ago, the University mandate[d] all business and academic units to have business continuity plans. A central committee led by the Risk Management Office oversaw the effort and provide[d] resources and expertise to develop the BCP/COOP. The airport educated the committee about airportâs functions. The effort was motivated the need to reduce liability and for insurance coverage purposes. 2. Has there been a champion person/group for BCP/COOP? The risk management office at Ohio State University leads the effort and seeks input from Airport through Airport Manager. 3. How much time is devoted for BCP/COOP? The time involved at airport level is minimal as most of the guidance and assistance is provide by Risk Management Office at the University. 4. How is BCP/COOP maintained? Updated? Describe the process regarding this. Any proposal of new or proposed activity at the airport is taken to the committee, which assesses if university will be at increased level of risk. The Risk Management Office gets regular updates regarding personnel changes or if new procedures are implemented. Once a year continuity plan of all units, including the airport, is reviewed. Such review meeting allows the airport to better understand the needs of the airport operations under normal and disruptive conditions. 5. Questions on checklists, templates, tools, and other information provided. Currently there are five specific continuity plans for the airport for Administrative Continuity, Aircraft Maintenance Continuity, Customer Service Continuity, Flight Education Continuity, and Line of Operations Continuity. Appendix H shows some plans and related templates and checklist. 6. What kind of coordination is there between airport and airport tenantsâ plans? There are over 180 aircraft of private owners that are a parked at the airport. Facility coordinator interacts with stakeholders regarding facility issues such as closing down of runway. FBO general manager deals with coordination related to service issues. The communication for coordination is done using e-mails, monthly newsletter, and updates on website. 7. What kind of cost is incurred in maintaining BCP? Minimal cost having the advantage of University setting and help from Risk Management Office. 8. How effective have continuity plans and programs been? How do you assess the effectiveness? Emergency plan has been effective, but there have been no major disruption to find the use of continuity plan and assess its effectiveness. 9. What was the most recent significant airport disruption in the last five years?
94 Airport has been host site of the Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON), which attracts students from 30 schools and over 100 industry experts. Also, Memorial Golf tournament in Central Ohio attracts corporate people and golfers. Sometimes OSU football games brings in many private aircraft. However, all these are know and these special events are planned for. Security plan has been activated, but no activation of continuity plan has taken place. During this disruption, what recovery priority determinations were made? NA What were the essential, important, convenient, and non-essential functions impacted in this case? NA For each of these impacted airport functions, what was the maximum downtime in this case? NA How were human resources, physical plant and equipment, technology, processes, and other resources impacted in this case? How were they handled? NA 10. What do you consider as best practices in BCP/COOP and planning at your airport? There are many overlaps among Part 139 requirements, Emergency plan, Security plan, and with upcoming effort about SMS [safety management system]. Consolidating it under one umbrella is a goal. It will reduce redundancy and there will not be a need for multiple plans. 11. What are lessons learned from your involvement in BCP/COOP? Whenever we sit down and discuss continuity needs and review continuity plans, there develops a better understanding [of] airport operation needs. It helps in identifying what is important, what is not important, and if there is a better way of doing any airport functions in both normal and disruptive situations. 12. Are there any core airport functions that are contracted to commercial tenants or other agencies that may be outside the control of the airport? If yes, does the airport utilize any process, lease provision, or operating understanding with these entities that address dealing with recovering from disruptions? Please describe. Wildlife control is no longer under USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture]; it is contracted out and the risks and liability related to that is the responsibility of the contractor. Control tower is contracted to Midwest Air Traffic Control. If for some reason control tower is not function[ing] the airport can operate as uncontrolled. Letter of agreement between FAA, Midwest Air Traffic Control and the airport exists. Also, the airport has a letter of agreement between division of fire and a joint use fire station has been built on airport. Also, a fire truck is there to respond aircraft incidents. 13. Have there been any other stakeholder coordination practices that have been effective in dealing with airport business disruptions? For emergency planning there is coordination with fire, police, and medical services. For COOP/BCP the plan is self-sufficient. 14. Are any core airport support functions covered by external or departmental business continuity practices off site? For example, if the airport is municipally owned, payroll functions may be handled at an off-location finance department. University business office helps if airportâs payroll or accounting systems have some disruptions. 15. What are the benefits to having an airport BCP? When putting it together, there are opportunities to think âwhat airport does,â what is important for the airport, what is not important for the airport, and is there a better way to handle any functions under normal or disruptive conditions. At university level, it helps with underwriters and for insurance coverage and allows the airport, one of the units in the university, to be in compliance.
95 16. What advice would you have to a small airport to develop business continuity practices or when contemplating creating a formal BCP? 1. See what is already out there. Look somewhere, airports or similar business if they have a plan and get their template and adapt it for the airport. Do not reinvent. 2. Check with the governing entity if they already have a plan. Oftentimes airport is thought of last and is not at the top of the list. So, if the airport approaches the governing entity they may find templates, guidance, expertise, and even resources to develop airport-specific BCP/COOP. 3. It could also help with AIP Grant Oversight Risk Assessment. Interview Report 5âFt. Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE) Interview Guide ACRP Synthesis S01-11 Case Example: Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport Date: October 12, 2015 This Case Example is based on an interview with Mr. Carlton Harrison, operations supervisor, on October 12, 2015; his responses to the survey; and airport information from FAA reports. Airport Characteristics NPIAS category: Reliever Governance: City department Number of operations (2014): 149,710 annual Number of airport employees: 17 The purpose of this interview to gather detailed information for case studies by learning about your continuity planning practices and how effective it has been in bringing your airport back to normalcy from a broad range of disruptions. 1. How did the BCP/COOP/continuity planning start and how has it evolved? The airport BCP/COOP planning evolved as part of a city initiative. The airport developed a COOP to be coordinated with the overall city plan and began by looking for answers to simple questions on what resources would be needed to address basic operating needs such as power outage. 2. Has there been a champion person/group for BCP/COOP? The City Manager has been the overall champion of the city COOP plan. Based on this direction the airport took deliberate steps to develop a site-specific plan. One airport staff person attended a FEMA course on COOP providing guidance to âtrain the trainerâ and become airport point person on plan development. The FEMA course attended was IS-547.A âIntroduction to Continuity of Operations.â 3. How much time is devoted for BCP/COOP? The process of developing the airport COOP was involved taking place over an approximate six month period. Annual plan maintenance requires approximately 40 hours. 4. How is BCP/COOP maintained? Updated? Describe the process regarding this. The plan is reviewed annually. This is done in coordination with the annual hurricane plan update. The process involves updating all contact information. There is also a review and verification of resources including alternate locations to be utilized in event of disruption as well as verification of human resource, technology, and other processes. All updates and revisions made as a result of the annual review are then submitted to the city and others stakeholders on the distribution list.
96 5. Questions on checklists, templates, tools, information provided. These tools are an effective part of BCP/COOP documents. Please see sample plan, checklists, standard practice memos, and letter of agreements in Appendix H. 6. What kind of coordination is there between airport and airport tenantsâ plans? Coordination of COOP plans with stakeholders can be challenging. FXE has five Fixed-Base Operators (FBOs). The larger FBOs have their own internal BCP practices that are internal to their recovery actions and will communicate with the airport as needed to ensure potential issues with airport functions are coordinated. The airport also utilizes Letters of Agreement (LOA) for this purpose. For example, FXE has an FAA control tower. In the event that an event causes loss of this agency controlled function, plans for use of alternate location is handled through LOA. 7. What kind of cost is incurred in maintaining BCP? Maintaining BCP costs are minimal for FXE. Costs are primarily in terms of staff time to perform annual maintenance on the plan, typically taking no more than 40 hours. All materials are developed and maintained using electronic files. During the initial development of the city COOP plan, a number of departments utilized outside hired expertise. The airport handled this through internal assessment and use of FEMA training program as mentioned above. 8. How effective have continuity plans and programs been? How do you assess the effectiveness? Fortunately, FXE has not had to activate COOP plan for any major disruption. Recovery practices identified within the plan have been used for minor disruptions as well as use of Airport Emergency Plan (AEP) for other events such as aircraft accident. Having continuity plan in place is effective in terms of preparedness. The airport has procedures in place that will increase preparedness and reduce downtime in the event of a normal operating function disruption. The âwhat do we do?â question has already been addressed. 9. What was the most recent significant airport disruption in the last five years? The airport has experienced a number of disruptions within the last five years including utility outage, aircraft accident, and temporary flight restriction (TFR). During this disruption, what recovery priority determinations were made? Priority determinations were situational for the different types of disruptions. For utility outage initial priorities included proper notification including issuance of Notice to Airman (NOTAM) when impacting essential airside facilities, repair actions, and restoration of utilities. Impacts were also mitigated through use of backup generator. For aircraft accident, the airport utilized the AEP to formulate Incident Action Plans (IAP) following NIMS principles to ensure prioritized actions such as safety, communications, and airport closures were addressed. In the event of a hurricane, coordination with the National Weather Service is also accomplished as well as potential need for facility closures and use of alternates. What were the essential, important, convenient, and non-essential functions impacted in this case? All of these levels of airport functions have been impacted at the airport and were situational depending on the nature of the disruption. For each of these impacted airport functions, what was the maximum downtime in this case? Varied.
97 How were human resources, physical plant and equipment, technology, processes, and other resources impacted in this case? How were they handled? Impact to human resources, physical plant and equipment, technology, and processes depended on the event. For extended disruptions, determining rotation of limited staff resources particularly challenging. Other resources including backup generators, alternate facilities, and equipment were needed depending on the situation. 10. What do you consider as best practices in BCP/COOP and planning at your airport? When developing COOP plan, keep it simple and basic to start with and expand from there. Practicing the plan during the annual review by creating tabletop type exercise scenarios can be an effective way of walking through process. 11. What are lessons learned from your involvement in BCP/COOP? Communication is always a challenge. This may involve forwarding information to the city to be put out through the public information officer (PIO). The plan review and development process has underscored the importance of communication between internal and external stakeholders. 12. Are there any core airport functions that are contracted to commercial tenants or other agencies that may be outside the control of the airport? If yes, does the airport utilize any process, lease provision, or operating understanding with these entities that address dealing with recovering from disruptions? Please describe. FXE has five commercial FBOs that use primarily internal continuity practices when dealing with recovering from disruptions and in some cases informal coordination with the airport. The FAA control tower air traffic function operates off a Letter of Agreement with the airport in regard to continuity of operations. 13. Have there been any other stakeholder coordination practices that have been effective in dealing with airport business disruptions? Building relationships with stakeholders is important and encourages communication. The airport is also exploring bringing more stakeholders into the annual review process. Utilization of tools such as LOAs. 14. Are any core airport support functions covered by external or departmental business continuity practices off site? For example, if the airport is municipally owned, payroll functions may be handled at an off-location finance department. There are many core functions needed by the airport that are handled off-site within other city departments including informational technology (IT), human resources, finance, and risk management. These departments have their own COOP plan that has to be coordinated with the airports plan. Building relationships with these off-site departments facilitates a better understanding of their respective operational needs and understanding of departmental priorities. 15. What are the benefits to having an airport BCP? The airport is better positioned to deal with business disruptions. FXE is already thinking about continuity so has an understanding and plan to improve operational resiliency and minimize downtime. The airport has a starting point when faced with the question of âWhat do we do now?â in the event of a disruption. 16. What advice would you have to a small airport to develop business continuity practices or when contemplating creating a formal BCP? Start simple and develop a basic plan to deal with disruptions. Important to look at alternative resources depending on anticipated risk of disruption. Important to build relationships and awareness of continuity plan between stakeholders. Interview Report 6âSavannah-Hilton Head International Airport (SAV) Interview Guide ACRP Synthesis S01-11
98 Case Example: Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport Date: October 15, 2015 This Case Example is based on an interview with Mr. Fred McCosby, A.A.E., senior programs manager, on October 15, 2015; his responses to the survey; and airport information from FAA reports. Airport Characteristics NPIAS category: Small hub Governance: Airport authority Number of operations (2014â2015): 85,000 Number of airport employees: 165 The purpose of this interview to gather detailed information for case studies by learning about your continuity planning practices and how effective it has been in bringing your airport back to normalcy from a broad range of disruptions. 1. How did the BCP/COOP/continuity planning start and how has it evolved? Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport started the process to address continuity of operations in existing plans. For example, H1N1 flu plan or Plan for Infectious Substances incorporated business continuity plan within it dealing with 50 to 60% absentees. Similarly, IROPs plan ensured that enough concessionaires remained open when airport was overwhelmed by diversions or passengers were stranded. 2. Has there been a champion person/group for BCP/COOP? Senior Programs Manager facilitates it, but since continuity of operations are addressed in existing functional plans police, security, airport operations, airfield operations, legal department, executive assistant director (who is also director of finance) are engaged. 3. How much time is devoted for BCP/COOP? Writing, reviewing of business model and business continuity aspects is ongoing and has been streamlined within existing functions and functional plans. 4. How is BCP/COOP maintained? Updated? Describe the process regarding this. H1N1 business plan, Infectious substance plan, Hurricane plan is currently under review by Coastal Health department. Each functional plan is reviewed regularly and issues related to continuity of business and operations are incorporated and updated. 5. Questions on checklists, templates, tools, and other information provided. There are procedures established within each functional plans and more specifically in H1N1 business plan, IROPS plan, and Hurricane plan. Some examples of these are shown in Appendix H. 6. What kind of coordination is there between airport and airport tenantsâ plans? Airport tenantsâ plan[s] are congruent with the plans of the airport addressing continuity of business and operations issues. Tenants are briefed about IROPS plan throughout the year. Hurricane briefing is done once a year, at the beginning of hurricane season to ensure tenant plans are consistent and congruent to the airportâs hurricane plan. The H1N1 Business plan is referenced and reviewed prior to a possible pandemic incident. 7. What kind of cost is incurred in maintaining BCP? The staff hours or related cost are incorporated into the cost of operation of the airport because all BCP/COOP aspects are incorporated in each functional plan.
99 8. How effective have continuity plans and programs been? How do you assess the effectiveness? There were issues regarding effectiveness in the past. During an actual event, the airport is now efficient and able to meet customer needs. The incorporation of continuity of operations in IROPS plan, Hurricane plan, and H1N1 business plan has allowed the airport to deal better with situations so that the airport is not overwhelmed with diversions, or when electronic transactions are disrupted during hurricane, or when the airport needs to be staffed adequately. 9. What was the most recent significant airport disruption in the last five years? During this disruption, what recovery priority determinations were made? What were the essential, important, convenient, and non-essential functions impacted in this case? For each of these impacted airport functions, what was the maximum downtime in this case? How were human resources, physical plant and equipment, technology, processes, and other resources impacted in this case? How were they handled? There were issues of effectiveness in past. For example, if the operations manager is not able to communicate to the terminal about diversions there can be situation where passenger needs are not met. When information about 8 to 10 diversions does not get communicated, then travelers are upset when no concessionaires are open. The IROPS Plan incorporates communication to the concessionaires to ensure adequate concessions are available to our passengers during IROPs. Delta Airlines coordinates with the airport by flying diversion crew to Savannah to staff the airport and deal with travelers needs. Also, in the event of a major hurricane, credit cards and electronic transactions may not work. The airport withdraws $500,000 to $1,000,000 cash to meet the needs of payroll and to pay for the services. Also 36 hours prior to the event âride outâ crews (60 to 75) are informed and used. Employees are sent home early, so they can return to take over from âride outâ crews. Having incorporated business plan in existing plans, it has helped streamline the restoration process. Hence, by incorporating business plan in existing functional plans and by briefing the tenants about them, the airport has been able to address the continuity of operations more efficiently. Within the past several years we recognized that our IT network was not conducive to the growth of the airport. Over the last several years the IT Manager has expanded his workforce so that he is free to plan for the growth of the airport specific to IT infrastructure. This has resulted in upgrading the business network as well as deriving revenue from the 4G BSS [4G long-term evolution business support systems] upgrade. The lesson learned was to provide enough support to the IT Manager so that he can continuously develop and plan for the future needs of the airport and develop a long-term IT Business Plan. Prior to 2007 the airport had over 1 million enplanements. But, during 2008 to 2013 the tourism was depressed due to the economy. In 2014 Jet Blue started serving with 2 flights a day and the incremental boost in tourism from 800,000 to 1,000,000 enplanements spurred growth and had multiplier effect. The community put up $1 million and the airport put up $2 million to have Jet Blue come in and address the growth in aviation demand. The infrastructure was already there as prior to 2008 the airport had over 1 million enplanements. 10. What do you consider as best practices in BCP/COOP and planning at your airport? The airport did not develop a separate BCP/COOP. Instead, being a small airport decided to include business or operations continuity plan within existing functional plans. The airport makes the tenants, including airlines and FBOs, aware of their plans. For example, it provides timely information to airlines and FBOs so they can quickly get their aircraft out of the airport when there is likelihood of major disruption such as caused by hurricane. 11. What are lessons learned from your involvement in BCP/COOP? 1. IT issues were not planned well. This inadequacy can impact airport functions and operations. Now, IT staff has increased, IT infrastructure has been enhanced and expanded, and efforts are underway for developing an IT plan, which will also include needs for continuity of business and operations.
100 2. Sometime airport operations managers did not communicate with concessionaires when the airport was overwhelmed with diversions. This led to travelers needs not being met well. IROPS plan has been updated to address continuity of operations and business during diversions. 3. The task of addressing continuity of operations and business was within a small group; airfield operations and security were left on the peripheral. This has changed and more people are involved in discussing continuity of operations and business needs. Every two weeks there is interaction with airfield operations and security staff. 12. Are there any core airport functions that are contracted to commercial tenants or other agencies that may be outside the control of the airport? If yes, does the airport utilize any process, lease provision, or operating understanding with these entities that address dealing with recovering from disruptions? Please describe. Pensacolo had contracted out their landside operations, their airfield operations, and custodial services and when hurricane Ivan happened these contractors were not around, which made continuity of operations and business difficult. This is one of the reasons the airport does not contract out its functions. 13. Have there been any other stakeholder coordination practices that have been effective in dealing with airport business disruptions? The airport participates in SEADOG and coordinates with first responders and FEMA. There is a letter of agreement with local emergency management agency. However, the communication with first responders is by e-mail instead of formalized documents. Example of such agreement is shown in Appendix D. 14. Are any core airport support functions covered by external or departmental business continuity practices off site? For example, if the airport is municipally owned, payroll functions may be handled at an off-location finance department. The airport is self-sufficient for BCP/COOP purposes. But, there are cooperative agreements with Chatham County Emergency Management Department. Also, there are EMAC [Emergency Management Assistance Compact] agreements to find resources (say, a transformer) from within the state or outside the state when all local and regional options are exhausted. 15. What are the benefits to having an airport BCP? SAV found that incorporating business and operations continuity needs within existing functional plans, hurricane plan, H1N1 plan, and IROPS plan, has increased preparedness, improved recovery and response, reduced liability, improved insurance rating, decreased downtime, bettered relationship with tenants, improved coordination with emergency response organizations, and improved public perception of facility management. More importantly, the time to plan is prior to an event be that IROPs, hurricane or a pandemic. Plans should include a total disruption of the banking system as well as communications systems during a hurricane. A Business Plan specific to IT infrastructure allows the IT Manager to plan years in advance in order that the airport is well ahead of the curve in terms of IT infrastructure planning. 16. What advice would you have to a small airport to develop business continuity practices or when contemplating creating a formal BCP? The airport staff visited Sea-Tac and looked into the huge binder that contained their COOP/BCP. They felt that it may not work for the small airport as Savannah/Hilton International Airport. So they embedded and streamlined business and operations continuity needs within existing functional plans, hurricane plan, H1N1 business plan, and IROPS plan. Look at what your worst case scenario would be during a major disruption and consider that as part of airport business condition and address the business and operation continuity issues in a separate plan or by embedding them in existing functional plans as Savannah/Hilton International Airport did. Also, for example if there is a possibility that the terminal is wiped out, think of modular type of facilities to serve passengers; these facilities may not look pretty but can keep the airport operational.
