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NEWS RELEASE
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National Alliance Concludes Organizational Phase of Initiative to Help Nation Build "Faster, Safer and at Less Cost" – Outline of Proposed Secure Nationwide Database for First Responders Released Herndon, VA - April 4, 2002. In a round of meetings held during the last week of March in the Washington, D.C. area, the National Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age concluded the organizational phase of its five-year project to enhance public safety and help state and local governments and the nation’s construction industry to more effectively compete in the global economy. In these meetings, several Alliance work products were released for review and comment and a draft federal funding proposal was finalized. On March 26, 2002, the Alliance’s Technology Task Force met at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and concluded initial work on their second work product deliverable. That product is an outline for federal, state, and local government consideration of a secure nationwide database of building designs and evacuation plans for critical structures. The database would make use of existing software and information delivery services of as-built building designs, evacuation plans, and expert contact information through a secure and interoperable database for both wireless and ground link transmission to first responders as they roll up on the site of a future manmade or natural disaster. The proposed database emerged out of conversations between Alliance members in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks and feedback from the engineering community and first responders to the World Trade Center site. The Alliance’s Steering Committee last October added the exploration of this initiative to the Action Agenda for streamlining the nation’s building regulatory system through the use of information technology that the Alliance adopted in July 2001. The draft outline contains a description of the database and issues that need to be addressed to achieve its full development. The National Alliance is aware of a number of existing national software providers who offer pieces or variations on the proposed system. During the meeting at NIST, the Alliance received a demonstration from one of those providers. The Alliance is now sharing its outline with agencies of federal, state, and local government and looking at other service providers. The outline also is being provided by the Alliance to the newly-established TISP project. The Infrastructure Security Partnership is a coalition of over sixty national organizations and governmental agencies concerned with the security of the built environment. Other work products from the March 26th meeting included:
The Technology Task Force meeting at NIST included a visit to NIST’s Computer Integrated Construction Group during which task force members were able to discuss steps that need to be taken to encourage greater interoperability of all of the software being used in each phase of the process of designing, constructing, regulating, and operating buildings in this nation. On March 28, 2002, The Council for Excellence in Government hosted the organizational meeting of the Alliance’s Planning and Coordinating Task Force at their offices in Washington, D.C. Comprised of Alliance members from federal, state, and local governments and representatives from the construction community, the purpose of this task force is to review and find solutions to the political and economic barriers to the effective application of information technology to streamline the nation’s building regulatory process. At their organizational meeting, the Planning and Coordinating Task Force developed a draft mission statement, list of work projects and a timetable for their undertaking and completion. The major portion of the agenda for their March 28th meeting was comprised of a review of a draft proposal being developed by the Alliance at the request of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for federal funding assistance for a series of grants to state and local governments to support the streamlining of the nation’s building regulatory process through the use of information technology. In the proposal the Planning and Coordinating Task Force will assist potential funding federal agencies in developing grant award criteria. The objective of the proposal is to provide a series of grants to state and local governments which will result in a restructuring of building regulatory processes that will reduce regulatory costs to industry by up to 60%. The late March meetings of the above two National Alliance task forces conclude the first and organizational phase of the Alliance’s proposed five-year national initiative. Phase II, the project development phase, will commence as additional funding is made available to the National Alliance from Alliance members and affiliates and other funding sources. More information on the Alliance, its Action Agenda, minutes of task force meetings and a look at its work products to date can be found on the Alliance section of the NCSBCS website, www.ncsbcs.org or by calling Carolyn Fitch at NCSBCS headquarters at 703-437-0100, extension 238.
NCSBCS was founded by the nation’s governors in 1967 to promote the development of an efficient, cooperative system of building regulations to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the public within the built environment. NCSBCS provides technical support to the National Governors Association under a 21-year-old executive branch agreement. NCSBCS provides secretariat service to the National Alliance through inkind contributions from Alliance members and a grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. |