Pennsylvania Selects Bold for State-wide COOP Project

December 2011/Harrisburg, PA - The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has selected Bold Planning Solutions and their proprietary web-based COOP planning system, EMplans.com to spearhead their statewide continuity of operations planning initiative. The initiative is designed to facilitate and manage the training and development of continuity plans for over 30 state agencies, which overall will direct the continuity of government strategy for the Commonwealth.

In 2009, at a FEMA symposium on disaster preparedness, Molly Daugherty of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of Administration attended a presentation presented by Brandt Haehn, Planning Chief with the Kansas Division of Emergency Management (KDEM). The presentation was focused on state-level continuity planning, lessons learned, and the realities of managing the planning process. Afterwards, Molly met with Brandt to discuss the details of the Kansas continuity project. She learned that KDEM and the State of Kansas had contracted with Bold Planning to train Kansas agencies in the process of creating scalable, useable COOPs. The centerpiece to the project was the use of Bold Planning’s software to build and manage the plans.

In 2011, Pennsylvania issued a request-for-proposal for continuity planning. Bold Planning responded and was proud to be the first company invited to present to the COOP project management team in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania did due diligence and spoke to various Bold Planning clients from around the country. The COOP project management team learned there was the consistent message of the Bold Planning team’s reputation for flexibility and the company’s commitment to customer service. In December of 2011, Bold Planning was awarded the contract.

Using the EMplans.com system as a base, Bold Planning has created a customized Pennsylvania planning system designed to match the Commonwealth’s specific continuity planning needs and requirements. The customized version is deployed online at www.COOP.PA.gov and now allows each of the state agencies to create their own individual continuity plans in an online, easy-to-use, standardized planning environment.

“Each customer has a unique set of challenges and unique constituents to bring into the planning process,” says Peter Hodes, vice president, Bold Planning. “We don’t follow the one-size-fits-all method. Instead, we work with each client independently to develop a customized planning solution, a training implementation package, and a timeline strategy to achieve the results they want.”

The COOP.PA.gov planning project is scheduled to run continuously through the end of 2014 with Bold Planning Solutions providing onsite training seminars, ongoing COOP planning guidance, as well as enhancing the on-line planning system to include customized planning modules. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is currently one of four state-wide COOP projects being managed by Bold Planning Solutions. Other partner states include the State of Vermont, State of Kansas and the State of South Dakota.

For more information about this project or to request an online demonstration of our continuity planning systems, please contact us at (615) 469-5558 / info@BoldPlanning.com.