Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Grant for Enhancing Interstate Emergency Mutual Aid (EMAC)

The purpose of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 NIMS cooperative agreement is to support EMAC, which is a congressionally ratified mutual aid compact that defines a, state-to-state system for sharing resources across state lines during an emergency or disaster. Signatories include all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The federal government doctrinally and financially supports EMAC but does not manage it. EMAC’s unique relationships with states, regions, territories, and Federal organizations, such as FEMA and the National Guard Bureau, enable it to move a wide variety of resources to stabilize community lifelines immediately after an incident. EMAC, established in 1996, is a national mutual aid compact that offers assistance during governor-declared states of emergency. It assists states in sending personnel, equipment, and commodities to support disaster relief efforts in other states. This NOFO aids EMAC’s development and maintenance of a consistent system for the request, dispatch, use, and return of resources necessary to support local capabilities during incident response and recovery operations. The development of a multi- jurisdictional, interstate regional mechanism for coordinating incident management and obtaining assistance to stabilize community lifelines immediately during large-scale, complex, or catastrophic incidents will help to build, sustain, and deliver the core capabilities essential to achieving the National Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient nation.

This NOFO aids EMAC’s development and maintenance of a consistent system for the request, dispatch, use, and return of resources necessary to support local capabilities during incident response and recovery operations. The development of a multi- jurisdictional, interstate regional mechanism for coordinating incident management and obtaining assistance to stabilize community lifelines immediately during large-scale, complex, or catastrophic incidents will help to build, sustain, and deliver the core capabilities essential to achieving the National Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient nation.