Our Nation faces a wide range of threats and hazards.

As it is stated in FEMA's 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, under Strategic Objective 2. 3 - Posture FEMA and the Whole Community to Provide Life -Saving and Life Sustaining Commodities, Equipment, and Personnel from all Available Sources, "No

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one agency or organization is able to store enough equipment, supplies, and commodities, or marshal enough internal teams to quickly meet all the needs of a catastrophic incident.

These devastating incidents necessitate the collective assets and contributions of many supporting organizations aligned through a coordinated structure." Communities can address these challenges by using a systematic approach that builds on proven preparedness activities.

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) provides stakeholders across the whole community with the shared vocabulary, systems, and processes to deliver the capabilities described in the National Preparedness System (NPS).

The implementation of the NIMS directly supports Quadrennial Homeland Security Report (QHSR) Mission 5:
Strengthen National Preparedness and Resilience and Goal 5. 3 Ensuring Effective Emergency Response.

Toward this end, Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) provides at the national level a consistent and reliable approach to emergency resource allocation.

The purpose of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 NIMS cooperative agreement is to support EMAC, which is a congressionally ratified mutual aid compact that defines a non-Federal, 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, and the U. S. Virgin Islands.

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 meet the jurisdictions' needs.

EMAC, established in 1996, is a national mutual aid compact that offers assistance during governor-declared states of emergency and supports 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 needed to support local capabilities during incident response and recovery operations.

The development of a multi-jurisdictional and interstate regional mechanism for coordinating incident management and obtaining assistance during large-scale, complex, or catastrophic incidents will help to build, sustain, and deliver the core capabilities essential to achieving the National Preparedness Goal (the Goal) of a secure and resilient Nation.

The National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), which manages and administers EMAC, is the only eligible recipient of this cooperative agreement.

NEMA is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization with headquarters in Lexington, KY, which represents emergency management directors in the 50 States, U. S. Territories, and the District of Columbia.

This cooperative agreement also advances the NPS, which is the instrument the Nation employs to build, sustain, and deliver core capabilities to achieve to the Goal of a secure and resilient Nation.

Complex and far-reaching threats and hazards require a collaborative and whole-community approach to national preparedness that engages individuals, families, communities, private and nonprofit sectors, faith-based organizations, and all levels of government.

The guidance, programs, processes, and systems that support each component of the NPS allow for the integration of preparedness efforts that build, sustain, and deliver core capabilities and achieve the desired outcomes identified in the Goal.