BATTLE CREEK, Mich. –
Key Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services employees met to discuss the annual Continuity of Operations Training Exercise scheduled for later.
During a disaster, federal agencies rely upon continuity planning to preserve the mission essential capabilities of their organizational structure. This enables DLA Disposition Services leadership the ability to communicate with customers, employees and other organizations during the most extreme circumstances.
This year’s COOPEX will focus on the ability to devolve DLA Disposition Services leadership responsibilities to the designated Devolution Emergency Relocation Group – a group that will assume command and test their coordination with the remaining Disposition Services senior leaders to continue to perform the Disposition Services’ mission – through a mock disaster scenario.
Over the past 18 months, the DLA Disposition Services COOPEX plan has been under a complete overhaul since the newly appointed COOP Program Manager Charles Combs assumed responsibilities.
In a recent planning session, Combs sat down with a group of process managers from across the headquarters’ directorates to map out which tasks are mission essential that need to be preserved in a contingency.
“This has been a crawl, walk, run, “ Combs said. “I’m not the expert, you all are the experts and I need you to help lead me into the development of a scenario so that we can give the devolution site all the tools they need to play the role of leadership.”
Initially the exercise was planned as a small, minimally impactful operation. Since the initial planning phase, it has grown in scale to be a more robust and capable action that will more accurately reflect a real-world scenario.
More information and reporting will follow as DLA Disposition Services continues to develop its contingency planning capability.