Aligning Grand Pathways Framework with Essential Government Functions

Appendix 1: Grand Pathways Framework and the Application to Essential Government Functions

The Federal Government has prescribed a series of “Essential Government Functions” (EGFs), the complete set of functions of the Federal Government to lead and sustain the Nation. These functions include:

• National essential functions (NEF)[21]

• Mission essential functions (MEF)/Primary mission essential functions (PMEF)[22]

• Emergency support functions (ESF)[23]

• Recovery support functions (RSF)[24]

• Community lifelines[25]

• National critical functions (NCFs)[26]

Verifying that the resilience science and technology capabilities identified within the Grand Pathways Framework align to the EGFs is an important part of ensuring that communities all the way from the individual up to the Federal Government can benefit from the proposed Framework. While the EGFs apply primarily to the Federal Government, the Grand Pathways Framework incorporates the intent and purpose of these functions on a broader scale. Instead of building another layer of complication on top of the Grand Pathways Framework, the EGFs can be understood to fold into the Framework.

Therefore, it is important to understand how the EGFs align with and complement the societal dimensions and cross-cutting enablers established in the Grand Pathways Framework. These will be addressed more fully in future documentation; however, examples are provided here to demonstrate these alignments. For example, just as the cross-cutting enablers underpin the societal dimensions (i.e., delivering the desired outcome of a resilience community), the NCFs, ESFs, and RSFs enable the NEFs, MEFs, PMEFs, and Lifelines (i.e., the continued delivery of essential functions and lifelines).

The NEFs align to the societal dimensions, describing the functions that need to be maintained/restored so that the United States and all of its communities can anticipate or otherwise prepare for and then withstand and evolve from disruption. Ultimately, the NEFs align to the societal dimensions as both are the ultimate goal for the United States and its communities to build resilience as shown in the table below. While there may be additional relationships beyond those shown in the table, these illustrated relationships show strong correlation between the societal dimensions and the NEFs.

As the MEFs and PMEFs ensure that each Federal department and agency implements functions required to ensure continued performance of the NEFs, most (if not all) are similarly relatable to the societal dimensions. Just as a resilience community is one that maintains and builds its societal dimensions, a resilient agency is one that maintains its MEFs and PMEFs. Some MEFs and PMEFs could be seen as aligning with cross-cutting enablers, as they also are fundamentally cross-cutting enablers of the NEFs. Additionally, for some departments and agencies, the MEFs and PMEFs align to cross-cutting enablers due to the purpose of the agency. For example, the Department of Education and the Department of Labor have missions that build towards education and employment, which are both cross-cutting enablers. The ESFs, RSFs, and NCFs are the cross-cutting enablers—the building blocks that allow the maintenance of the NEFs/societal dimensions, or outcomes of resilience. The ESFs, RSFs, and NCFs are the capabilities provided by the States/locals/private companies that ensure the MEFs, PMEFs, and NEFs can be accomplished.

[21] DHS/FEMA. Federal Continuity Directive 1: Federal Executive Branch National Continuity Program and Requirements (Washington, DC: FEMA, January 2017), p. 3, quoting Obama, PPD-40. Accessed March 20, 2023

[22] DHS/FEMA, Federal Continuity Directive 2, Federal Executive Branch Mission Essential Functions and Candidate Primary Mission Essential Functions Identification and Submission Process (Washington, DC: DHS/FEMA, June 2017), Annex I-1, quoting PPD-40, p. 2. Accessed March 20, 2023. https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/Federal_Continuity_Directive2_June132017.pdf

[23] DHS. National Response Framework, Fourth Edition (Washington, DC: DHS, 2019), p. 33. https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/NRF_FINALApproved_2011028.pdf

[24] DHS. National Disaster Recovery Framework, Second Edition (Washington, DC: DHS, June 2016), p. 36. Accessed March 20, 2023. https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/national_disaster_recovery_framework_2nd.pdf

[25] DHS/FEMA. “Community Lifelines.” Accessed March 20, 2023. https://www.fema.gov/emergencymanagers/practitioners/lifelines

[26] DHS/CISA. “National Critical Functions.” Accessed March 20, 2023. https://www.cisa.gov/national-critical-functions

[27] National Essential Functions (NEFs) from DHS/FEMA, Federal Continuity Directive 2, Federal Executive Branch Mission Essential Functions and Candidate Primary Mission Essential Functions Identification and Submission Process (Washington, DC: DHS/FEMA, June 13, 2017), accessed December 4, 2020, https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020- 07/Federal_Continuity_Directive-2_June132017.pdf