Many markets and industries today are governed by numerous regulations, laws, instructions or orders. As such, many customers who are implementing mass emergency notification systems are also required to comply with these regulations. Specifically, within the US Dept. of Defense, additional certification is commonly required to show compliance with internal security standards.

Below are descriptions of some of the most common regulations and standards, with a brief description of how our products cater to them:

Department of Defense

UFC 4-021-01
Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) 4-021-01 entitled “Design and O&M: Mass Notification Systems”, provides planning, design and construction of mass notification systems and applies to U.S. Military Departments, Defense Agencies and DoD Field Activities. Appendix C recommends adopting network-centric systems to supplement and manage existing alerting capabilities already deployed as part of facilities’ mass notification systems. The UFC outlines the value of network-based alerting for reaching all IP-connected devices such as computers, personal digital assistants, landline phones, cell phones and email while also triggering traditional notification systems such as giant voice and outdoor warning systems.

	•	AtHoc IWSAlerts™ is fully compliant with the UFC recommendations for network-centric alerting systems

DITSCAP/DIACAP
DITSCAP - The Department of Defense Information Technology Security Certification and Accreditation Process (DITSCAP) is the standardized approach designed to guide DoD agencies through the certification and accreditation process for a single information technology (IT) entity.

DIACAP – The Department of Defense Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process is the new process by which systems are certified as meeting a set of security requirements and then accredited for operation by a designated official. DIACAP has recently replaced DITSCAP as the standard process under which all DoD systems will achieve and maintain their Authority To Operate (accreditation).

AFI 10-2501
Air Force Instruction (AFI) 10-2501 is an emergency management regulation first issued in 2005 by the Air Force Emergency Management Program Planning And Operations committee. It defines how Air Force installations should deal with physical threats such as accidents, natural disasters, HAZMAT, WMD and enemy attacks. It focuses on planning, response and recovery actions.

NMCI Certification
NMCI (Navy Marine Corps Intranet Certification) is a formal approval to allow software and hardware to be installed and operated on the Navy and Marine network.

Alerting Standards

Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)
CAP - The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is a simple but general format for exchanging all-hazard emergency alerts and public warnings over different networks. CAP allows a consistent warning message to be disseminated simultaneously over many different warning systems, thus increasing warning effectiveness while simplifying the warning task.

On May 31, 2007, the FCC announced it had adopted an order requiring all Emergency Alert System (EAS) participants to support CAP in order to facilitate the “efficient and rapid transmission of EAS alerts to the American public in a variety of formats (including text, audio and video) and via different means (broadcast, cable, satellite, and other networks).”

	•	AtHoc’s Emergency Alert System Activation Module integrates with the EAS via CAP. For more information, click here.
	•	To learn more about AtHoc’s support for the Emergency Alert System and CAP click here

Special Needs & Assistance

Section 508
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is a law that requires Federal departments and agencies to ensure that Federal employees and members of the public with disabilities have fair access to and use of IT systems. Section 508 applies to software applications and is primarily focused on usability for people with vision or hearing impairments.

Executive Order 13347
In July 2004, President Bush signed Executive Order 13347, - Individuals With Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness - which adds to existing legislation that provides for students with disabilities, and requires public entities to include people with disabilities in their emergency preparedness effort.