This  community of federal stakeholders is known as the NBIS. Generally, there are four elements  that are critical for NBIC to achieve its early detection and situational  awareness missions established in the 9/11 Commission Act: (1) acquire  data from NBIS partners that can be analyzed for indications of new or  ongoing biological events, (2) leverage scientific and event-specific  expertise from across the NBIS, (3) obtain strategic and operational  guidance from NBIS partners, and (4) develop and maintain information  technologies to support data collection, analysis, and communication. Much of  the information gathered for these biosurveillance purposes is generated  at the state government level. We have previously reported that for collaborating agencies to  enhance and sustain collaboration, they need to, among other things, (1)  have a clear and compelling rationale for working together; (2) establish  joint strategies, policies, and procedures for aligning core processes and  resources; (3) identify resources needed to initiate or sustain their  collaborative effort; (4) work together to define and agree on their  respective roles and responsibilities; and (5) develop accountability  mechanisms to help implement and monitor their efforts to achieve  collaborative results. NBIC Generally Has Not Acquired Data from Other Agencies to Support the Early Detection Mission and Instead Relies on Nonfederal, Open-Source Data

NBIC’s ability to acquire and consolidate data from NBIS partners as well  as from nonfederal sources is central to achieving its mission. However, NBIC officials noted that there are  limitations on the value of final reports for supporting early detection. However, for the  most part, NBIC has not consistently received this kind of support from  NBIS partners. NBIC Uses an IT System to Manage Publicly Available Data and to Communicate Alerts, but Generally Lacks the Ability to Apply Analytical Tools to Data

One of the elements that is critical for NBIC to carry out its mission is  development and maintenance of information technologies to support data  collection, analysis, and communication of alerts. NBIC has taken steps to develop an IT system that can manage  data from NBIS partners and can help identify open source reports of  potential biological events, but NBIC largely lacks data from federal  agencies. However, we found (1)  widespread uncertainty and skepticism around the value of participating  in the NBIS and the purpose of NBIC; (2) incomplete joint strategies,  policies, and procedures for operating across agency boundaries; (3) an  inability or unwillingness of NBIS members to respond to plans for  leveraging resources; (4) confusion and dissatisfaction around the  definitions of mission, roles, and responsibilities of NBIC and its NBIS  partners; and (5) a lack of mechanisms to monitor and account for  collaborative results. Because there is no legal requirement for agencies to participate  in NBIS, agencies must have a clear and compelling rationale to work  together as a community of federal partners by joining the NBIS and  providing data and personnel to the integration center. The officials also  provided several examples of outreach to NBIS officials at all 11 agencies,  such as through discussions with NBIS partner agency representatives at  NIWG meetings. Information on the status  of NBIC’s efforts to achieve its mission has been provided to the NIOC, an  oversight council serving the NBIS community, but substantive discussion  of strategies for overcoming barriers to collaboration that impact NBIC’s  execution of its mission did not occur during meetings with the NIOC. The 9/11  Commission Act charged NBIC with early detection and situational  awareness, but both the act and the operational guidance NBIC has  developed acknowledges that this is to be done, in large part, through the  NBIS—a multi-agency collaborative community. A strategy for helping ensure that NBIC applies key  collaborative practices effectively and consistently, that draws on the  existing intellectual resources of its strategic partners in the NIOC, and  that includes mechanisms to monitor performance and accountability for  collaborative results, may help NBIC and NBIS partners to identify and  overcome challenges to sharing data and personnel for the purposes of  earlier detection and enhanced situational awareness of potentially  catastrophic biological events. In addition, monitoring the  effectiveness of collaboration through the use of performance metrics  could help NBIC ensure they are progressing towards their goal of  obtaining the resources necessary to accomplish its mission of early  detection and situational awareness of biological events of national  concern.
Why GAO Did This Study

Recently, there has been an increased focus on developing the ability to provide early detection of and situational awareness during a disease outbreak. The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act sought to enhance this capability, in part, by creating the National Biosurveillance Integration Center (NBIC) within the Department of Homeland Security. NBIC is to help provide early detection and situational awareness by integrating information and supporting an interagency biosurveillance community. The act directed the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report on the state of biosurveillance and resource use in federal, state, local, and tribal governments. This report is one in a series responding to that mandate. This report focuses on the actions taken by NBIC to (1) acquire resources to accomplish its mission and (2) effectively collaborate with its federal partners. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed documents, such as NBIC's Concept of Operations, and interviewed officials at NBIC and 11 federal partners.

What GAO Found

To carry out its early detection and situational awareness mission, NBIC has made efforts to acquire data from the integration center's community of federal partners, obtain analytical expertise from other agencies, establish governance bodies to develop and oversee the community of federal partners, and provide information technologies to support data collection, analysis, and communication. However, NBIC does not receive the kind of data it has identified as most critical for supporting its early detection mission--particularly, data generated at the earliest stages of an event. In addition, NBIC has faced challenges leveraging the expertise of its federal partners. For example, NBIC officials have emphasized the importance of agencies temporarily assigning personnel to supplement the expertise at NBIC. However, only 2 of 11 partner agencies have assigned personnel to support the integration center. NBIC has developed governance bodies that provide oversight for the integration center and the interagency community. Although the integration center has also developed an information technology system, it is primarily used to help identify and collect publicly available Internet data because NBIC lacks data from federal partners that best support the early detection goal of biosurveillance. NBIC is not fully equipped to carry out its mission because it lacks key resources--data and personnel--from its partner agencies, which may be at least partially attributed to collaboration challenges it has faced. Integrating biosurveillance data is an inherently interagency enterprise, as reflected by both law and NBIC's strategy for meeting its mission. NBIC is to help coordinate and support a community of federal partners for early detection and enhanced situational awareness. Consequently, for NBIC to obtain the resources it needs to meet its mission, it must effectively employ collaborative practices. However, in interviews with partner agencies, GAO encountered widespread confusion, uncertainty, and skepticism around the value of participation in the interagency community, as well as the mission and purpose of NBIC within that community. Further, interviews with agency officials demonstrated a lack of clarity about roles, responsibilities, joint strategies, policies, and procedures for operating across agency boundaries. We have previously reported on key practices that can help enhance and sustain collaboration among federal agencies. For collaborating agencies to overcome barriers to working together, they need to, among other things, (1) develop a clear and compelling rationale for working together by articulating a common federal outcome or purpose; (2) establish joint strategies, policies, and procedures to help align activities, core processes, and resources; (3) identify resources needed to initiate or sustain their collaborative effort; (4) work together to define and agree on their respective roles and responsibilities; and (5) develop accountability mechanisms to guide implementation and monitoring of their efforts to collaborate. Development of a strategy for collaboration and the use of these key collaboration practices could enhance NBIC's ability to foster interagency data and resource sharing.