Continuity of Government
The OA-Continuity office leads the commonwealth’s continuity and preparedness efforts in the following areas.
Continuity of Operations (COOP)
COOP is an effort within individual agencies to ensure that essential government services continue during a wide range of emergencies. All agencies have designated continuity of operations program managers responsible for the agency’s COOP plan, including essential functions, orders of succession, alert notification procedures, alternate work locations/procedures, vital records and resources, and testing, training and exercise plans
The office helps agencies by providing tools, templates, one-on-one assistance, professional development, policy guidance, and compliance monitoring, as well as exercise development and after action review assistance. The office hosts an annual skills development session and quarterly meetings for planners, joint meetings between and deputy secretaries for administration, and maintains annual online training for employees on safe evacuation procedures and what to expect if the event is significant enough to activate the agency’s COOP plan.
Continuity of Government (COG)
CoG is a coordinated effort within the executive branch to ensure essential functions continue to be performed during a catastrophic emergency or an event affecting multiple agencies. Since many functions are interdependent, such as payment processing, agencies often need to plan, communicate and coordinate together.
The office works closely with information technology staff to make sure disaster recovery for critical systems is in place as well as human resources staff to address policies such as employee safety, teleworking, and essential employee determinations. The office also works closely with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
Enduring Constitutional Government (ECG)
ECG is a cooperative effort to ensure that all three branches of government are able to execute their constitutional responsibilities, provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and inter-operability during a catastrophic emergency.