The following is a sampling of the headlines and quotes I've heard or found in the media lately. In summary, the stories indicate that the government is in dire need of your assistance.

WASHINGTONPOST.COM REPORTS: "Staffing Shortages Loom Large in Report on Woeful response to Katrina," by Stephen Barr

Here are some key points from this article.

"Scott Wells, the deputy federal coordinating official for the state of Louisiana, said 'We did not have the people. We did not have the expertise. We did not have the operational training folks that we needed to do our mission.'"

"The report by the committee, chaired by Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), portrays the government as unable to learn from experience or unable to act on what it had learned."

When Katrina roared ashore, FEMA had about 500 jobs that were vacant, and eight of 10 regional directors were in an acting capacity, the report says. The combination of staffing, training and other problems at FEMA are not the only management breakdowns described in the House report ( http://www.katrina.house.gov and http://www.reform.house.gov). The report, written by House Republican members and aides, shows Homeland Security unable to execute plans, coordinate operations or set up a clear chain of command and control."

Rep. Davis criticized the government for a "failure of initiative," "a failure of agility" and "organizational inertia." Other House Republicans deplored what Rep. Sue Myrick (N.C.) called "the bureaucratic mess" at Homeland Security and FEMA."

GOVEXEC.COM REPORTS: "MISSED SIGNALS: Katrina laid bare the sorry state of emergency communications - now what?" By: David Perera

Here is the key point of this article although I advise you to read the full article.

"When Nothing's Working -

Katrina, however, drives concerns about emergency communications down to an even more basic level. The hard truth is that interoperability is meaningless without intact communications systems. A fair amount of emergency planning simply assumes that communications infrastructure - towers, microwave relays and electric or generator power - will mostly continue to exist and function. And many localities do have disaster-hardened land mobile radio systems. In New Orleans, it was a combination of wind, flooding, power failure and urban lawlessness that took the land mobile system down and kept it down.

Every type of infrastructure has a failure point, and this fact applies even more to emergency communications infrastructure that is owned and operated almost exclusively by financially strapped cities and counties. When bits of infrastructure are knocked out, ad hoc networks should just snap into place, say proponents of Internet protocol communications. They want public safety communications to be plug and play.

'You can't plan for resiliency without addressing the issue of interoperability,' says Gerry Wethington, a former chief information officer for Missouri and now a vice president of Unisys. Wethington and others want to institute Internet protocol as the backbone of emergency communications."

U.S. Conference of Mayors Interoperability Survey; Federal Communications Commission's Office of Homeland Security

• 88% of cities surveyed say they do not have interoperable capability with Homeland Security agencies
• 83% say they are not interoperable with the Justice Department
• 57% report they are not interoperable with their state emergency management agency
• 49% say they are not interoperable with the state police
• 38 - 911 call centers inoperative during Hurricane Katrina

If you want to see if any of the lessons learned affects how you will focus on the government this year, read "The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned."

You know what to do.
Your assignment is as follows:

#1. Find the end user whose job is on the line without your products and services
#2. Establish a trusting relationship and train them on your solutions
#3. Work with contracting to close the deal under the radar by using your Multiple Award Schedule, IDIQ or BPA.
#4. Deliver perfectly
#5. Rinse and Repeat

Good Luck and See You "On the Sales Firing Line!"

Eileen Kent,
Federal Sales Academy Director