Freight Transportation Resilience in Response to Supply Chain Disruptions (2019)

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144 STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING SUPPLY CHAIN/TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM RESILIENCE The focus of the strategies presented in this section is primarily on the interface between the public and private sector agencies and organizations that have a role to play in such efforts. It is assumed that private firms and companies know their business and have thought through how internally the company will respond to disruptions (if this is not the case, the following guidance will be helpful in thinking through how to do so). Each of the seven self-assessment steps described above had three categories of how capable your organization is in promoting a more resilient supply chain for that particular step. Taken together, they represent a total picture of organizational capability for system resilience. Some frameworks indeed develop an overall “score” for an organization to assess how the organization itself is doing (and in fact such an overall score could be easily developed based on the seven steps). However, for purposes of this guidance it is felt that focusing on each step individually and how your organization is performing with respect to each step is a more effective approach in that users of the tool will focus on those steps that are most relevant to their planning and operations today. Incorporating all seven steps in your organizational strategy provides a good foundation for truly being organized and prepared for fostering a more resilient transportation system….this ultimately should be a goal of organizational leadership. The following guidance is structured in three categories.  Your organization needs a better strategy …..  Your organization is well-positioned, but …..  Your organization has done a good job …. efforts should be made to maintain or enhance these efforts …. The specific nature of a strategy for each step will depend on what that step is intended to do. For example, “Step 1: Organize for Success” will focus on organizational development strategies, whereas “Step 4: Understand Hazards and Threats and Their Impacts/Consequences” would more appropriately focus on the processes and procedures used to anticipate potential disruptions, such as what data are being used? who is involved? what is the breadth of threats and hazards being considered? etc. Thus, the following strategies are provided by step, with a final section discussing how they can all be brought together as an organizational strategy. While Steps 5 and 6 in the self- assessment were necessarily kept separate to determine the capacity of the organization to undertake resilience strategies, in the strategy, recommendations these steps have been combined into one joint set of recommendations. Not surprisingly many of the recommended strategies are the same as the deficiencies noted in the self-assessment guide. Given that every organization is different and will likely have varied levels of sophistication and capability with respect to a particular step’s purpose, the approach should be to examine each of the strategies for areas where the self-assessment indicated there might be a deficiency. This is not to say that other improvements to a particular activity need not be considered if your organization “scores” high on that specific criterion. The characteristic of a healthy, vibrant and successful organization is its willingness to examine its activities in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness. You will note that the highest level of capability in each step “Your organization has done a good job …. efforts should be made to maintain or enhance these efforts ….” still has suggested strategies for maintaining if not enhancing this level of effort. In addition, using this process in an iterative fashion will enhance overall supply chain resilience in an on-going fashion.

145 STEP 1: ORGANIZE FOR SUCCESS Yes, we should do this Your organization needs a better strategy ….. Identify key partners in your own business/sector that would be important to make the supply chain more resilient (e.g., private firms would consider customers, logistics providers, other shippers, etc. and public agencies would consider other public owners of relevant infrastructure, enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies, etc.). Hold a meeting with these partners to discuss future challenges dealing with supply chain disruptions. Know who to call. Establish clear responsibilities for planning for a more resilient supply chain/system in your organization. Include a range of participants representing those who would be most affected by a system disruption (including those internal to your organization and those that are outside of your organization). Establish clear responsibilities for responding to disruptions to the supply chain or for disruptions to components of the transportation system that would have a major impact on supply chains (if a public agency). Develop formal, multi-participant (to your organization) plans to examine the implications of supply chain disruptions to your organization and customers. Establish formal protocols or standard operating procedures internal to your organization for responding to disruptions. Provide multi-participant training on resilience-related topics for the staff responsible for the supply chain or for the transportation system used by supply chains. Conduct hypothetical “attacks” against your supply chain support structure (e.g., against cyberattacks). Are you organized to respond to serious organizational disruptions, such as having redundant systems or alternate decision-making authority structures? Establish role playing exercises with key partners for a range of possible types of disruptions; assess and understand the motivations and responsibilities of those involved with dealing with supply chain disruptions. Hold periodic meetings with key participants in the supply chain to discuss the latest information on possible disruptions, new tools or technologies that can be used to minimize disruption impacts and/or lessons learned from supply chain disruptions occurring elsewhere. Your organization is well-positioned, but ….. Based on the self-assessment, create a management responsibility for identifying strategies that should be undertaken to address identified deficiencies. If necessary or desired, bring in a third party to identify possible strategies for enhancing your organization’s resilience capabilities. Update your internal plans for supply chain resilience periodically considering the latest information available on threats/hazards and how others have dealt with such challenges. Fine-tune your organization’s resilience efforts by conducting “what if” exercises relating to a range of threats and hazards. Strengthen existing capabilities by having top management reinforce the message that supply chain resilience is an important business/public safety consideration for the organization. Recognize those who have done an exemplary job in enhancing the organization’s capabilities. Your organization has done a good job …. efforts should be made to maintain or enhance these efforts …. Reassess (internally and/or with outside participants) on a periodic basis your organization’s structure and procedures for enhancing supply chain resilience.

146 Monitor the performance of your organization in response to incidents and examine how the organization could be better organized to respond in the future. Examine the remaining steps in the self-assessment framework and determine where value-added efforts need to be made to enhance supply chain resilience. STEP 2: DEVELOP A COMMUNICATIONS /INFORMATION EXCHANGE STRATEGY Yes, we should do this Your organization needs a better strategy ….. Develop a strategy for improving communication and information flow on the importance of resiliency to agency staff and for their role in the agency. Develop a policy/business case on why supply chain/transportation system resilience is important to the public/business. Meet with external stakeholders, system users, customers, etc. to discuss the most effective way of communicating information about supply chain disruptions. For private firms, position your organization’s resilience efforts as a market differentiator. For public agencies, portray your agency’s resilience efforts as a part of transportation system stewardship. Know who to call when both planning for resilience strategies and responding to incidents. For example, in hurricane-prone areas many organizations contact the National Hurricane Center for briefings on what can be expected, where a hurricane is likely to land and when. Ensure that communication channels and technologies are compatible with others involved in the incident response and/or establish a master protocol for standardizing communication interfaces. Make sure your organization is aware of the latest regulatory and safety requirements relating to incident response and that the responsibilities in your organization are clear on what type of information to whom should be communicated. Develop a contingency plan in the event normal communication means or outlets are disrupted (e.g., aftermath of a cyberattack). Strategies might include keeping paper copes of key information (contact lists), land lines, satellite radios, etc. Establish communications protocols for identifying risks to your staff, e.g., creating “I’m okay” procedures after disruptions for staff to let the organization know that staff members do not need rescue. In anticipation of major system disruptions that will involve more than one group or organization, develop a protocol that establishes lines of communications and responsibilities for disseminating and exchanging information. Periodically assess the feasibility of new information dissemination technologies in order to update the agency's communications strategy (in particular communicating to the public at large if so desired). Develop information templates to disseminate information to the broader public on system disruptions, if such becomes necessary. Provide training for the staff responsible for communicating the specifics of a system disruption and how to deal with public and social media. Include in this training any new communications technologies that are now available but have not been deployed in your organization. Your organization is well-positioned, but ….. Based on the self-assessment, create a management responsibility for improving your organization’s communications strategies for the identified deficiencies. If necessary or desired, bring in a third party

147 to identify possible strategies for enhancing your organization’s communication’s capabilities. Modify your strategy for communicating during supply chain disruptions based on lessons learned from prior incidents or incidents that happened elsewhere but whose impacts and consequences are known. Update your communications protocols periodically to reflect changing hazard and market conditions. For example, how would your organization handle communications if all telephone, digital and other electronic communications capabilities went down (e.g., cyberattack). Update your organization’s training programs on communications so that staff understand changing resilience messages and organizational strategies. Include the role of communications in all other “function-specific” training courses so other staff members understand the role of communications in what they are doing and what the organization will be doing during an incident. Your organization has done a good job …. efforts should be made to maintain or enhance these efforts …. Reassess (internally and/or with outside participants) on a periodic basis your organization’s communications and information exchange strategies relating to enhancing supply chain resilience. Monitor the performance of your organization in response to incidents and examine how the organization could better handle communications in the future. Examine the remaining steps in the self-assessment framework and determine where value-added efforts need to be made to enhance supply chain resilience. STEP 3: ASSESS CURRENT PRACTICE Yes, we should do this Your organization needs a better strategy ….. Conduct a self-assessment of how your organization is doing with respect to enhancing the resilience of supply chains/transportation systems, and is prepared for handling different types of disruptions. How flexible and adaptive is your organization in responding to different types of disruptions (in other words, if something unexpected happens in your organization’s response to an incident, will your organization be able to adjust its efforts, or will there by organizational paralysis? Conduct an internal hazards and threats role-playing exercise to assess your organization's readiness to respond to disruptions. Does your staff (at all levels) know what to do in the event of different types of disruptions to your service? To your physical assets? To their place of work? For example, does your agency have processes in place for dealing with bomb threats, bio-hazards, large-scale regionwide disasters, cyberattacks, etc.? Examine past supply chain/transportation system disruptions to identify where improvements to organizational capacity can be made. To what extent would different types of strategies (e.g., putting in place system redundancy, diversifying resource suppliers, stockpiling in key locations materials needed for response, etc.) have made a difference? This should occur immediately following an incident in formal debriefings. Identify services or infrastructure use that is dependent on a single resource source (such as electrical power or communications). Assess the implications to your business/organization if that source is disrupted for less than 3 days; one week; for one month. Examine how redundant sources can be tied into your system to be used when necessary (such as how utility companies transfer power from other networks or utilize emergency vehicles from other jurisdictions for disaster response). Examine your organization’s strategies and approaches for assuring the safety of your employees (and their families) during large-scale emergencies. Examine the strategic and systems planning approaches for the physical infrastructure and service

148 operations that are part of your responsibility in the supply chain for their sensitivity to system resilience. Examine the project planning protocols/design criteria for the physical infrastructure that is part of your responsibility in the supply chain for their sensitivity to system resilience. Examine the operations protocols/standards for the services that are part of your responsibility in the supply chain for their sensitivity to system resilience. Examine the maintenance protocols/standards for the services that are part of your responsibility in the supply chain for their sensitivity to system resilience. Examine the emergency/incident response protocols/standards for the services that are part of your responsibility in the supply chain for their sensitivity to system resilience. Do you pre-position resources and supplies to reduce response time? Do you have a database of potential staging areas in your market area that can be used for response? Examine the recovery protocols/standards for the services and infrastructure disrupted. Does our organization approach recovery from the perspective of improving system resilience rather than simply putting back in place the assets that were shown to be vulnerable? Identify where any of the above functional responsibilities interact with organizations external to your organization during an incident. Identify where such interactions need to be coordinated and known beforehand (e.g., during a military deployment). Does your field staff know of the emergency plans for communities and emergency responders in areas likely to be affected? Assess the effectiveness of your engagement with external stakeholders to identify concerns/opportunities they have with respect to your organization's response to or preparation for disruptions, as well as enhancing supply chain resilience (in a pro-active sense). Conduct a multiple-participant hazards and threats response role-playing exercise to assess the readiness to respond to disruptions. Establish a formal recognition strategy for staff members who show exemplary service during incident response and/or emergency events. Conduct an assessment of the training and professional development needs of the staff responsible for enhancing supply chain/transportation system resilience. Do you cross train staff for emergency response activities to provide redundancy in staff capabilities in emergencies? Examine what peer organizations are doing to identify best practice in identifying how organizations assess their effectiveness in supply chain/system management efforts. Your organization is well-positioned, but ….. Based on the self-assessment, create a management responsibility for improving your organization’s current practices for the identified deficiencies. If necessary or desired, bring in a third party to identify possible strategies for enhancing your organization’s processes and procedures. Modify your processes and procedures after incidents based on lessons learned or from incidents that happened elsewhere but whose impacts and consequences are known. Update your process protocols/standards to reflect changing hazard and market conditions, application of new technologies, new sources of information on potential threats/hazards and evolving staff capabilities. Update your organization’s training programs to reflect new procedures or processes put in place to enhance the resilience of the supply chain/transportation system. Your organization has done a good job …. efforts should be made to maintain or enhance these efforts …. Reassess (internally and/or with outside participants) on a periodic basis your organization’s processes and protocols relating to enhancing supply chain resilience (perhaps conduct the self-assessment

149 every 3 to 5 years). Monitor the performance of your organization in response to incidents and examine how the organization’ processes could better handle response and recovery efforts in the future. Examine the remaining steps in the self-assessment framework and determine where value-added efforts need to be made to enhance supply chain resilience. STEP 4: UNDERSTAND HAZARDS AND THREATS AND THEIR IMPACTS/CONSEQUENCES Yes, we should do this Your organization needs a better strategy ….. Conduct a comprehensive study of the potential hazards and threats (or review those that have been done by others in your market/service area) that will result in disruptions to the supply chain/transportation system and the implications to your organization's preparation, response and recovery efforts and other business operations. This might entail bringing in outside experts to brief key staff on future expected threats (e.g., extreme weather) or partnering with state or local agencies (such as universities). Identify organizational strategies for disruptions of different types and different lengths. For example, what will your organization do for a short disruption having very localized impacts versus a disruption that will last for weeks and affect a much larger area? What will your organization do if power is out for a week or more (and restoring power to your service is not the top priority of the power company given widespread public health and safety needs)? Examine your supply chain/markets/transportation system to identify possible vulnerabilities and risks to your networks and systems. To what extent does your organization have control over these vulnerabilities? What other infrastructure networks or systems does your infrastructure or service rely on that if disrupted would affect your organization’s operations, e.g.., the cascading effects of the electric power grid going down? Make systematic and structured efforts to identify where network redundancy does NOT exist in your network such that disruptions in these network segments will likely have more significant impacts on the users of your system/service. Identify the most critical facilities, assets, intermodal connections, movements and/or corridors under your organization's control that require greater attention with respect to system vulnerability. Examine expected economic and financial costs associated with a transportation system disruption, and strategies that can reduce financial and market loss. Examine the impacts of different types of disruptions to your work force and identify strategies for supporting employees during times of stress. Participate in a group (multi-stakeholder) exercise to identify the types of potential disruptions to the supply chain/transportation system and the resulting impacts. Include different system users in pre-disruption planning to understand their needs during a system disruption. Understand the needs of impacted communities and possible organizational strategies for responding. Conduct an assessment of the training and professional development needs for different types of hazards and threats of the staff responsible for enhancing supply chain/transportation system resilience. Examine what peer organizations are doing to identify best practice in identifying threats and hazards and their relationship to supply chain/system management efforts.

150 Your organization is well-positioned, but ….. Based on the self-assessment, create a management responsibility for improving your organization’s current approach to identifying threats and hazards and the consequences to organization practices. If necessary or desired, bring in a third party to identify possible strategies for enhancing your organization’s planning and threat awareness efforts. Modify your processes and procedures for identifying threats and hazards after incidents based on lessons learned or from incidents that happened elsewhere but whose impacts and consequences are known. Keep up to date on the latest information regarding transportation system threats and on strategies being applied to lower risks. Update your organization’s training programs to reflect new threats and hazards that might affect the resilience of the supply chain/transportation system. Your organization has done a good job …. efforts should be made to maintain or enhance these efforts …. Reassess (internally and/or with outside participants) on a periodic basis your organization’s threat assessment relating to enhancing supply chain resilience (perhaps conduct a threat assessment with supply chain partners on a periodic basis). Monitor the performance of your organization in response to incidents and examine what was new about the incident profile that needs to be incorporated into better response and recovery efforts in the future. Examine the remaining steps in the self-assessment framework and determine where value-added efforts need to be made to enhance supply chain resilience. STEPS 5/6: DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT STRATEGIES, ACTIONS AND PLANS Yes, we should do this Your organization needs a better strategy ….. Examine prior steps to determine which recommended actions or strategies are most critical to make your supply chain/transportation system/organization more resilient…develop a strategy for implementing these key actions. If you do not have one, develop a continuity of operations/business continuity plan. If you have one and it needs updating (every 3 years or earlier if experience with disruptions suggests changes in the existing plan), update the plan. Develop longer-term market strategies/scenarios for events that result in more fundamental consequences to the organization’s position in the market or for survivability. These might include:  Creating redundant command and control centers  Stockpiling materials or other resources that allow for more expeditious recovery  Diversifying the suppliers of key resources (such as identifying local sourcing of key materials)  Creating alliances with (perhaps competing) organizations to provide alternative services when disaster strikes  Negotiating contracts before disruptions with those who might be called upon in emergency response.  Jointly developing capacity redundancy in the network with other organizations/agencies that can be used during disruptions  Developing contingency decision-making channels in the event of disrupted communications For the different types of strategies/scenarios examined above, understand and analyze the

151 institutional and regulatory challenges of implementing this strategy beforehand (in other words, do not wait until you try to implement the strategy before you run into regulatory barriers). For example, what are the impacts of the Jones Act, customs procedures, business confidentiality requirements if foreign flagged ships are diverted to another port to unload cargo due to major disruptions at the original destination port?. Prioritize and implement the strategic and systems planning approaches for the physical infrastructure and service operations identified in Step 3. Prioritize and implement the project planning protocols/design criteria identified in Step 3. Prioritize and implement the operations protocols/standards identified in Step 3. Prioritize and implement the maintenance protocols/standards identified in Step 3. Prioritize and implement the emergency/incident response protocols/standards identified in Step 3. For key bottleneck/choke points in your supply chain or network that will become even more congested if disrupted, create location-specific preplanned recovery strategies and plans in coordination with relevant agencies (e.g., designated alternate truck routes that will be automatically conveyed to truckers via a DOT’s traffic operations control center. Direct responsible staff for implementing resilience strategies, actions or plans to examine where in the implementation process improvements can be made to improve strategy/action delivery. Examine what your peer organizations are doing with respect to enhancing system resilience and implement strategies and actions from their experience that are most appropriate for your circumstances. Your organization is well-positioned, but ….. Based on the self-assessment of your organization’s capacity to implement resilience strategies and actions, assign management responsibility for implementing the priority recommendations that have yet to be acted upon. Your organization has done a good job …. efforts should be made to maintain or enhance these efforts …. Reassess (internally and/or with outside participants) on a periodic basis your organization’s capital program and network operations strategy to determine if the recommended actions are still important for enhancing supply chain resilience. Monitor the performance of your organization in response to incidents and examine what was new about the incident profile that needs to be incorporated into better designs and operations strategies for response and recovery efforts in the future. Examine the remaining step in the self-assessment framework and determine where value-added efforts need to be made to enhance supply chain resilience.

152 STEP 7: MONITOR PERFORMANCE AND INCORPORATE INTO CURRENT PRACTICE Yes, we should do this Your organization needs a better strategy ….. Develop and use system metrics to monitor the resilience of the supply/chain transportation system (outcome measures) for short-term actions (e.g., incident/emergency response) Develop and use system metrics to monitor the resilience of the supply/chain transportation system (outcome measures) for long-term actions (e.g., reliability measures for roads or rail corridors). Monitor agency actions with respect to system resilience (output measures) (e.g., number of road- or track miles upgraded to a state-of-good-repair). Discuss with key stakeholders (e.g., key customers or partner agencies) which performance characteristics of your system/service are most important to them with respect to their own business/operations (e.g., expected reliability of product delivery or use of your transportation system such as the availability of evacuation routes). Monitor performance measures of other agencies or systems (or trends over time) as part your own efforts (e.g., monitoring congestion levels on the road network provided by state transportation agencies). Participate with other organizations to help in their efforts to develop system performance measures to ensure that supply chain resilience is considered in their system monitoring (e.g., with state DOTs or metropolitan planning organizations). Periodically examine long-term trends in your supply chain/transportation system performance metrics to determine overall progress toward a more resilient system. Your organization is well-positioned, but ….. Based on the self-assessment, create a management responsibility for improving your organization’s current approach to monitoring system resilience. If necessary or desired, bring in a third party to identify possible strategies for enhancing your organization’s monitoring efforts. Modify your system monitoring to reflect new system characteristics or trends that are going to affect the overall resilience of the system. Your organization has done a good job …. efforts should be made to maintain or enhance these efforts …. Reassess (internally and/or with outside participants) on a periodic basis your organization’s system monitoring relating to enhancing supply chain/transportation system resilience. Monitor the performance of your organization in response to incidents and examine what was new about the incident profile that needs to be incorporated into better system monitoring efforts in the future.