The Unified Command's Joint Information Center for the Gulf Spill is using the PIER System to manage public information and release news, photos, press releases, incident updates, and videos of oil spill clean-up efforts following the Deepwater Horizon explosion incident. The Unified Command website is located at deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.

PIER is a comprehensive web-based communication management technology designed specifically for Joint Information Center (JIC) operations. A JIC is established to provide the focal point for all communications in a response operating under National Incident Management System (NIMS) rules. In a JIC, all government agencies responding come together to collaborate under the overall direction of Unified Command consisting of incident commanders from lead response agencies or jurisdictions. Unified Command has responsibility for all information coming from the response through the Joint Information Center. Under NIMS, if a company is involved with legal liability for the event, they also participate as a member of Unified Command as the designated "Responsible Party."

The Deepwater Horizon incident, also known as the BP Oil Spill or Gulf Spill, is the largest environmental disaster in US history, and quite likely the largest coordinated crisis communication event ever. The incident website is the focal point for communication about the event. Through June 9, the website has received over 80 million hits with over 3 million unique visitors receiving information. The system facilitates the development of public information releases, including the complex approval process. Through June 9, over 2200 documents had been drafted and nearly 1800 approved and distributed. Most of the documents were also emailed to the more than 32,000 members of the media and public who have registered to receive regular updates. An estimated 7 to 8 million email distributions have been made.

One of the most remarkable features of this response is the dedication of the Joint Information Center to respond personally to the thousands of inquiries and comments submitted to the Joint Information Center. PIER faciliates inquiry management by directing inquries automatically to appropriate responders based on categories. Because PIER is entirely web-based, a communication team located anywhere and operating 24 hours can participate in the process including responding to inquiries. More than 33,000 inquiries have been received in 35 different categories and nearly all those inquirers have received personal responses from a member of the dispersed communication team.

PIER also provides the capability to quickly generate data-driven forms that can be used to capture information from those interacting with the response. PIER forms are being used to submit claims in addition to claim submission through a call center. Nearly 4000 claims have been submitted through use of the on-line forms. Forms are also used to facilitate the more than 10,000 suggestions that have been submitted by individuals. The forms are directed automatically to a team of experts assigned the responsibility of reviewing all suggestions and forwarding the promising ones to the response leaders.

MediaTools is an important component of the PIER System and includes the ability to instantly create media lists from an up-to-date database. One of the most important functions of MediaTools used in this response is the media search and clipping service. Through June 9, almost 135,000 media entries have been tracked including almost 16,000 broadcast stories. Each day communication and response leaders receive a detailed report on that day's media activities which include print stories, broadcast, online stories, blogs and social media. Tonality analysis is provided and special reports highlight the major broadcast coverage of the day.

PIER is provided as a NIST-certified highly secure web application without any limit on users, nor restrictions on use by agency or employer. Unified Command fully controls access to the control center of the Deepwater Horizon site. There are representatives from many of the more than 60 agencies responding. At any one time more than 40 users can be found working on the same control center performing different aspects of the response and located either in the Joint Information Center locations in the Gulf region or as far away as London or the West Coast. Social media is a very important element of this response and the various social media channels used by the response are all accessed via the main response website. PIER can also be used to feed content directly to social media sites.

PIER is also being used by responders in the field to submit reports of activities in the field into a control center for a common operating picture. PIER's ability to send text messages is being used to distribute information updates to those requesting it by text. And the two-way text capability is enabling members of the public to submit reports and relevant information the response.

In addition to the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command website, BP has also launched four PIER-driven websites to communicate with the communities most affected by this event. These sites can be found at alabamagulfresponse.com, louisianagulfresponse.com, mississippigulfresponse.com and floridagulfresponse.com. These sites are part of BP's extensive community outreach effort which will be in place for a long time to closely coordinate long term recovery efforts with the affected states and communities. Thousands of people have already used these sites to interact with the BP community relations teams on the ground.

PIER Systems has worked closely with the US Coast Guard for over nine years. All Coast Guard public affairs operations use PIER for routine daily communication as well as for major events such as Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Spill. Similarly, PIER has also worked with BP for over 8 years providing multiple PIER sites for crisis and public communication purposes in many locations throughout the world. In addition to supplying the web-based communication management technology, PIER provides clients such as BP with crisis communication plans, training, response services and drills and exercises. PIER includes numerous federal agencies on its client list and most of the major oil companies, as well as wide variety of other clients in energy, education, healthcare, emergency response and others.

PIER was acquired by O'Brien's Response Management in late 2009, the leading crisis and emergency response provider. With the addition of PIER, O'Brien's resiliency capabilities extends to helping clients, prepare, respond, communicate and recover. For more information about O'Brien's please visit: obriensrm.com.

Visit the Deepwater Horizon Response PIER site at deepwaterhorizonresponse.com for the latest information about the incident.

Additional Resources

• Interview with BP's Neil Chapman

• Read the NextGov.com Article:
  Coast Guard's PIER Delivers the News on Gulf Oil Spill
• Read the ReadWriteWeb Article:
  Oil Spill Social Media