Fedtrak Research and Development

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is committed to using cutting-edge technologies and scientific talent in its quest to make America safer. The DHS Directorate of Science and Technology (S&T) is tasked with researching and organizing the scientific, engineering, and technological resources of the United States and leveraging these existing resources into technological tools to help protect the homeland. The National Institute for Hometown Security (NIHS), which operates the Kentucky Critical Infrastructure (KCI) Protection Institute, supports this effort through the research and development (R&D), and application of technology for community-based critical infrastructure protection (CIP). Congress mandated the creation of the KCI Program to focus on developing new technologies and to convert them to practical use in the protection of community-based critical infrastructure. Multiple projects have been undertaken through the KCI Program. The objectives of these projects are to advance the current state of community -based, CIP, conduct R&D across all eighteen critical infrastructures and key assets, demonstrate technology, develop standards, transfer technology, and encourage data exchange and collaboration to assist communities in meeting the challenges associated with protecting their local assets. These projects respond to capability gaps identified by DHS and were initiated through the research and development capacities of the Kentucky Homeland Security University Consortium, a collaboration of major public and private universities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky formed “for the purpose of organizing and participating in collaborative and cooperative research and development endeavors that protect community-based critical infrastructure from all hazards and facilitate recovery from any such events that may occur.” This Statement of Work (SOW) describes the scope of delivering tracking/risk functionality via the development of electronic manifest functionality in the Fedtrak system to be provided by The National Institute for Hometown Security for the KCI Protection Institute program. The nation needs the KCI Program to continue its focus on developing new technologies and converting them to pract ical use in the protection of community-based critical infrastructure. The2013 National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) identified critical infrastructure areas, and a particular strength of the KCI program is the range of its research expertise and ability to develop projects and technologies in many or all of these areas.