1. Long-Term Power Outage Response and Recovery
Tabletop Exercise
Evaluator Briefing
Title:
The title slide screen should be displayed as participants enter the briefing.
[Date]

2. Introduction to the Evaluator Briefing
Welcome:
“Welcome everyone, thank you for being an evaluator for this tabletop exercise….”

3. In this Briefing, We Will Cover…
Introduction to the exercise
Evaluation data sources
Responsibilities
What you need for exercise day
Write-ups
After-action process

4. Goals of Evaluation
The goal of exercise evaluation is to assess an organization’s capabilities to accomplish a mission, function, or objective.
Evaluation is accomplished by:
Observing the event and collecting supporting data
Analyzing the data to compare performance against expected outcomes
Reporting exercise outcomes in the After-Action Report (AAR)

5. Introduction to the Exercise

6. What is this Exercise?
[Insert exercise name] is a tabletop exercise that will be held over [insert length of exercise] on [insert exercise date].
[Insert exercise name] will be a discussion-based exploration of inter- and intra-agency operations around the response to and recovery from a long- term power outage.
The scenario involves
[insert key scenario elements]
Introduction to the exercise:
Introduce the focus and main topics of the exercise to your evaluators.

7. Agenda Time Activity [Insert] Welcome and Introductory Briefing
Module 1
Module 2
BREAK
Module 3
Module 4
Hot Wash/Closing Remarks/Participant
Feedback Forms
Agenda (adjust to actual times):
Walk through the agenda for the day. Make sure to…
Emphasize the 4 modules;
Briefly explain how long each section will take; and
Identify when the break will take place.

8. National Preparedness Goal Core Capabilities
Cybersecurity
Economic Recovery
Infrastructure Systems
Intelligence and Information Sharing
Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Long-term Vulnerability Reduction
Core Capabilities:
Introduce the concept of Core Capabilities, including its importance to evaluators (e.g. EEG and AAR organization). “In addition to stating the goal, the National Preparedness Goal describes 32 activities, called core capabilities, that address the greatest risks to the nation.” See
Introduce the Core Capabilities being tested in this exercise, and briefly describe each one. Remove any Core Capabilities not being addressed by your exercise.
Cybersecurity: Protect (and if needed, restore) electronic communications systems, information, and services from damage, unauthorized use, and exploitation.
Economic Recovery: Return economic and business activities (including food and agriculture) to a healthy state and develop new business and employment opportunities that result in an economically viable community.
Infrastructure Systems: Stabilize critical infrastructure functions, minimize health and safety threats, and efficiently restore and revitalize systems and services to support a viable, resilient community.
Intelligence and Information Sharing: Establish and maintain a unified and coordinated operational structure and process that appropriately integrates all critical stakeholders and supports the execution of core capabilities.
Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Deliver essential commodities, equipment, and services in support of impacted communities and survivors, to include emergency power and fuel support, as well as the coordination to community staples. Synchronize logistics capabilities and enable the restoration of impacted supply chains.
Long-term Vulnerability Reduction: Build and sustain resilient systems, communities, and critical infrastructure and key resources lifelines so as to reduce their vulnerability to natural, technological, and human-caused threats and hazards by lessening the likelihood, severity, and duration of the adverse consequences.

9. National Preparedness Goal Core Capabilities
Operational Communications
Operational Coordination
Planning
Risk and Disaster Resilience Assessment
Situational Assessment
Operational Communications: Ensure the capacity for timely communications in support of security, situational awareness, and operations by any and all means available, among and between affected communities in the impact area and all response forces.
Operational Coordination: Provide timely, accurate, and actionable information resulting from the planning, direction, collection, exploitation, processing, analysis, production, dissemination, evaluation, and feedback of available information concerning threats to the United States, its people, property, or interests; the development, proliferation, or use of WMDs; or any other matter bearing on U.S. national or homeland security by Federal, state, local, and other stakeholders. Information sharing is the ability to exchange intelligence, information, data, or knowledge among Federal, state, local, or private sector entities, as appropriate.
Planning: Conduct a systematic process engaging the whole community as appropriate in the development of executable strategic, operational, and/or community-based approaches to meet defined objectives.
Risk and Disaster Resilience Assessment: Assess risk and disaster resilience so that decision makers, responders, and community members can take informed action to reduce their entity's risk and increase their resilience.
Situational Assessment: Provide all decision makers with decision-relevant information regarding the nature and extent of the hazard, any cascading effects, and the status of the response.

10. Exercise Objectives
Discuss interdependencies within the Energy Sector relevant to response to and recovery from a long-term power outage.
Discuss interdependencies between the Energy Sector and other lifeline critical infrastructure sectors (i.e. Water and Wastewater Sector, Transportation Systems Sector, and the Communications Sector) relevant to response to and recovery from a long-term power outage.
Identify and discuss interdependencies between the Energy Sector and other critical infrastructure sectors (e.g. Emergency Services Sector, Healthcare and Public Health Sector, Information Technology Sector) [as relevant to the selected scenario] relevant to response to and recovery from a long-term power outage.
Objectives:
Read through the objectives for the exercise.

11. Exercise Objectives [continued]
Discuss the human and societal impacts of long-term power outage.
Identify and discuss the impacts that a long-term power outage would have on fuel distribution and provisioning, including challenges surrounding fuel allocation prioritization.
Discuss the stakeholders and factors associated with power restoration prioritization decision-making.
Identify public sector emergency management, public utility, and private utility resources and functions that must be maintained or prioritized for restoration following a widespread power outage.
Identify avenues for public sector emergency management, public utility, and private utility stakeholders to operationally integrate during response to and recovery from a long-term power outage.
Objectives:
Read through the objectives for the exercise.

12. Exercise Staffing Evaluators: Facilitators: Exercise Support: [Insert]
Lead your evaluators through the exercise staffing for the day, including who will be serving as point person for any questions during the day.

13. Evaluation Data Sources

14. Evaluation Data Sources: Written and Verbal
Explain the different data sources your evaluators will be utilizing and responsible for during the exercise.
Written Evaluation
Exercise evaluation guides (EEGs)
Notes
Verbal Evaluation
Hot wash
Facilitator/evaluator debrief

15. Evaluator Responsibilities

16. Pre-Exercise Attend (this) evaluator briefing.
Understand the exercise objectives, core capabilities, and scenario.
Be familiar with the plans, policies, and procedures for the function or organization being evaluated.
Review all exercise documentation provided to you.
Pre-exercise:
Explain the expectations of evaluators before the exercise. Make sure to include what information will be sent to them and when it will be sent.

17. During the Exercise Report/check-in with [insert contact].
Use EEGs or other tools to document performance relative to exercise objectives, core capabilities, capability targets, and critical tasks.
During the exercise:
Tell your evaluators who they will check-in with and who will provide any day-of materials to them. Explain the targets and tasks that will be a focus of the exercise.

18. Following the Exercise
Immediately following the exercise
Participate in hot wash
Take notes on conversations
Participate in the facilitator/evaluator debrief
Take notes and participate in conversations
Use this time to ask any questions from your notes during the exercise
The week following the exercise
“Digest” your data
Submit write-up to [insert contact]
Communicate any questions or gaps that you hope to have addressed either as the AAR is drafted or in the after-action meeting
Following the exercise:
Describe the after exercise expectations, including the hot wash and debrief. Ask your evaluators to “digest” their date, or take time to understand and form an organized evaluation based on his/her notes. Additional guidance around how this “digestion” should look is offered in the section on write-ups.

19. After-Action Process

20. Evaluator Write-Ups
“Digest” the information from your EEGs/evaluation tools
Identify strengths
Identify areas for improvement
Problem statement
Description/root cause analysis
Recommendation for improvement (optional, but encouraged)
Reference(s) (if you know it/them)
Avoid calling out a single individual’s performance; try to generalize, but, if you can’t, we will work to do this when drafting the AAR
Evaluator Write-Ups:
Describe the expectations of your evaluators’ write-ups.
Note: The components listed on the slide are suggestions. Please customize the content based on how the exercise planning team would like to receive the information.

21. Evaluator Write-Ups Acceptable Formats:
The goal of your evaluation is to communicate a version of your thoughts that can be understood and used as data in the development of the AAR.
Please be clear and specific!
If there are known gaps in your perspective, please communicate these.
Submit to [insert contact].
Acceptable Formats:
PREFERRED:
Typed in paragraph, full- sentence format
Evaluator Write-Ups:
Describe the expectations of your evaluators’ write-ups.
Note: The components listed on the slide are suggestions. Please customize the content based on how the exercise planning team would like to receive the information.
ACCEPTABLE:
Handwritten and scanned

22. After-Action Report Draft
Initial draft prepared in advance of the after-action meeting.
Generally includes the items evaluators will submit as their write-ups:
Strengths
Areas for improvement
Problem statement
Description/root cause analysis
Recommendation for improvement (optional, but encouraged)
Reference(s) (if known)
Generally does not include a full list of corrective actions/Improvement Plan.
DRAFT
After-Action Report:
Explain the process that will be followed for the AAR drafting, including who is responsible for drafting the report.

23. After-Action Meeting [Insert day and time, if known]
[Insert expected participation of evaluators (Participate in person, via teleconference, no expected participation, etc.)]
Goals of the meeting
Validate strengths and areas for improvement
Validate any preliminary recommendations
Identify additional recommendations
Begin work on Improvement Plan
After-Action Meeting:
Describe the after-action meeting included when and where it will be held, how your evaluators are expected to participate, and the goals of the meeting.

24. Final After-Action Report
Implement feedback obtained in the after-action meeting
Build out the Improvement Plan
Final AAR:
Explain how the AAR will be finalized following the after-action meeting and explain any next steps, if applicable. Explain if and how the final report will be disseminated.

25. KEY CONTACTS Name Title, Agency Email Phone Contact:
Share the applicable contact information to the evaluators for information leading up to the exercise.

26. THANK YOU
Thank You:
Thank the group for being evaluators during the exercise.