ACN 116/19 - SEP 2019 GOVERNMENT INITIATED UNANNOUNCED EXERCISE (GIUE) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS FOR FY20

united states coast guard

ALCOAST COMMANDANT NOTICE                 CANCEL DATE 29  SEP 2020


R 301600 SEP 19
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC//CG-5RI//
TO ALCOAST
UNCLAS //N16000//
ACN 116/19
SUBJ:  GOVERNMENT INITIATED UNANNOUNCED EXERCISE (GIUE) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS FOR FY20
A. U.S. Coast Guard Marine Environmental Response and Preparedness Manual,
COMDTINST M16000.14 (series)
1. This ACN establishes the FY20 GIUE requirements for Sector and Marine Safety
Unit (MSU) Captains of the Port (COTP).
2. GIUEs are a cornerstone of the area oil spill exercise cycle and a key tool for
COTPs to evaluate risk and measure oil spill response preparedness. The Office of
Marine Environmental Response Policy, (CG-MER) continues to require the maximum
number of GIUEs permitted under regulation and the National Preparedness for
Response Exercise Program (PREP) Guidelines, while also taking into account the
number of candidates available within each COTP Zone. Units that wish to adjust
their requirements must route a memo to COMDT (CG-MER), via their chain of command,
with adequate justification to support a reduction.
3. GIUE requirements are published annually. For the purposes of GIUE reporting
requirements, subsequent GIUEs on the same plan holder following an unsuccessful
GIUE do not count towards the COTP’s annual requirement.
FY20 GIUE Requirements:
   MSU Duluth                          1   
   MSU Houma                         4   
   MSU Pittsburgh                                           4                
   MSU Port Arthur                                         4   
   MSU Savannah                                           2   
   MSU Valdez                                               1   
   Sector Anchorage                                       4   
   Sector Buffalo                                            2
   Sector Boston                                            4   
   Sector Charleston                                       2   
   Sector Columbia River                                 4   
   Sector Corpus                                             4   
   Sector Delaware Bay                                   4   
   Sector Detroit                                             2   
   Sector Guam                                              2   
   Sector Hampton Roads                                4   
   Sector Honolulu                                          3   
   Sector Houston-Galveston                            4   
   Sector Jacksonville                                      4   
   Sector Juneau                                             4   
   Sector Key West                                          1 (every 3 years)   
   Sector Lake Michigan                                   4 
   Sector Long Island                                       4   
   Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach                     4   
   Sector Lower Mississippi                               4   
   Sector Maryland-National Capitol Region        4   
   Sector Miami                                               4   
   Sector Mobile                                              4   
   Sector New Orleans                                     4   
   Sector New York                                          4   
   Sector North Carolina                                   2   
   Sector Northern New England                       4   
   Sector Ohio Valley                                       4   
   Sector Puget Sound                                     4   
   Sector San Diego                                         2   
   Sector San Francisco                                   4   
   Sector San Juan                                          4   
   Sector Southeast New England                     4   
   Sector Sault Ste. Marie                                1   
   Sector St. Petersburg                                  4   
   Sector Upper Mississippi                              4 
    a. GIUEs are routinely reported to DHS and COMDT (CG-DCO) as service-wide
performance measures. It is unsatisfactory for units to not meet their GIUE
requirements. Units should perform GIUEs throughout the year. Ideally, COTPs
required to conduct four GIUEs per FY should conduct one exercise each quarter.
This facilitates meeting minimum requirements while also ensuring plan holders
are capable of responding in year-round conditions. Units that fail to meet
their FY20 GIUE requirement must route a memo to COMDT (CG-MER), through their
District and Area, outlining why they did not complete the required exercises
and how they intend to meet the requirement going forward. GIUE shortfall memos
should be received by COMDT (CG-MER) within 60 days of the end of the FY.
A template is posted on the COMDT (CG-MER-1) portal page
(https://cg.portal.uscg.mil/units/cgmer/SitePages/Home.aspx).
    b. One of the key benefits of the GIUE program is the ability for units to
identify their biggest risk and apply a structured average most probable
discharge (AMPD) exercise to analyze the plan holder’s capabilities. Some
units have expressed interest in performing GIUEs on Group V petroleum oil
facilities due to the complexity of a non-floating oil response. However,
units must not test a plan holder’s ability to respond to a Group V oil
until new policy is published.
    c. Requirements for AMPD equipment are defined in 33 C.F.R. § 154.1045(c)
and 33 C.F.R. § 155.1050(d). Plan holders do not meet these requirements by
merely staging the equipment onsite. One of the exercises that plan holder’s
receive credit for is an equipment deployment exercise. Therefore, adequate
amounts of this equipment should be deployed and observed in an operational
state during a GIUE. Containment boom, along with all necessary equipment for
proper deployment, are to be in place within one hour and skimming devices,
including temporary storage, within two hours. Units should keep in mind that
these requirements specify criteria to be used during the planning process
and are not performance standards. As such, units may grant some time variance
based on actual exercise conditions.
    d. Coordinating GIUEs with other agencies benefits both plan holders and
governing agencies. Joint GIUEs are a success story as they achieve the goals
of testing industry, improving interagency relations, and providing training
opportunities, while reducing industry’s exercise burden. It is a priority for
Incident Management Divisions (IMD) to conduct joint exercises when possible.
To accurately capture the frequency of the joint GIUEs, the District GIUE
Reporting portal page includes a column to indicate if the exercise was
jointly completed. To facilitate joint GIUEs when partnering agencies have
lengthy documentation procedures, units may delay issuing the results letter
to the plan holder when requested by the other exercise evaluating agencies.
Normally, Federal On-Scene Coordinators (FOSC) have 10 business days to
complete the documentation, but at the request of another agency, the FOSC
may coordinate to issue the documentation at similar times. When this occurs,
the FOSC must inform their District within 10 days of the completed GIUE
stating the details, to include the exercise results and reason for the delay.
This allows the District to log the completed GIUE in the COMDT (CG-MER-1)
portal page for COMDT (CG-MER) reporting purposes.
4. These changes will be incorporated into the next revision of REF (A), which
will be released within the next year.
5. POC: MST1 Hugo Gaytan, COMDT (CG-MER-1), 202-372-2265 or Hugo.A.Gaytan@uscg.mil.
6. Released by Ms. Dana S. Tulis, Director of Emergency Management.
7. Internet release is authorized.