After extensive national and international comparison and through a public procurement process, the Belgian Interior Ministry has chosen to collaborate with CEMAC (BE) and Defense Group Inc. (DGI, USA) for the development of a national information system for cooperation in disasters.
The "Incident & Crisis Management System," abbreviated ICMS, is based on the COBRA™ software platform, which will be adapted to the specific needs of the Belgian users. This first phase of the rollout is to include all cities and municipalities, provinces and relevant federal authorities.
Through 2016, ICMS will arise as a national security network that will allow users to draw up contingency plans and work together during an emergency through various media and platforms, including the sharing of maps, combined logs, tracking the deployment of the emergency services and resources and more.
In later phases, this network will be expanded to also connect utilities, ports, high-risk companies, hospitals and other organizations.
CEMAC, a Belgian company with expertise in the field of emergency planning and crisis management and DGI, an American software developer who has provided emergency management software around the globe, signed a strategic cooperation agreement in 2014 and since then have worked together for the further internationalization of COBRA™ software and the development of new modules.
The first version of the software dates back to 2000. COBRA™ was used recently in Brazil as the Common Operating Picture and Emergency Management System for the World Cup and will also be used during the 2016 summer Olympics.
“The choice to establish a strategic partnership with DGI has proven right, since COBRA™ was selected after a six-month evaluation process involving 12 national and international competing systems. The creation of an “entire country” system including authorities and private sector is a very ambitious endeavour and it is with pride that we start this project.” said Luc Rombout, CEMAC CEO and ICMS project leader.
“DGI has a wide breadth of experience and past performance in the emergency management and incident response domain and we look forward to working with our partner CEMAC and the Belgium government to deliver this important state-of-the-art ICMS” said Chris Boehm, DGI group vice president, emergency and security management solutions.
Basic information about the ICMS can be found at www.icmsystem.be
English language site: http://icmsystem.be/english/index.html
DGI / COBRA™ information can be found at:
