Skip to content
Only Search Business Executives for National Security
Business Executives for National Security
 

Strengthening Public-Private Collaboration

Public Benefit Organization

Hundreds of communities, state and local agencies, private businesses, and other organizations are looking for guidance on the “how-to” of building partnerships.  Our experience suggests it should not be another government program, but rather a federally recognized, but independent, neutral entity.  In 2008, BENS convened a broad-based coalition to explore creating a mechanism that facilitates public-private partnerships nationwide. 

The Coalition had a diverse membership, including homeland security and emergency management officials, military and business leaders, medical professionals, terrorism experts, scholars and philanthropists.  BENS facilitated the Coalition’s work, providing a venue for building consensus around practical, effective, and scalable solutions.

The result is the Coalition’s proposal for a nationally-recognized, independent public benefit organization (PBO), aimed at building resilient communities that can quickly recover from disasters.  The PBO would:

  • serve as a national repository of expertise and a trusted venue for sharing best practices and lessons learned
  • protect the interests of businesses willing to partner with government
  • support government in its efforts to engage the private sector in disaster management
  • ensure greater communication and collaboration to inform federal policy
  • enable a nationwide network of community partnerships
  • serve as an objective, independent broker that can draw on professionals from all sectors and disciplines to address barriers to effective private-public collaboration;
  • work closely with government partners, but operate independent of federal agencies and departments
  • neither mandate nor enforce regulation of partnerships, but allow best practices to set a standard for community partnerships and collaboration

Learn more:

PBO Proposal
PBO One-page summary

back to top

Other Activities
BENS is engaged in a number of other activities that address various aspects of public-private collaboration:

  • National Security Council (Resiliency Directorate) – A delegation of BENS members, including Mary Boies, Hank Greenberg and John Keker, briefed National Security Advisor Jim Jones on BENS' partnership work and the PBO proposal. BENS is working with the newly formed Resiliency Directorate at the NSC on bio-terrorism, pandemic flu and Homeland Security Presidential Directives that affect the private sector.
  • Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction – Led by former Senators Bob Graham and Jim Talent, the Commission has endorsed BENS' innovative public-private partnerships model for homeland security, including at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. BENS is working with the Commission, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Senate committee staff on legislation to implement the Commission's recommendations on individual and community preparedness.
  • Federal agency liaison – BENS’ strong partnerships and its credibility with the Homeland Security Department, FEMA, Health and Human Services and the Defense Department generate multiple opportunities for BENS members to actively engage in specific projects that improve government homeland security and disaster management operations, and provide a business perspective to inform federal policy. 
  • Institute of Medicine, Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events –   Building on its experience with medical supplies dispensing projects in Atlanta and Los Angeles, BENS serves on this IOM Forum with top officials and leadership of professional organizations concerned with preparedness and response to public health disasters.  BENS co-chairs a working group on countermeasure drug dispensing and is frequently called upon by senior officials to advise on public-private collaboration for public health preparedness. BENS has brought the perspectives of businesses such as UPS, FedEx, Wal-Mart, and other BENS’ members to the Forum, as well as sharing the lessons BENS has learned as a pioneer in establishing public-private partnerships.

  • National Homeland Security Consortium – BENS holds a seat in this DHS-funded consortium, which includes state homeland security advisors, emergency-management and public health directors, and their professional associations.   The Consortium, which enhances communication and coordination among emergency management professionals, is administered by the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA).  Its semi-annual meetings typically include 40-50 individuals who represent a core constituency of BENS’ partnership work.  BENS’ membership in the Consortium has elevated BENS’ credibility and reputation for leadership outside of Washington, and the relationships built from this group have proven invaluable.
  • National Research Council Committee on Private-Public Sector Collaboration to Enhance Community Disaster Resilience – BENS’ staff is one of ten Committee members who will direct this study for the National Academies of Science.   The project will examine the current state of public-private partnerships, provide independent validation of best practices and offer recommendations for a national mechanism to strengthen public-private collaboration. A report is due in 2010. Click here for more.
  • U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) – BENS members and staff are contributing business and private-sector expertise to U.S. Northern Command’s review and assessment of the Joint Operating Concept (JOC), which will define the future role of Defense Department commanders in executing Homeland Defense and Civil Support missions within the Continental U.S. and its territories during disasters and other emergencies, such as terrorist attacks.  The review focuses on specific threat scenarios and how they would impact the Defense Department’s response and operations and its interface with local authorities, the private sector and others. 
  • Aidmatrix Foundation – BENS serves as a strategic partner with the Aidmatrix Foundation in its disaster relief supply chain and projects with FEMA, DHS, state and local partnerships, and its prospective resource management projects with NORTHCOM and other military commands.

  • Department of Health and Human Services, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response – BENS’ public-private partnerships work and expertise is informing the Asst. Secretary for Preparedness and Response in preparing the National Health Security Strategy (NHSS), due in 2010.  In coordination with HHS/ASPR, BENS to co-chaired a public workshop to recommend innovative ideas and strategies for implementing the NHSS, with a focus on strengthening the community-level role in disaster preparedness, necessary partnerships, incentives and sustainability.

Last updated December 2009

back to top