Project Profiles

El Paso, TX – Man-Machine Systems Assessment (MSA) Inc’s, professional services team has been working extremely hard on several projects this year that support the 10th anniversary of the US-Mexico Border Health Commission.  The team recently spent months preparing for the Annual Border Health Commission Meeting in El Paso, TX.  This meeting brings together congressmen, federal health officials, state health officials, and other publicly elected and appointed officials and community leaders from throughout the region to discuss the mission and strategies of the Commission.

The efforts of MSA’s team we’re particularly prolific this year – team member Linda Willer, designed the official coin used to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the commission and Lori Navarrete, also from the BHC team, has coauthored an abstract for the American Public Health Association (APHA) and she will travel to Denver, CO in November in order to present her findings at the APHA national conference.

MSA highly values it’s partnership in the US-Mexico Border Health Commission and is proud to recognize all the employees that have contributed to it’s on going success.

Washington, DC – Man-Machine Systems Assessment’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Program (HSEMP), has been selected by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide support for their Continuity of Operations (COOP) and crisis communication program. HSEMP will be providing this support through a new web-based automated alert and notification subscription service.

Under this contract, HSEMP’s (MSA’s newly renamed National Preparedness Division) recently launched MSAlert notification solution provides a global alert and information to COOP teams during emergency deployments. This notification service provides USAID a robust call system that is capable of contacting personnel via telephone, cellular, email, pager, and BlackBerry devices. In addition, MSA Inc. will provide USAID with a ready-to-use and ready-to-deploy wireless application, which enables highly reliable communications, synchronizes agency assets to Blackberry devices, and brings data collection and business process optimization to USAID’s mobile workforce. This system drastically improves communications ensuring timeliness and continuity to best prepare deployed forces.

“We are very pleased to have been selected by USAID to provide a comprehensive alert notification system and a wireless emergency BlackBerry application to an agency that is pursuing innovative crisis management solutions. MSA is committed to providing mission critical support and establishing ourselves not only as a contractor, but a partner to USAID,” states Justin Pierce, Director of the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Program.

MSA is a minority- and woman-owned small business, headquartered in Washington D.C., and is a leading emergency management and strategic planning support services to Federal, state, and local governments. For information on MSA's HSEMP solutions, please contact Justin Pierce at (202) 408-0042

Washington, DC - Man-Machine Systems Assessment (MSA) Homeland Security and Emergency Management Program (HSEMP) recently partnered with Command School TTX, in support of “Operation Exit, Stage Left” for the Veteran Affairs Medical Center – Martinsburg (VAMC Martinsburg).

This one day exercise was conducted on October 14, 2010 which involved a simulated train derailment and hazmat spill outside the Martinsburg VAMC which caused complete evacuation of all personnel from the facility and the relocation of patients to remaining VA Capital Health Care Network (VISN 5) facilities in Maryland, and portions of Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C.

The goal of the “Operation Exit, Stage Left” was to comprehensively exercise and evaluate the VA Capital Health Care Network’s plans and capabilities as they pertain to a critical incident and resultant mass casualty and surge response. MSA’s HSEMP provided Homeland Security Exercise & Evaluation Program (HSEEP) certified controllers and evaluators for this event and were utilized across multiple locations.

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MSA’s Homeland Security & Emergency Management Program provided subcontract support to the Washington DC Department of Health (DOH) Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Administration (HEPRA) during the first Closed Point-of-Dispensing (POD) full-scale exercise.

Man-Machine Systems Assessment Inc. (MSA) Homeland Security and Emergency Management Program provided subcontract support as lead controllers and evaluators to DC DOH HEPRA for the first Closed Point-of-Dispensing (POD) exercise. This project, funded through the “Cities Readiness Initiative” is a federal grant program administered by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). The purpose is to advance planning and preparedness in the largest metropolitan cities in the U.S. to rapidly distribute antibiotic medications in a public health emergency.

Closed PODs, staffed by volunteers, serve to decompress public demand at Open PODs by diverting as much as 50% of potential traffic. Individuals at Closed POD locations will also be able to pick up medications for family members.

This Closed POD Mass Dispensing Exercise was designed to establish a learning environment for dispensing operations for discreet populations associated with their employer, university, and temporary lodging at 5 locations throughout the National Capital Region. It also assessed DC DOH’s capacity for distribution of medical countermeasures to the general public as described in operation plans.

MSA is proud have been asked to participate in this exercise to better prepare our nations response to a public health emergency.