HSEEP FAQs

This resource is maintained by

Exercises

What’s in HSEEP?
Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation

HSEEP is a capabilities- and performance-based exercise program that includes a cycle, mix, and range of exercise activities of varying degrees of complexity and interaction. The purpose of HSEEP is to build self-sustaining exercise programs and provide a standardized policy, methodology, and terminology for designing, developing, conducting, evaluating and improving all exercises. The HSEEP methodology provides different exercise types for both discussion and operations based objectives, which can aide a jurisdiction in examining plans, capabilities, and identifying gaps.

Evaluations tied to all types of exercises provide jurisdictions and exercise participants with the mechanism to utilize task-specific and performance-based criteria, which will be used to identify corrective actions and develop an improvement plan for future preparedness efforts and funding requests. A comprehensive all-hazard exercise program begins with planning and training, continues with the exercise itself, and culminates with evaluation and the creation of an exercise After-Action Report / Improvement Plan (AAR/IP) of all activities that occurred during the process. The AAR/IP examines lessons learned during the exercise and transforms them into corrective actions.

More information can be found on the at the DHS HSEEP website.

What does it mean to be HSEEP consistent?
HSEEP consistency is defined as adherence to specific HSEEP practices for exercise program management, design, development, conduct, evaluation, and improvement planning. In order for an entity to be considered HSEEP consistent it must satisfy four distinct performance requirements:

  1. Conducting a bi-annual Integrated Preparedness Planning Workshop (IPPW) and maintaining a Multi-year Integrated Preparedness Plan (MIPP). These were formerly known as the Training and Exercise Planning Workshop (TEPW) and Multi-year Training and Exercise Plan (MYTEP)
  2. Planning and conducting exercises in accordance with the guidelines set forth in HSEEP.
  3. Developing and submitting a properly formatted After-Action Report/Improvement Plan (AAR/IP).
  4. Tracking and implementing Corrective Actions (CA) identified in the AAR/IP.

Why is it important to be HSEEP consistent?
Adherence to the policy and guidance presented in the HSEEP Volumes ensures that exercise programs conform to established best practices, and helps provide unity and consistency of effort for exercises at all levels of government.

Attachments