Appendix A: Scope and Methodology
Our objectives were to evaluate the Board's contingency planning and COOP to ensure that they provide a coordinated strategy involving plans, procedures, and technical measures to enable the recovery of information systems, operations, and data after a disruption. We also reviewed the COOP operations for potential cost savings.
To accomplish our objectives, we completed the following steps:
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We reviewed relevant Board documents, including the Board's Volume I COOP, Volume II division COOPs, and COOP test results.
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We developed interview questions and conducted interviews of Board employees with continuity roles and responsibilities throughout the Board divisions, with the exception of the Division of Financial Management, which was recently created.
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We performed a site visit of the Board's alternate work site relocation facility.
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We reviewed applicable sections of the following documents:
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National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive (National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20), National Continuity Policy, May 2007
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Federal Continuity Directive 1 (FCD-1), Federal Executive Branch National Continuity Program and Requirements, February 2008
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Federal Continuity Directive 1 (FCD-1), Federal Executive Branch National Continuity Program and Requirements, October 2012
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U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Continuity Guidance Circular, Continuity Guidance for Non-Federal Entities (States, Territories, Tribal, and Local Government Jurisdictions and Private Sector Organizations), July 2013
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U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Preparedness Circular 65, Federal Executive Branch Continuity of Operations (COOP), June 2004
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National Institute of Standards and Technology, Special Publication 800-34, Contingency Planning Guide for Federal Information Systems, May 2010
We conducted our fieldwork from July 2013 to March 2014. In April 2014, we provided our initial observations related to potential cost savings. We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objective. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objective.
