OSRR-1048-Developing a Capabilities-Based Framework for Designing and Evaluating Oil Spill Response Exercises

The objective of this project is to develop a framework that identifies capabilities critical to marine oil spill response readiness, and maps them to the design concepts and evaluation techniques for each capability within an exercise. GWU will research existing literature and couple that with their experience in other industries to develop a set of capabilities, exercise design concepts and evaluation techniques. GWU will observe four oil spill response exercises to collect data for analysis using Atlas.ti software. This information will be used to identify measureable elements within an exercise that demonstrates a capability. The final report will provide guidelines for using the framework to design and evaluate oil spill response exercises to ensure that each exercise is effective in testing and improving oil spill response readiness.