The escalating cost and greater frequency of natural disasters have added challenges for local emergency managers and the procurement officials who support their efforts. 

One key to saving lives in such events are emergency alert systems that warn residents that it’s time to get out of harm’s way.  That’s not an easy task and involves reaching individuals who have a variety of disabilities that can interfere with hearing, seeing, understanding or ambulating successfully. In addition, people speak and understand a variety of languages, live in wildly different environments, and may have limited access to the Internet, cell phones, transportation or nearby neighbors.  

“You have to be sure you can reach all the people and that messages go out through multiple types of systems,” says Kristy Varda, Contracting Officer with Loudoun County, Virginia.

Adds Scott Robinson who has been researching emergency management issues since 2000 and is an associate director of the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University, “you need to have a portfolio of warning that matches the demographics and needs of a particular community,” 

There are also complexities in handling – and preparing for – the variety of disasters whether the threat is a wildfire, flood, hurricane, tornado or earthquake. Other considerations flow from when a natural disaster occurs, particularly when the most significant danger takes place at night. 

During the July 4^th holiday weekend, the unexpected severity of the heartbreaking Guadalupe River flood in Kerr and surrounding Texas counties led to at least 136 fatalities, including 27 girls and counselors at Camp Mystic near the shore of the river. While the National Weather Service issued multiple flood warnings during July 3 and the early morning hours of July 4, and many individuals were able to evacuate to safety, multiple questions arose after the flood about the adequacy of alerts, particularly in Kerr County. 

In an article on EMS1.com shortly after the flood, Judge Rob Kelly, Kerr County’s top elected official, was quoted as saying that “nobody saw this coming” and in fact, the flood of that size in that place was expected to occur once in 100 years. As he explained to AP reporters at the time, a flood warning system had been considered in Kerr County prior to the pandemic, but given the expense, that idea did not result in action.

An Uncertain Future

The complexity of intergovernmental relations, competition with other needs, and a lack of available local funding pose familiar problems to emergency managers and procurement officials who strive to keep residents safe when disaster strikes.

Emergency management experts speak of an uncertain future and worry that state and local governments, which prepare and respond to natural disasters, lack the taxing authority and budget to take on funding responsibility. “They literally don’t have the budget to do so,” says Robinson.

The cash shortage is being amplified as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is in doubt. FEMA has provided funding, generally in the form of post-disaster grants. Political and policy discussions have included both elimination or dramatic downsizing of this agency, with the shift of emergency management funding from the federal government to local governments and the states.  

Challenging the vendors

Two months before the Guadalupe flood, the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) had already been working on a TXShare cooperative contract designed to help local governments improve the systems they have for alerting residents of immediate dangers if fire, flood, tornado or other threat to life and property is heading toward them.

“We heard from our members there was a need,” says Jonathan Blackman, Assistant Director of Administration at NCTCOG.  “We receive as much input as we can from our members or possible users of these contracts as we’re compiling the RFP. We aren’t the boots on the ground during these emergency situations, so we don’t know what the needs are.”

As Varda explains, with a challenge-oriented RFP, you’re telling the vendors what you need and giving them more latitude to outline what they see as the best approach. “You want to be open enough to be flexible for new technology, changing ideas and changing ways of doing business,” she says.

Work on the contract was spurred by requests from Council of Government members in spring 2025. Once the RFP closed on July 2, just two days before the earlier warnings of a Guadalupe flood escalated dramatically, three vendors were awarded out of the five that bid. The selection followed extensive vetting and evaluation that included participation by four cities, ranging in size from 8,500 to 61,000, that were included among the governments that had asked for the contract.

Lessons learned

About a dozen years ago, Varda worked for Fairfax County where she led an earlier emergency alert contract procurement that involved 18 cities and counties located in the Washington DC region, and was funded through a Homeland Security grant that was delivered by the capital area Council of Governments.

In handling this large contract, Varda learned about some of the important issues local governments face when purchasing newer technology solutions. One was to make sure the new systems were secure “so you’re not vulnerable to hackers or nefarious people who are out there,” she says. Another challenge was ensuring that newer technology interfaced successfully with older software. 

The other issue inherent in dealing with fast-changing technology was the resistance of managers who are familiar with previous systems. “You have to overcome that fear of change,” she says, noting that employees often veer toward new systems that operate in a parallel way to ones they’ve worked with in the past even if that is no longer possible or desirable.

While technological advances may present new tools for rapid communication, some represent a two-edged sword. In the past, a large majority of people received weather information from the local news in the evening or from local television or radio news in the morning. “There is no majority source anymore,” says Robinson. “There isn’t a single place that gets most people information. People aren’t watching local news. They’re maybe watching a YouTube channel or looking for information on Instagram.”

Ensuring that emergency alerts work effectively also means making sure that there is an educational/training element so that residents have advance knowledge of what to do when confronted by a natural disaster. In addition, if there is an alert system that’s optional, it’s important to make sure that people know how to sign up for the alerts.

Another problem has been the growing lack of trust in government. “There are people who don’t believe warning messages,” says Robinson. “They may think that storms are exaggerated to scare people.” 

(Procurement for the Future articles are supported by Civic Marketplace.)

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