Federal facilities such as United States (US) Courthouses, Department of State (DoS) office buildings, National Financial Centers as well as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) field offices and headquarters are required to protect their employees and visitors, and in some cases, maintain operations in the event of an attack. At PEC, our engineers and security professionals are experienced with assessment and design of Federal facilities of all Facility Security Levels (FSLs). We have also worked directly with the General Services Administration (GSA) to write protective design criteria such as the GSA Interpretation document which provides additional design requirements for blast design and protection specific to GSA buildings.
Experts at Protecting Federal Facilities
The Interagency Security Committee (ISC), chaired by Department of Homeland Security (DHS), developed the Risk Management Process (RMP) and companion documents to provide the security standards and best practices for nonmilitary Federal facilities in the United States. The extent of protection and security requirements of a given Federal building (new or existing) is directly related to its assigned facility security level (FSL). The FSL ranges from FSL I (low level security) to FSL V (high level security) and is usually determined by the government Facility Security Committee (FSC). Appendix A of the ISC RMP (The Design-Basis Threat Report) provides detail information about Undesirable Events (Threats) associated with Federal facility security and is used in combination with Appendix B (Countermeasures) and the GSA’s interpretation document to incorporate specific mitigation measures such as setbacks, barriers, blast-resistant glazing, separation of critical utilities and others into the design and renovation of Federal buildings. Let us know how we may help!
Resources
- ISC Risk Management Process for Federal Facilities
- ISC Design Basis Threat Report
- ISC Countermeasures\
- GSA’s Interpretation of the ISC RMP for Federal Facilities: An Interagency Security Committee Standard – Appendix B: Countermeasures
- Alternate Path Analysis & Design Guidelines for Progressive Collapse Resistance
- ASCE 59-11 Blast Protection of Buildings
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