LANSING — Poor communication among state agencies resulted in “severe duplication of work” in responding to the coronavirus pandemic and the state was too slow to make necessary adjustments in the way it ordered essential supplies and too reactive in its overall response, a consultant hired to assess the state’s COVID-19 response said in a draft report.
The Free Press first wrote about the draft “after action report” prepared by a Virginia consultant, Tidal Basin Group, in September, after filing a Michigan Freedom of Information Act request with the emergency management division of the Michigan State Police and receiving a draft report dated July of this year.
But last week, the MSP said it had located additional records responsive to the initial Free Press FOIA request and sent 99 more pages. The supplemental response included a second draft report, which is undated and has findings and comments more critical than those the Free Press received in September.
The newly released information “was an early draft compiled internally and used by Tidal Basin during their research,” MSP spokeswoman Lori Dougovito said Tuesday. “It was inadvertently left out (of the FOIA response), but disclosed and provided as soon as it was discovered.”
The state is paying Tidal Basin Group about $1.5 million for the report, which is being jointly prepared by the consultant and the MSP and is intended to assess the state’s COVID-19 response and suggest improvements.
A Tidal Basin Group spokeswoman said late Tuesday that the July draft report is the only draft report the company has submitted to the state, though “creating an after-action report is a process that requires multiple drafts before reaching completion.”
Among the findings in the newly released records that were not included in the July draft report is that the communications problems among state agencies cited in the July draft report resulted in “severe duplication of work.”
“Communication at all levels is a challenge,” the newly released draft report said. “Most sections have good communication from bottom to top,” but “cross section communication and communication from section chiefs to command and vice versa is degraded,” the report said.
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“The nature of this event has amplified this problem and caused an unclear Common Operating Picture for all.”
The earlier draft report does not cite any specific examples of duplicated work. It recommends improved integration of the Community Health Emergency Coordination Center, housed in the Department of Health and Human Services, and the State Emergency Operations Center, housed in the MSP, “to create functional groups where messaging from one level to the next stays the same.” It also says the integration of those two state emergency coordinating entities to create a “unified command” was “not timely and should have come earlier in this disaster.”
The MSP did not respond Tuesday to specific issues raised in the newly released draft report documents, but pointed to a statement released earlier by Capt. Kevin Sweeney, the state deputy director of emergency management and homeland security.
Sweeney stressed the July report, which the Free Press wrote about in September, is a draft and disputed some of its findings, saying it was not yet complete and didn’t account for a chain of command and other processes the state ultimately put in place.
“The draft Tidal Basin report affirms the strengths of our emergency preparedness that make Michigan a national leader in natural disasters and public safety emergencies and allows us an opportunity to better serve and protect Michiganders in novel, health-related emergencies,” Sweeney said.
The 177-page draft report dated July identifies shortfalls and makes recommendations for improvement but says the state’s overall response to the COVID-19 pandemic was “well-coordinated.”
The newly released records, with the earlier draft report, also reference logistical problems in ordering personal protective equipment and other supplies.
The earlier draft report says the state was too slow to move to a “push logistics process,” under which ordering supplies is based on forecasts of demand, rather than existing inventory levels. That delay resulted in “major confusion and frustration among state and local partners.”
Though the switch was considered much sooner, it “took 2-3 weeks before it was implemented … with supply chains running low and the Logistics Section unable to procure and fulfill resource requests.”
The earlier draft report recommends “an immediate move to a push process” in any disaster that threatens the supply chain and makes resources scarce, globally or nationally.
The earlier draft report says the lack of a “forward planning cell” hampered the response of the State Emergency Operations Center.
“There is very little forward planning in this incident,” the newly released draft report says. “The SEOC seems to be reacting to daily changes instead of planning for the likelihood of events to occur.”
Though not stamped “secret” or “confidential,” the draft reports do not appear to have been intended for public consumption.
“This report is intended for State of Michigan executive leadership, department directors, and those who the aforementioned parties deem critical partners,” and should not be shared without the “express permission” of a specific manager in the MSP’s emergency management division, the July report says.
Cynthia Gutierrez-White, a spokeswoman for Tidal Basin Group, said in an email late Tuesday that the after-action report remains in draft form and is incomplete.
“Several data points are still being received and analyzed, and additional feedback from state employees since the first draft is being assessed by Tidal Basin; therefore, making conclusions about strengths or improvements at this time would be premature,” she said.
“We appreciate the state’s effort to improve their responses to emergency situations, and gladly support them in this process. In the meantime, the Tidal Basin team of emergency management experts will continue to conduct the review and work with the state to deliver a final report by the end of the year.”
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan.
