“The NFPA Standards Council originally established a “Disaster Management” Committee in 1991 to develop preparedness, response and recovery guidelines for disasters…. The NFPA 1600 development process closely paralleled the development of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) “Capabilities Assessment for Readiness” (CAR) document. ERI International's "Blueprint for Community Emergency Management" was a source document for this original version of the standard. ERI President, Rick LaValla was instrumental in both the development of the first NFPA 1600 standard and the "Operational Readiness and Capability Assessment” which later became known as CAR. In preparation for issuing the 2000 edition of NFPA 1600, the committee took a much broader "total program approach" and incorporated elements of three related fields: disaster management, emergency management, and business continuity programs. The committee expanded the standard to include activities both before and after a disaster, so that mitigation activities are included as part of the effort to protect life and property. In addition, business continuity and disaster recovery practitioners were involved. “Mr. LaValla stated that he was engaged by FEMA in 1996 to assist with the development of a national preparedness survey of state emergency management agencies that would result in a report to Congress. Mr. LaValla says “ERI was selected because of a long history with developing emergency management program “blueprints,” and assessment methodologies. ERI had also just completed writing the “New State Director's” training program and text for NEMA which contained a comprehensive local government emergency management program design and assessment questionnaire”. “In 1996, the DRI International and the Business Continuity Institute were asked to participate in the standards-making process. As a result, the standard includes elements of the Professional Practices that both DRII and BCI developed and is consistent with DRII’s Business Continuity Planning Model…. “NFPA 1600 has now been adopted as a standard by a significant part of our industry. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, DRI International, the National Emergency Managers Association (NEMA), and the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) have endorsed the most recent edition of NFPA 1600. FEMA’s Local Capability Assessment for Readiness (LCAR) program, which is used as a benchmark for state and local governments, is based on NFPA 1600. NEMA adopted 1600 as the basis for their Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP). In addition, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has adopted NFPA 1600”. (Davis, NFPA 1600, 2005)