Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 120.djvu/2870

 PUBLIC LAW 109–417—DEC. 19, 2006

120 STAT. 2839

‘‘(1) ensure maximum coordination of public health and medical preparedness and response activities with the Metropolitan Medical Response System, and other relevant activities; ‘‘(2) minimize duplicative funding of programs and activities; ‘‘(3) analyze activities, including exercises and drills, conducted under this section to develop recommendations and guidance on best practices for such activities; and ‘‘(4) disseminate such recommendations and guidance, including through expanding existing lessons learned information systems to create a single Internet-based point of access for sharing and distributing medical and public health best practices and lessons learned from drills, exercises, disasters, and other emergencies. ‘‘(g) ACHIEVEMENT OF MEASURABLE EVIDENCE-BASED BENCHMARKS AND OBJECTIVE STANDARDS.— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, the Secretary shall develop or where appropriate adopt, and require the application of, measurable evidence-based benchmarks and objective standards that measure levels of preparedness with respect to the activities described in this section and with respect to activities described in section 319C– 2. In developing such benchmarks and standards, the Secretary shall consult with and seek comments from State, local, and tribal officials and private entities, as appropriate. Where appropriate, the Secretary shall incorporate existing objective standards. Such benchmarks and standards shall— ‘‘(A) include outcome goals representing operational achievement of the National Preparedness Goals developed under section 2802(b); and ‘‘(B) at a minimum, require entities to— ‘‘(i) measure progress toward achieving the outcome goals; and ‘‘(ii) at least annually, test, exercise, and rigorously evaluate the public health and medical emergency preparedness and response capabilities of the entity, and report to the Secretary on such measured and tested capabilities and measured and tested progress toward achieving outcome goals, based on criteria established by the Secretary. ‘‘(2) CRITERIA FOR PANDEMIC INFLUENZA PLANS.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, the Secretary shall develop and disseminate to the chief executive officer of each State criteria for an effective State plan for responding to pandemic influenza. ‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the duplication of Federal efforts with respect to the development of criteria or standards, without regard to whether such efforts were carried out prior to or after the date of enactment of this section. ‘‘(3) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall, as determined appropriate by the Secretary, provide to a State, upon request, technical assistance in meeting the requirements of this section, including the provision of advice by experts in

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