Agency official urges routine practice of PACE plans to preserve communications during degradations

An agency official explained PACE planning — "primary, alternate, contingency, and emergency" — and urged personnel to practice the plan regularly to keep communications operational when systems degrade.

The official said PACE planning is "developed by a group of folks within an agency" to provide ordered fallbacks for communications and emphasized that both planners and technical staff must be involved. "The technical and planning aspects are the two key pillars of pace planning," the agency official said, arguing that planners define who does what while technical staff verify the methods can be implemented.

The presenter described the practical hierarchy the agency uses: daily communications through Teams as the primary channel; a Land Mobile Radio (LMR) system as an alternate; email as a contingency when staff are remote; and face-to-face contact as the emergency fallback. The official noted operational details that can become critical in a degradation, such as knowing one another’s call signs and keeping printed contact lists so teams can reach one another without digital directories.

The official also named an additional tool, referred to in the presentation as "oxcom," as part of the agency’s emergency options. On individual readiness, the presenter said, "I think every single person should be intimately aware of their pace plan," and urged staff to feel "comfortable maneuvering forward and backward on the pace plan" because the timing and severity of degradations are unpredictable.

To keep plans current, the official warned against attempting to write or revise plans during an active event and recommended regular rehearsal. The presenter recommended practicing during Emergency Communications Month and suggested monthly tabletop exercises to talk through responses to specific channel degradations.

The recording closed with nonverbal audio and no formal motions or decisions were recorded.