Service Offerings
- Business continuity
- Certification preparation
- Compliance procedure development and modifications
- Internal control evaluations
- Mock audits
- Regulatory compliance
- Risk assessments
The reliability of critical infrastructure is an increasingly fundamental responsibility for those who build, own and operate that infrastructure. As industry standards for reliability are developed and evolved, you need to know your systems and processes are reliable, compliant and effective.
Our team applies deep understanding of the structure and operation of infrastructure to help you evaluate its reliability in the face of the threats you face.Across the power, water, and oil and gas sectors, we apply experience to develop practical and effective compliance plans.
Risk management and resiliency are focused on safety and reliable operations. We achieve them through a three-prong approach that balances system reliability, regulatory compliance and cyber risk management. Our consultants have experience in all three fields. We strive to improve the safety, security and reliability of critical infrastructure worldwide, delivering the people, process and technology that enables risk and resiliency, preparedness and situational awareness.
As we work with you to examine your reliability program, we emphasize:
- Sophisticated protection and detection
- Response and recoverability strategies
- Logical opportunities for automation
- Better risk visibility
NERC Compliance for the Power Industry
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) 693 reliability standards define the reliability requirements for planning and operating the bulk power system in North America. These standards govern all stages of the energy process from generation to transmission to distribution and cover compliance in:
- Personnel performance, training and qualifications
- Facilities design, connections and maintenance
- Resource and demand balancing
- Communications
- Interconnection reliability operations and coordination
- Transmission operations and planning
- Protection and control
As an owner or operator, you are responsible for North America’s electric grid. With the changing resource mix, the retirement of coal and nuclear plants, the growth of renewable energy resources, and the increasing threat of a physical or cyberattack on the grid, you need a partner to help implement a risk-based approach that addresses these significant threats to your operation and the grid, while maintaining compliance to enforceable reliability standards.
Resilience is one of the most critical elements of reliability for the bulk power system. Our team combines broad industry experience to help you build resiliency in your operations and compliance program. Members of our team sit on committees that help shape the reliability standards, have participated in numerous audits, and configured and maintained assets at a wide range of facilities. Because of our industry experience, we help you identify and counter risk from broken systems and bulky manual processes. Then, together, we break down siloed operations through controls, integrations and automation.
Meeting the Requirements of America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA)
Community drinking water systems serving populations over 3,300 to conduct risk and resilience assessments (RRAs), update emergency response plans (ERPs) and certify those efforts with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency every five years.
For RRAs, we leverage extensive experience with municipal water and wastewater infrastructure, physical security and cybersecurity capabilities to identify and mitigate malevolent and natural threats. Our holistic methods have proven effective in supporting AWIA compliance, assessing risk, resilience, monitoring systems, financial infrastructure, chemical handling, and operations and maintenance.
Our all-hazards approach to ERP development or revision supports incorporating four key criteria:
- Strategies and resources to improve resilience
- Plans and procedures that can be executed during an act that threatens the system’s ability to deliver safe drinking water
- Action plans to be executed to reduce or eliminate risks
- Strategies that facilitate detection of threatening acts
Managing Evolving Regulations for Oil & Gas
Multiple federal and state agencies govern oil and gas pipelines, storage and transportation. We can help you stay compliant, add efficiencies, and develop safe and secure operations. Interstate pipelines are managed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), while pipeline operations are subject to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA).
Our team’s experience guides you in developing the safety, security and monitoring strategies that foster compliance, with a focus on identifying critical steps and internal controls that lead to effective and streamlined operations.
We cultivate in-depth understanding of regulatory guidance to improve your program, including such topics as recently published changes to PHMSA regulations transforming maintenance and safety requirements for natural gas pipelines, designed to increase safety of onshore gas transmission pipelines. We recognize that improvements to documentation and data collection are necessary to reflect the changing spatial patterns of natural gas production and an aging pipeline network.
