STRATEGIC PLAN.

SEC. 103. STRATEGIC PLAN. (a) Requirement.—Not later than April 30, 2001, the Administrator of the United States Fire Administration shall prepare and transmit to the Committee on Science of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a 5-year strategic plan of program activities for the United States Fire Administration. (b) Contents of Plan.—The plan required by subsection (a) shall include— (1) a comprehensive mission statement covering the major functions and operations of the United States Fire Administration in the areas of training; research, development, test and evaluation; new technology and non-developmental item implementation; safety; counterterrorism; data collection and analysis; and public education; (2) general goals and objectives, including those related to outcomes, for the major functions and operations of the United States Fire Administration; (3) a description of how the goals and objectives identified under paragraph (2) are to be achieved, including operational processes, skills and technology, and the human, capital, information, and other resources required to meet those goals and objectives; (4) an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of, opportunities for, and threats to the United States Fire Administration; (5) an identification of the fire-related activities of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Defense, and other Federal agencies, and a discussion of how those activities can be coordinated with and contribute to the achievement of the goals and objectives identified under paragraph (2); (6) a description of objective, quantifiable performance goals needed to define the level of performance achieved by program activities in training, research, data collection and analysis, and public education, and how these performance goals relate to the general goals and objectives in the strategic plan; (7) an identification of key factors external to the United States Fire Administration and beyond its control that could affect significantly the achievement of the general goals and objectives; (8) a description of program evaluations used in establishing or revising general goals and objectives, with a schedule for future program evaluations; (9) a plan for the timely distribution of information and educational materials to State and local firefighting services, including volunteer, career, and combination services throughout the United States; (10) a description of how the strategic plan prepared under this section will be incorporated into the strategic plan and 114 STAT. 2300the performance plans and reports of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; (11)(A) a description of the current and planned use of the Internet for the delivery of training courses by the National Fire Academy, including a listing of the types of courses and a description of each course’s provisions for real time interaction between instructor and students, the number of students enrolled, and the geographic distribution of students, for the most recent fiscal year; (B) an assessment of the availability and actual use by the National Fire Academy of Federal facilities suitable for distance education applications, including facilities with teleconferencing capabilities; and (C) an assessment of the benefits and problems associated with delivery of instructional courses using the Internet, including limitations due to network bandwidth at training sites, the availability of suitable course materials, and the effectiveness of such courses in terms of student performance; (12) timeline for implementing the plan; and (13) the expected costs for implementing the plan.