Project

Review of the Aargau Cantonal Catastrophe Response Unit

What is the best way to ensure the Aargau Cantonal Catastrophe Response Unit’s capacity to effectively and efficiently fulfill its mission? Working on behalf of the Canton of Aargau, we examined various alternatives for the procurement of new vehicles and equipment for the CCRU.

Ever since its founding in 2003, the primary aim of the Canton of Aargau’s Cantonal Catastrophe Response Unit (CCRU) has been to remain prepared to provide immediate civil protection services in case of any catastrophes or emergencies that might occur in the Canton of Aargau.


Despite this stated aim, however, the CCRU has no independent means of transportation and no equipment of its own that it could use to enable the rapid deployment of persons and materials that may prove necessary in case of an emergency.


In the context of completing a review of the CCRU’s mission readiness, EBP provided a basis for assessing the means of transportation that it will be necessary to have available in the future to respond rapidly in a crisis.


EBP began its review by examining the overall mission, the individual tasks and the organizational structure of the CCRU, as well as the resources available to it, before going on to assess the CCRU’s overall readiness. We then developed a number of procurement alternatives and assessed these alternatives according to the following criteria: desired CCRU readiness level; desired effectiveness level; and cost associated with establishing these levels. In concluding our assignment, we drafted procurement recommendations, emphasizing while doing so the risks associated with allowing economic factors alone determine what to procure when it is a matter of civil protection.

Image source: Canton of Aargau Department of the Military and Civil Protection

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