Preparedness Toolkit

About the National Qualifications System

The National Qualification Systems (NQS) provides an approach to qualify, certify, and credential incident management and support personnel to ensure that personnel deploying through mutual aid agreements and compacts have the capabilities to perform the duties of their assigned roles.

Nationally standardized criteria and minimum qualifications for positions provide a consistent baseline for qualifying, certifying, and credentialing the incident workforce. FEMA recommends minimum qualifications, but it is authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) across the Nation that establish, communicate, and administer the qualification and credentialing process for individuals seeking qualification for positions under that AHJ’s purview. AHJs have the authority and responsibility to develop, implement, maintain, and oversee the qualification, certification, and credentialing process within their organization or jurisdiction.

OneResponder System

OneResponder is a secure cloud-hosted system for organizations to manage personnel qualifications. It supports the implementation of the National Incident Management System’s (NIMS) resource management objective to qualify, certify, and credential incident personnel and aids emergency managers in implementing the NQS.

The system allows jurisdictions to establish position requirements by issuing position task books (PTBs) and provides functions to customize and track training and performance requirements to achieve capability targets. Using a OneResponder account, responders can manage their PTBs and permanently store training and qualifications history in one location that they can access wherever they go. It can be accessed on any device with an internet or Wi-Fi connection including computers, tablets, and smartphones, allowing it to be seamlessly and rapidly employed at all levels of government prior to and during emergency response.

This is not a deployment system; it is a practical online system to help jurisdictions manage their personnel and individual responders manage their qualifications and training history. The system is designed to support the development of a national incident workforce and is free to all state, local, territorial, and Tribal agencies and non-government organizations.

Gaining Access to OneResponder

Existing Users: As of March 20, 2021, existing users of OneResponder will be prompted to reset their password the next time they log-in. Users should log-in using the primary email address associated with their OneResponder account as their username. Password security requirements have increased as part of the transition from beta to version 1.0. Existing users will not be impacted by the release of version 1.0. All existing organizational data is retained and there are no immediate changes to system functionality. Users can review release notes associated with this upgrade in the System Updates section of this site.

New Users: Organization managers can take ownership of their jurisdiction’s account by reaching out to their state’s OneResponder administrator or by contacting FEMA-NIMS@fema.dhs.gov. New responder accounts are issued by invitation only. Individuals interested in using the system should contact their qualifications manager to find out if their jurisdiction uses the system.

OneResponder Job Aids

Provided on the right side of this page is a library of existing Job Aids developed to support organizations and responders in using the OneResponder system. To dowload and access the Job Aid or User Guide of interest, simply click on the repsective link on the right.