Provo-inspired Information Technology Mutual Aid Agreement poised to be signed by over 25 Utah government agencies | News, Sports, Jobs

Mutual aid agreements are a typical service between local governments when it comes to public safety.

For instance, if a large fire occurs in one city, fire departments from neighboring municipalities are authorized to respond to the scene and provide their resources.

In a collaboration spearheaded by Provo City Information Technologies Director Joshua Ihrig, Utah IT departments in cities and other local government agencies are bringing the same system to the technology realm.

Over 25 local government agencies have signed or are expected to sign an Information Technology Mutual Aid Agreement to support each other in case of cyberattacks, system failures or natural disasters.

According to a Provo City release, the agreement is one of the largest multijurisdictional IT mutual aid co-ops in the nation.

“In research I came across, there’s only a few examples of where there’s a mutual aid agreement between a couple of organizations within local government, but nothing that has been this widespread or of this scope,” Ihrig said.

In case of cyberattacks or other situations that would make important IT systems offline for the public, cities or agencies traditionally have to hire expensive contractors or go through a specific process to get assistance fixing an issue, according to Ihrig.

The new agreement allows IT staffers from other cities or agencies to immediately mobilize in case of an emergency to help recover systems in a timely fashion.

“Right now, without the agreement, if I were to try to respond to another area, I could be at some legal risk trying to respond within their jurisdiction,” Ihrig said. “Under this agreement, we’re able to do that together because we have a framework to do that.”

The eight entities that have already signed the agreement are Centerville, Cottonwood Heights, Draper, Provo, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Weber Area 911 and Weber County, according to Ihrig. Utah County has approved the idea and intends to sign, he said, and dozens of other agencies from southern Utah to Cache Valley are working towards securing signatures.

Ihrig said the agreement includes a library of common policies, tools and direct communication channels. The service is zero cost for the first 40 hours, then expenses may accrue from there.

“The other agencies are going to get somebody that is already trained into the space, has the proper background checks and the other things that are needed to provide those services,” Ihrig said.

The makings of the agreement started two years ago when Utah agencies formed an IT local government team and met on a quarterly basis. Connecting regularly, the IT staffs saw that when disasters struck other departments they were oftentimes left on their own.

“We all wondered, ‘What’s going to happen when it’s our turn to be in that spot?’ because with cybersecurity events, it’s not a question of if, it’s when, and we didn’t want to watch that happen,” Ihrig said. “So I just said, ‘Why don’t we do what the public safety teams do, and let’s do a mutual aid agreement?’”

Ihrig believes the new system will also reduce costs and save residents tax dollars.

“That is really the Utah way, isn’t it? Help your neighbor?” he said. “This is just another form of that, without adding a lot of the legal risk. (We’re) trying to improve and make sure we’re spending every dollar that is given to us by the residents of Utah in the best possible way.”