DHS Renews CREATE’s BOA for Additional Five-Year Term

Up to $8 million authorized to support new research on threats to homeland security

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has renewed the Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) for the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Threats and Emergencies (CREATE) through August 2027, allowing the Center to continue its research to “evaluate the risks, costs, and consequences of terrorism and other homeland security threats (accidental, natural and malevolent) and provide decision-support tools to protect the nation."

The renewed BOA, which will support up to $8 million in new sponsored research, analysis and technical services over the next five years, recognizes CREATE’s expanded mission to study disasters of all types that threaten the homeland, including those related to climate change.

“With the DHS support, we will continue our pioneering research on catastrophic emergencies,” said CREATE Director Randolph Hall. “The world is experiencing new and compounding threats, both natural and human caused. Our research will help prioritize investments and strategies that protect lives and livelihood.”

The new BOA is already being utilized to fund projects related to technology transition and benefit-cost analysis.  Additional projects will be developed in the future through collaborations with the Department of Homeland Security. 

“S&T’s Office of University Programs is pleased to renew CREATE’s Basic Ordering Agreement. The  vital tool ensures streamlined access to the multidisciplinary research capabilities the DHS Centers of Excellence offer,” said Rebecca Medina, Director, Office of University Programs.

From its inception CREATE has employed an interdisciplinary approach to research, designed to inform and support decision-makers in government and industry. “When Randy Hall and I co-founded CREATE nearly 20 years ago, our key to success was that we took a problem-solving approach to terrorism,” reflected Director Emeritus and Senior Research Fellow Detlof von Winterfeldt. “While CREATE’s mission has evolved over the years to include risk and economic analysis of numerous other threats and disasters, our focus has remained the same: to improve homeland security decisions that will make our nation safer and more secure.”

CREATE was established in 2004 as the first university-based Center of Excellence (COE) funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Office of University Programs (OUP). Headquartered at the University of Southern California (USC), CREATE collaborates with research affiliates in the U.S. and abroad, and engages students, staff and faculty throughout the University of Southern California to make the nation safer and more secure. 

Posted November 8, 2022