Forward Security Labs

Tabletop Exercise Consulting
for Real-World Readiness

I provide tabletop exercise consulting for hospitals, health systems, healthcare coalitions, trauma systems, EMS, public health, emergency management, and government teams. I design and facilitate customized exercises using applicable HSEEP principles, with the scope built around your objectives, plans, and operating environment.

Engagements range from a single facilitated exercise through multi-facility regional exercise programs. FSL can lead the work directly or deliver a defined exercise work package under a prime contractor, consulting firm, or preparedness partner. Ready-to-run packages are also available for teams that want to self-facilitate.

Regional Medical Surge Trauma System Surge Patient Distribution Mass Casualty Active Shooter Ransomware Business Continuity

Prefer to run it yourself? Explore ready-to-run exercises →

Prime contractor or delivery partner? See teaming and subcontract options →

Exercises designed and facilitated by Michael Messina, a U.S. Army combat veteran with 20+ years in emergency healthcare, including paramedic operations and EMS supervisory leadership. B.S. in Cybersecurity, Cum Laude.  ·  SBA Certified SDVOSB  ·  Connecticut Veteran-Owned Micro Business Certified  ·  SAM.gov Registered  ·  CAGE: 1AFL4  ·  UEI: XLRANAT2ULJ9

SBA Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business certified
Flagship Engagement

Tabletop Exercise Consulting for Hospitals and Regions

A scoped exercise development, facilitation, evaluation, and improvement-planning engagement for organizations coordinating multiple hospitals, agencies, or partners. This is a consulting program with planning work and stakeholder coordination, not a larger version of a download.

EMS teams testing ePCR, dispatch, communications, and handoffs can start with the EMS Downtime Exercise Guide.

Health Systems · Coalitions · Trauma Systems · Government
Regional & Hospital Program
From $20,000
Scoped to the number of participating organizations, the complexity of the scenario, the depth of evaluation, and whether delivery is virtual, hybrid, or on site. Every engagement is quoted individually after a scoping conversation.
Milestone-based payment schedules are available for grant-funded and agency budget cycles.
Discuss a Regional Exercise
Scope can include
✓Planning meetings with your exercise planning team
✓Review of client-provided plans, procedures, and annexes
✓Customized exercise objectives tied to your capabilities
✓Scenario and inject development
✓Situation Manual and facilitator materials
✓Regional exercise facilitation across participating organizations
✓Individual facility exercises where separate testing is needed
✓Structured evaluation and facility-level findings
✓Consolidated After-Action Report and Improvement Plan (AAR/IP)
✓Executive findings briefing for leadership or a governing body
✓Virtual, hybrid, or on-site delivery
✓Documentation developed using applicable HSEEP principles and agreed client requirements
Healthcare and Regional Preparedness

Testing a system, not a building

A single-facility exercise tells you how one hospital performs. A regional healthcare exercise tells you what happens when several of them need the same transport resource, the same specialty bed, or the same receiving center in the same hour.

Capabilities a medical surge exercise can test
›Regional medical surge across facility tiers
›Trauma system surge and system-wide saturation
›Patient distribution across receiving facilities
›Rural and non-trauma hospital stabilization
›Interfacility transfer to higher levels of care
›Constrained receiving capacity and diversion decisions
›Competing transfer requests from multiple facilities
›EMS and transport resource limitations
›Bed availability and critical care capacity
›Operating room and specialty-resource constraints
›Blood product availability and staffing pressures
›Regional communications and notification chains
›Situational awareness across participating organizations
›Escalation, coordination, and decision authority
›Continuity of operations during healthcare disruptions

Each participating facility can receive its own findings. The program receives a consolidated AAR/IP suitable for leadership review, corrective action tracking, and reporting to a governing or funding body.

How an Engagement Works

The exercise program lifecycle

Every customized engagement follows the same five phases, scaled to the size of the program.

01
Discover
Objectives, participating organizations, plans, procedures, risks, capabilities, and operational assumptions.
02
Design
Customized scenario, injects, discussion questions, Situation Manual, facilitator materials, and evaluation framework.
03
Exercise
Professional facilitator-led delivery, virtual or on site, with breakout structure where multiple organizations participate.
04
Evaluate
Capture strengths, gaps, bottlenecks, dependencies, and corrective actions against the stated objectives.
05
Improve
After-Action Report and Improvement Plan, plus an executive findings briefing where appropriate.

Exercise documentation is developed consistent with applicable Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) principles. Forward Security Labs is an independent consulting firm and is not certified, accredited, or endorsed by FEMA or DHS.

Prime, Subcontract & Partner Delivery

One exercise capability. Two delivery models.

Forward Security Labs can lead an exercise directly for the end client or deliver a defined exercise work package under a prime contractor, consulting firm, or preparedness partner. The delivery structure is agreed before proposal submission or work begins.

Direct Delivery

Direct, FSL-Led Engagement

For agencies, health systems, coalitions, and organizations engaging Forward Security Labs directly. FSL remains client-facing and leads the agreed exercise scope from planning through final deliverables.

  • Discovery, objectives, and exercise planning
  • Scenario, inject, and Master Scenario Events List development
  • Situation Manual and facilitator materials
  • Facilitation, evaluation, and hot wash
  • After-Action Report and Improvement Plan
  • Scoped specialist support when the engagement requires it
Prime-Led Delivery

Prime-Led and Subcontract Delivery

Your client stays your client.

For prime contractors, emergency-preparedness firms, healthcare consultants, and training providers that need additional delivery capacity without surrendering the account. The prime retains the client relationship and contractual lead. FSL performs the agreed work package as a white-label resource, named subcontractor, or delivery partner.

Any client-facing role or direct communication occurs only within the approved delivery structure.

  • Scenario, inject, MSEL, and SitMan development
  • Controller, evaluator, and facilitator materials
  • Facilitation or co-facilitation
  • Evaluation, AAR/IP, and corrective-action tracking
  • White-label or named-subcontractor delivery
  • Defined work packages for proposal-stage or active-project support

Clear boundaries before work begins

Scope, workshare, branding, client ownership, communication boundaries, confidentiality, data handling, schedule, acceptance criteria, invoicing, and payment are documented before activation.

FSL works within the agreed delivery structure. Any client-facing role, direct communication, attribution, or use of names and credentials is limited to what the parties approve in writing. FSL does not make commitments on behalf of the prime.

Single-Organization Engagements

Not running a whole region yet?

Facilitated and custom exercises for a single hospital, agency, department, or organization.

Facilitated Exercise
From $999 virtual
We facilitate, your team participates. Built on an existing exercise package. Single organization, single session.
✓Full exercise package included
✓Live virtual facilitation via your video platform
✓Pre-exercise participant briefing
✓Real-time inject delivery and discussion management
✓Facilitated hot wash at exercise conclusion
✓Debrief summary within 5 business days
Discuss an Exercise
Custom Exercise
From $1,500 / exercise
Your scenario, your organization, your specific risks and plans. Built from scratch. Single organization.
✓Scenario built around your operations and threats
✓Injects tailored to your systems and personnel
✓Mapped to client-identified regulatory, accreditation, grant, or contractual requirements where applicable
✓Situation Manual, facilitator materials, and evaluation forms
✓One round of revisions included
✓Facilitation and AAR/IP available as add-ons
Request a Custom Exercise
Ongoing Program
From $750/mo
A recurring exercise cadence for organizations that need exercises, corrective-action follow-up, and continuity testing maintained as an actual program rather than a once-a-year scramble.
✓One new exercise package per quarter
✓After-action review support for each exercise
✓Annual operational resilience assessment
✓Access to the exercise library as it grows
✓Priority turnaround on custom requests
Discuss an Ongoing Program
Pricing note: starting prices assume the scope described above. On-site delivery, travel, multi-session facilitation, additional planning meetings, extensive plan review, specialized evaluation, accelerated timelines, printing/shipping, and expanded AAR/IP work are scoped separately before work begins. Prime and subcontract work packages are scoped separately based on deliverables, schedule, branding, and workshare.

Want to build this capability in-house and stop hiring a facilitator every time?

See the Train the Trainer Program →

Running CAD, dispatch, or station networks?

See Fire Department Cyber Readiness →

Need broader planning and improvement support? See emergency preparedness consulting.

Who This Is For

Organizations that can’t afford to be unprepared

Exercise expectations vary by organization, regulator, accreditor, grant, contract, insurer, and emergency plan. FSL scopes exercises to the objectives and requirements the client identifies rather than claiming one exercise satisfies every obligation.

Trauma Systems
Trauma system exercises testing surge, patient distribution, transfer, and diversion across Level I through Level IV facilities.
State and Regional Health Agencies
Multi-facility regional healthcare exercise programs for trauma divisions, regional advisory councils, and preparedness offices.
Healthcare Coalitions
HSEEP-aligned coalition exercises supporting healthcare preparedness capability and coalition surge testing objectives.
Hospitals and Health Systems
Hospital exercises that can be mapped to client-identified emergency-management, preparedness, accreditation, and CMS-related requirements where applicable.
Rural and Critical Access Hospitals
Stabilization, resource limitation, and transfer-out decision making when the nearest higher level of care is hours away.
EMS Systems
Mass casualty, transport resource, and active threat response exercises aligned to NIMS and ICS.
Public Health
Response coordination, communications, and continuity exercises for public health departments and partners.
Emergency Management
Scenario-based exercises for local and regional emergency management agencies and public safety partners.
Fire Departments
Exercises alongside dedicated CAD and dispatch cyber readiness support.
Government Organizations
Continuity, cyber incident, and coordination exercises for state, county, and municipal agencies.
Healthcare Clinics
HIPAA breach, workplace violence, and operational continuity exercises for outpatient and ambulatory settings.
Business and Critical Operations
Ransomware, wire fraud, and business continuity exercises for finance teams, SaaS companies, and critical operations.
Prime Contractors & Consulting Teams
Defined exercise work packages for primes that need scenario design, MSEL and SitMan development, facilitator or evaluator materials, facilitation, or AAR/IP support while retaining the client relationship.
Self-Facilitated Option

Ready-to-run tabletop exercise packages

For teams that want to self-facilitate using a structured scenario and facilitator materials. Each package is $499. Internal facilitators remain responsible for adapting the material to their organization, participant roles, plans, and any requirement they intend to satisfy.

Emergency Response
Mass Casualty / Active Shooter
For hospitals, EMS agencies, schools, and emergency management teams. Tests command, triage, lockdown, reunification, and recovery.
$499
Get the MCI Package – $499 Learn More
Cyber Incident
Ransomware Attack
For hospitals, SaaS and tech companies, MSPs, and any organization dependent on critical IT. Tests detection, containment, the ransom decision, and recovery.

Use the healthcare ransomware tabletop checklist to frame your exercise objectives and downtime decisions.

$499
Get the Ransomware Package – $499 Learn More
Financial Fraud
Business Email Compromise
For finance teams, healthcare administration, and leadership. Tests wire fraud detection, vendor verification, escalation, and response under real payment pressure.
$499
Get the BEC Package – $499 Learn More
Emergency Response
Hospital Evacuation
For hospitals, health systems, and long-term care facilities. Tests horizontal and vertical evacuation, patient prioritization, tracking and reunification, and re-entry.
$499
Get the Evacuation Package – $499
Cyber Incident
Hospital Cyberattack / EHR Downtime
For hospitals and health systems. Tests extended EHR downtime operations, diversion and transfer decisions, and data reconciliation after ransomware.
$499
Get the EHR Downtime Package – $499
Exercise Scope and Methodology
HSEEP alignment describes the methodology used for applicable exercise design, conduct, evaluation, and improvement planning. Forward Security Labs is an independent consulting firm and is not certified, accredited, or endorsed by FEMA or DHS. Exercise participation does not guarantee regulatory compliance, accreditation status, grant acceptance, successful performance in a real incident, or elimination of operational risk. Client plans, requirements, objectives, participants, assumptions, and implementation decisions remain material to the result.

New to tabletop exercises? Start here.

Read: What Is a Tabletop Exercise and Why Do Small Businesses Need One? →

Have questions before you start?

Read the FAQ →
Start the Conversation

Don’t find out what your gaps are
during a real incident.

Regional and hospital exercise programs start at $20,000. Custom exercise development starts at $1,500. Virtual facilitated exercises using an existing package start at $999. Recurring exercise programs start at $750 per month. Ready-to-run packages are $499.

Prime contractor or consulting partner? View Partner Support →

Questions? michael@forwardsecuritylabs.com

Forward Career Labs LLC d/b/a Forward Security Labs  ·  Wolcott, Connecticut  ·  ForwardSecurityLabs.com  ·  FAQ  ·  SBA Certified SDVOSB  ·  Connecticut Veteran-Owned Micro Business Certified  ·  SAM.gov Registered  ·  CAGE: 1AFL4  ·  UEI: XLRANAT2ULJ9