CEP2 (civil emergency planning)

CEP2 stands for civil emergency planning. NATO's glossary of acronyms and abbreviations (AAP-15) lists CEP2 with that meaning and associates the entry with NATO Military Committee document MC 0336. You can read the entry in the NATO acronym glossary.

Civil emergency planning is the field in which national authorities and NATO work to prevent and manage crises, cooperate with the military, and prepare for emergencies. NATO states that it remains primarily a national responsibility. CEP2 is a NATO terminology designation. It is not the name of a Canadian procurement program or contract clause.

What the CEP2 glossary entry establishes

The AAP-15 glossary gives two facts about CEP2: the expansion, civil emergency planning, and the reference to MC 0336. The glossary is a terminology tool for NATO documents, so CEP2 works as a shorthand in allied publications and committee papers. It does not set out requirements for suppliers.

How NATO describes civil emergency planning

NATO's description of civil emergency planning says the work supports crisis prevention and management and cooperation with the military. It also says responsibility rests mainly with individual nations. Each allied government decides how it organizes emergency planning at home, and NATO provides a framework for coordinating that work.

• National and NATO activities both contribute to crisis prevention and management.
• Civil authorities cooperate with the military.
• Preparedness for emergencies is primarily a national responsibility.

From civil emergency planning to resilience and civil preparedness

NATO now frames this work under resilience and civil preparedness. Its page on resilience, civil preparedness and Article 3 identifies three core functions of civil preparedness:

• continuity of government;
• continuity of essential services to the population; and
• civil support to military operations.

The same page states that plans and response measures should be defined ahead of time and exercised regularly to address threats or disruptions in the civilian sector.

The committee structure changed as well. The former Civil Emergency Planning Committee was replaced in 2022 by the Resilience Committee, which subsumed its functions. The Resilience Committee provides strategic and policy direction and coordinates NATO resilience activities. Older NATO material may still use civil emergency planning and CEP terminology, while current material tends to use resilience language.

What CEP2 means for suppliers bidding on Canadian public contracts

CEP2 is not a procurement code, certification, or contract clause in Canada. It does not by itself impose bid, security, continuity, or delivery requirements on a supplier. A supplier will most likely meet the term in NATO documents or in background reading on allied resilience policy.

The ideas behind it are relevant to bid teams. Continuity of essential services and civil support to military operations are the kinds of outcomes buyers may ask suppliers to address in a solicitation. Always follow the requirements written into each solicitation rather than the NATO term. Canadian federal opportunities are published on CanadaBuys, where you can review the terms of any tender directly.