ABSTRACT Management systems are a focus of Sub-Area Contingency Plans (SACPs) developed in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region VIII. The key element to planning is working with facilities and local, state, tribal, and federal agencies to provide for coordinated response to oil and hazardous materials emergencies. Because a variety of management systems are used, even within small subareas, negotiation, education, and practice are required to encourage responders to set up incident command and to be prepared for expansion into a unified command structure when justified by the nature of the incident. SACPs currently are being prepared for areas as small as two counties and as large as twelve counties within two states, two EPA regions, and one Canadian province. The SACPs contain the information needed by the incident commander and support personnel to provide a coordinated response among facilities, local, state, tribal, and federal agencies. Plans include a notification tree showing how initial communications between agencies are handled, phone lists of emergency responders and authorities, response roles, equipment lists, lists of trained response personnel, immediate actions for oil spill response, and a summary of the incident command system with forms that may be used by those agencies without their own. In plans that cross into Canada, additional coordination is required to ensure that all affected parties participate in a common management system and include the appropriate parties. Facilities that may pose potential hazards are included in the planning process to encourage communication, cooperation, and planning prior to and during an emergency. Facilities have a vested interest in participating because establishing relationships with local, state, and federal responders reduces conflict during an actual response and because swift, effective response will minimize the costs of initial response, long-term restoration, and natural resource damages. This paper presents successful techniques used in Region VIII to prepare consolidated response plans for use by all levels of responders.