Sustaining Momentum and Preparing for Administration Transition
Learn what transition activities mean for members of the contracting workforce, whether inside a federal agency or with an external contractor or service provider.
By Jason Briefel
The months following a presidential election represent a critical transition period, not only for the executive office, but also for federal agencies and contractors. The transition period has far-reaching effects on the timeline of federal funding that are important to strategic planning efforts.
This article serves as a primer on presidential transition and what transition activities mean for members of the contracting workforce, whether inside a federal agency or with an external contractor or service provider.
Keeping critical acquisitions, projects, and programs in the information loop during the transition between presidential administrations and between congresses can dramatically affect agency priorities.
Background
Amidst all the funding uncertainty in government, certain questions such as these arise: How long will Congress fund government for this fiscal year? At what levels will our favored program or policy continue? When will appointees be onboarded and confirmed by the Senate? Fortunately, the predictable rhythm every four years around presidential transition has grown steadier since 1963 when Congress passed the first transition law. (1)
Congress required the president and agencies to plan for and report about their activities preparing for transfer of executive power. Congress has refined and improved these laws over the years, as shown in Figure 1. (2)
Presidential Transition Process and Timeline
The presidential transition process can be considered in three main parts: 1) before the election in November, 2) between the election and Inauguration Day on January 20, 2025, and 3) following the swearing in of the new administration.
Planning for presidential transition in the executive branch begins more than a year before the presidential election, and even earlier at the General Services Administration (GSA). (3) Agency planning kicks off six months ahead of the election, with the White House establishing two transition planning councils: the White House Transition Coordinating Council, comprised mostly of senior White House officials, and the Agency Transition Directors Council comprised of career Senior Executive Service (SES) members.
Following the nomination conventions and selection of major candidates, activities ramp up, with the GSA playing a lynchpin role in the entire process. GSA coordinates with the campaigns to provide preelection office space, cyber, IT, logistical support, and manages deadlines and deliverables from agencies in terms of succession planning, ethics agreement negotiations, and reporting.
Immediately following the election, GSA begins providing office space and support services to the president-elect and vice president-elect. A classified national security briefing is given to the president-elect as quickly after the election as possible.
GSA’s Unique Role in Presidential Transition
As host agency to the Presidential Transition Coordinator, a role carried out by a career SES, GSA is the key agency enabling and supporting transition activities. The agency also serves dual functions as the lead agency for the government’s acquisition policy, while also offering acquisition services and products to government agencies. (4)
Establishing a Transition-Ready Mindset
“The only constant in life is change,” the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus (535-475 BCE) once said.
You may say, “I’m not a top-level White House official or the top SES official in my agency or company, so how do I fit into all of this?”
It comes back to the strategy, planning, policy, and personnel processes that you likely have been involved with. That work has filtered into budgets, policies, background and briefing books, and options memos prepared by career staff for incoming political leaders. This is where you hopefully already have, and still may yet have, an opportunity to ensure key acquisition priorities are not forgotten: your role will be in refining and implementing new direction for policies and programs once decisions are made in 2025.
A presidential transition primer from Deloitte’s Center for Government Insights offers a four-part framework to help leaders make informed choices. (5) Though it was developed in 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, in preparation for the presidential transition, the framework is still useful and includes these steps:
1. Identify critical uncertainties and trends – Detect uncertainties arising due to other external factors. Discover the key trends that have accelerated and decelerated due to external factors.
2. Build future scenarios – Build a range of possible futures to identify the risks and opportunities, to develop an informed strategy that is robust across multiple scenarios.
3. Analyze implications – Identify and analyze the implications of specific uncertainties and trends to your agency.
4. Develop strategic choices – Translate the implications into choices for action.
When one takes a step back, this framework looks very similar to existing strategy, planning, policy, and personnel processes already in place in agencies and companies. Embracing this iterative and dynamic mindset that assesses and presents different scenarios and opportunities is critical for the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) times we live in.
Strategic Planning Requirements
Since 1993, federal agencies have been directed by Congress to improve the efficiency and performance of their programs. The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 required agencies to develop strategic plans outlining their overall goals and objectives, include quantifiable measures of success and performance, and report on progress against those goals publicly.
In 2010, Congress substantially updated the law with the passage of the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA), providing the framework that agencies operate within today.
Notably, GPRAMA requires that federal departments and agencies prepare strategic plans on a four-fiscal-year basis. (6) This requirement now aligns the four-year strategic planning process with the start of new four-year presidential terms. (7)
What this means for readers at this moment is that agencies have already done extensive thinking and planning about their strategic plans far in advance of this presidential transition, and significant options and decisions for the president-elect and their team may be included in briefing and budget materials for vetting and final adjustments by inbound political appointees. Being prepared to answer questions, provide contextual and risk information, and shift to implementation when the time comes will enable new appointees to act on priorities when they are ready.
Several other provisions of GPRAMA are listed in Figure 2.
The President’s Management Agenda (PMA) and Agency Priority Goals have typically been the most public manifestations of the government’s priorities for the past four administrations. PMA focus areas on federal contracting and acquisition, while varying according to specific areas, have been central components of White House management priorities for more than 20 years. The workforce and information technology (IT) have also been among the ongoing priorities. Examples include:
• The George W. Bush administration launched the first PMA with five focus areas, including one focused specifically on contracting. The Bush administration’s priority goal on Competitive Sourcing was intended to determine the most efficient source for commercial activities performed by the government. Key levers used to advance this goal included conducting public-private competitions for commercial tasks using the A-76 Circular process, encouraging outsourcing, and establishing performance-based contracts.
• The administration of Barack Obama included a PMA priority goal to cut waste and improve efficiency. It also promoted the adoption of shared services to reduce duplication in administrative functions.
• The administration of Donald Trump included a PMA priority goal on Category Management and Procurement Reform with the objective of optimizing government spending by leveraging the government’s buying power. Key levers included implementing category management to reduce contract duplication and negotiate better prices, promoting the use of government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs) for common goods and services, and promoting increased opportunities for small businesses in federal contracting.
• The administration of Joe Biden included a PMA goal to improve the management of the business of government. Key levers of the Biden administration PMA focused on contracting to include promoting procurement practices that support small businesses and underserved communities, emphasizing sustainable purchasing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from federal activities, strengthening supply chain resilience, and encouraging innovation and best practices adoption.
While we do not yet know the contracting or acquisition priorities of the incoming administration, history suggests it will remain a top White House management priority in some form or fashion.
For government contractors, monitoring the strategic plans, priorities, and goals of clients and target agencies will enable your organization to position solutions and services to meet current and future requirements. While an administration’s policy preferences may affect some areas, others reflect ongoing operational requirements that are likely to be met. Zooming out and tracking strategic plans, priorities, and goals will reveal opportunities for companies to help agencies make progress against the administration’s governmentwide management and contracting priorities.
Between the Election and Inauguration Day
While the continuing resolution (CR) through December 20, 2024, is a bit of a curveball, overall acquisition professionals should expect to see the outgoing administration running through the tape to execute all prior obligations and funding priorities. When the transition occurs at midday on January 20, 2025, contracts will be frozen while obligated funds will continue to flow. The freeze is intended to allow new administration officials to review materials, receive briefing information, ask questions, and make updates as necessary.
Another wild card to watch for during the Congressional lame duck period that may have dramatic effects on the contracting community is potential action by lawmakers to respond to domestic natural disasters and related response and recovery activities or international situations such as the war in Ukraine or conflict in the Middle East. New funding could be unlocked for these areas, and it is possible lawmakers will seek to direct infrastructure funds toward hurricane recovery efforts.
Important Things for Feds to Know, Be Ready For, To Do
Within government agencies, presidential transitions mean new bosses and appointees, and career officials acting in leadership positions. As new officials come into organizations, it is important to take the time to understand their priorities.
Equally important is educating them on contracting’s role – and the role of career civil servants more broadly – in achieving their success. Career staff play important roles ensuring incoming leaders are oriented to major acquisitions and contracts, major risks, key stakeholders, and politically sensitive issues. Senior Procurement Executives will coordinate with their agency’s transition coordinator to convey this information to new appointees.
Transition officials entering agencies may or may not have experience in government. Their job is to get up to speed as rapidly as possible and prepare consolidated information for appointees who will join agencies after January 20.
The type of information that will be most of interest and value to transition officials and incoming appointees includes major policy and program initiatives and expenditures; risks or vulnerabilities to execution of policy or program initiatives; use of supporting IT, data, and systems, and political or stakeholder sensitivities to be aware of.
It will remain valuable for incoming appointees to understand they are not operating in a bubble within their own program or agency and may be subject to unfamiliar government requirements or rules. The role of career staff is to help appointees navigate those requirements.
Important Things for Contractors to Know, Be Ready For, To Do
While they have not yet released an updated report for the 2024 cycle, ahead of the 2020 transition, Deltek released a report for contractors (8) about the transition that offers useful evergreen perspective like the Deloitte primer. Specifically, Deltek makes four recommendations for contractors during the transition:
1. Support Agencies. Assist agency transition processes by assembling program justifications, highlighting past achievements and outcomes, and assisting customers with unresolved issues.
2. Performance, Portfolio and Offering Review. Both industry and agency managers need to evaluate their programs and performance by identifying needed improvements to existing programs. Review of solution portfolios to align with the incoming agency platform is also essential to stay agile to potential program changes.
3. Agency Analysis for Key Accounts. Mind the network. People who are knowledgeable about agency structure, relationships, and movement of key personnel are essential to sustaining and maintaining relationships and info sharing during transition.
4. After the Inauguration. After new leadership is in place, demonstrate value and capability with white papers, demos, and meetings to help new administration address challenges.
Deltek also offered the important reminder that it could take 18-24 months for new administration initiatives to fully gain steam if not previously initiated. This reality highlights the opportunity for industry to capitalize on the time between the election and a new administration being sworn in to make a difference.
The Continuing Resolution funding government through December 20, 2024, and potential lame duck appropriations or emergency funding activity also present significant opportunities for contractors to potentially secure advance buy-in on their favored programs or policies ahead of the beginning of a new presidential administration.
Depending on election dynamics, there will be a last chance to engage the current administration and the current Senate on policy and funding priorities. There also may be opportunities to discuss needed investment areas, such as around artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, or workforce.
Success in securing early interest on these areas during this time could save at least 12 months or more in lead time.
Within agencies, contractors should attempt to secure a meeting with the transition team before the end of December. It may be challenging and not always feasible, but the benefits of fostering this relationship-based social capital can be tremendous. These teams are compiling information to pass on to incoming administration officials for action after January 20.
Given the dynamic nature of the transition and the short time available, it is incumbent on contractors to ensure that information shared with transition officials is focused and to the point. One-page primers on an issue with a hyperlink to additional information is an approach several transition veterans recommended.
Post-Inauguration Day Window for Influence
Many new administrations come in with plans for their first 100 days, seeking to build momentum and secure quick wins. These 100-day sprints can be early opportunities to forge relationships, demonstrate capability, and help the administration achieve priorities.
With the swearing in of a new administration will come a flurry of new appointees and administration officials entering agencies. Those officials will pick up the briefing materials and stakeholder notes left for them by transition representatives and get to work.
A short window will open when the president’s budget for FY2026 will be redeveloped by the new administration within OMB, before being transmitted to Congress in the spring. This is where senior-level relationships within agencies or the White House will come into play, especially for companies hoping to influence direction. There will be an opportunity to conduct discussions at the beginning of the new Congress and the first budget and policy cycles of the new administration, getting a jump start of almost one year before the next opportunity will present itself.
Appointees who join the new administration, who average a tenure of 18-24 months, will likely remain in sprint mode during their time in public service. It’s widely recognized that presidential transition and stand-up of a new administration, its personnel, and policy and administrative priorities also takes roughly the same amount of time – or half of a presidential administration.
Conclusion
Federal agencies contracted for about $759 billion in goods and services in fiscal year 2023, and there is no indication procurement will become less of a factor in government operations in the near term. While we do not know exactly what the next four years will bring for the contracting workforce and community, we can confidently predict that procurement and acquisition policy will continue to be major levers and policy priorities of the White House, agencies, and Congress.
Presidential transitions are a consequential season of change. They bring new opportunities for the contracting workforce to demonstrate their value, to advance or accelerate needed innovation, to pivot on new national priorities, and more. In both government and industry, understanding the processes and opportunities around presidential transition while simultaneously fostering a growth mindset among the workforce that is open to change, learning, and new direction can set us all up for success in 2025 and beyond. CM
Jason Briefel is Partner & Director of Government and Public Affairs at Shaw Bransford & Roth PC.
ENDNOTES
1 Presidential Transition Act (PTA) of 1963 (3 U.S.C. 102 note); for more info, review CRS summary at https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46602
2 Presidential Transitions: A Brief Summary of the Presidential Transition Act, Congressional Research Service https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/IF12725.pdf
3 Presidential Transition Act Summary, Center for Presidential Transition. https://presidentialtransition.org/reports-publications/presidential-transition-act-summary/
4 I spoke with Troy Cribb, former GSA Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP) leader, and acquisition advisor to the GSA administrator, now the policy director at the Partnership for Public Service, about her experience at the agency, reflections on acquisition and policy issues, advice for political appointees, and presidential transition perspectives for contracting officials with government and industry, on the FEDtalk podcast.
5 Planning a new presidential term amid growing uncertainties, Deloitte, 2020 https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/6854_CGI-Presidential-transition/6854_CGI_Presidential%20transition.pdf
6 GPRA Modernization Act of 2010, Public Law 111-352 https://www.congress.gov/111/plaws/publ352/PLAW-111publ352.pdf
7 Agencies today align their four-year strategic planning cycles with those of a presidential administration. The FY and Inauguration Day do not line up perfectly, but the planning process takes place largely before the inauguration, although a new President and their OMB team have a chance to revise/rework the budget submitted to Congress in the spring if they deem it necessary.
8 Contractor Strategies in a Presidential Transition - GovWin IQ https://iq.govwin.com/neo/marketAnalysis/view/Contractor-Strategies-in-a-Presidential-Transition/4663