Materials produced for incoming appointees in past transitions were longer and more detailed than those produced for the temporary appointees who arrived immediately following the inauguration. Referred to as the agency’s “owner’s manual” this material is for incoming appointees. The manual includes a more detailed discussion of the items contained in the briefing materials for the president-elect’s representatives, along with several new areas of discussion including historical issues within the agency and issues raised by oversight bodies.
This document is a template for creating your bureau/component’s executive overview in preparation for the presidential transition. The information provided can be incorporated into final briefing materials for incoming leaders. If any of the subcomponents of this document require further explanation, use the deep-dive topic template provided here.
This document is a template for creating a deep-dive report on an issue. This template may be used to provide a more detailed explanation of any specific component in an executive summary, or may be used to create separate policy-item, budget-item, management issues or other specific item reports. The information provided will be incorporated into final briefing materials for incoming leaders.
This document is a template for creating the executive overview for an agency’s office/region to be incorporated into final briefing materials for incoming leaders. If any of the subcomponents of this document require further explanation, use the deep-dive topic template provided here.
Agency review teams that arrive at agencies post-election look for information to help make decisions on certain appointments, including potential holdovers and key career staff, and to develop an assessment of conditions inside the agency for the president-elect. The materials created for these teams should be concise and tailored to three main priorities. Key elements of this briefing are outlined below.
A department’s agency transition director is responsible for leading the planning and execution of presidential transition activities on behalf of their agency in accordance with the law. This position description provides an overview of the key elements, responsibilities, requirements and competencies of the role.
Data from the Center for Presidential Transition compares nominations and Senate confirmations from the most recent four presidents during their first three years in office.
The Center for Presidential Transition has gathered answers to the most frequently asked questions about the political appointment process. For information about navigating this process, visit our Ready to Serve website.
President-elect Biden and his team have already started their transition work, demonstrating skill, experience and purpose. Now that ascertainment has occurred, they can continue with the full support of the United States government.
RESOURCES NOW AVAILABLE
1. The Biden-Harris agency review teams may begin coordination with the 17 agencies with intelligence responsibilities.
2. The General Services Administration (GSA) can release $6.3 million in congressionally appropriated funds to the transition team, along with 175,000 square feet of federal office space, including secure facilities for sensitive intelligence briefings.
3. Career agency transition directors can coordinate with the Biden-Harris transition team and deliver the briefing materials they have been preparing for the past six months.
4. The Biden-Harris team will be granted access to agency succession plans naming acting officials who will hold key positions until Senate-confirmed appointees are in place.
5. The Department of Justice (DOJ) may begin the final step in adjudicating final, non-interim security clearances for transition team members and political appointees entering the administration on Day One.
6. The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) can begin coordinating agency ethics officials to support nominees who must disclose, and if necessary, divest assets in accordance with federal ethics laws.
7. The Office of Performance Management (OPM) can release guidance on personnel actions to take in preparation for the incoming administration, including a moratorium on agencies’ SES Qualifications Review Board process and the authorization for agencies to move forward with Temporary Schedule C and Temporary Non-Career SES hires.
8. The White House Transition Coordinating Council will facilitate homeland security and emergency preparedness exercises as required by law.
9. The National Archives and Records Administration will provide guidance to the outgoing administration and transition team on managing and preserving presidential records.
10. The Biden-Harris transition team will be granted access to an official .gov website and government software applications for the intake of applicants for political appointments.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: How much time was lost due to the delay?
A: Recent transitions have had about 77 days between the election and inauguration. The Biden team will have 57 days.
Q: How does this delay compare with other recent transitions?
A: For all recent transitions, the GSA identified the winner immediately following the election. The only exception was in 2000 during the tight election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. That year, the GSA identified the winner on Dec. 13 immediately following Gore’s concession speech.
This year’s election outcome was substantially different than that of 2000.
Q: What adjustments have been made due to the COVID-19 pandemic?
When Biden’s transition team was given federal office space after the political conventions, the GSA informed the team of guidelines produced by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. The transition team was responsible for determining how the guidelines would be implemented.
Additionally, the GSA and federal agencies have increased the use of videoconference platforms and made documents available in digital formats. When in-person meetings are necessary, agencies and agency review teams will follow COVID-19 safety protocols to allow for safe in-person interactions.
Q: Does a shortened transition impact a president’s first year?
A: It can. The bipartisan 9/11 Commission, which studied the tragic terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, found the Bush administration did not have its full national security team in place for at least six months after it took office.
Additional research by the Center for Presidential Transition showed that that the shortened transition in 2000 resulted in President Bush having half as many top appointees in place at the 100-day mark of his term as President Barack Obama did eight years later with a full transition period.
Q: What are other available resources to learn more?
A: For more information on the transition process, please refer to the following resources produced by the Center for Presidential Transition.
- Transition Lab podcast: State of the Transition: An Update With Ken Burns, Josh Bolten and Eric Rauchway
- Transition Lab podcast: How Does the GSA “Ascertain” the Outcome of an Election: An Inside Look at the GSA, Ascertainment and the 2000 Election with David Barram
- Transition Lab podcast: The Art of Agency Review During a Presidential Transition with Lisa Brown
- Transition Lab podcast: Preparing the Government for a Presidential Transition with GSA’s Mary Gibert
- Virtual event: Talking Transitions: Perspectives for First-term and Second-term Administrations
The Presidential Records Act outlines requirements regarding the maintenance, access and preservation of presidential and vice-presidential information during and after a presidency. The act states that presidential records are the property of the United States and must be preserved in perpetuity.