The Center for Presidential Transition’s comprehensive guide on the activities required during the transition. This guide for the 2024 presidential election cycle was produced in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group. It features detailed outlines of transition best practices, historical materials from past transitions, and recommendations for a successful presidential transition to a new or second-term administration.
Federal agencies face a cascading series of challenges before and after a presidential election and into the early months of a new or second-term administration. Since 2008, the Partnership for Public Service has provided resources to federal agencies, while promoting knowledge-sharing and collaboration, to strengthen presidential transitions.
The Agency Transition Guide has been developed by the Partnership’s Center for Presidential Transition® and Boston Consulting Group, informed by conversations with federal leaders and other presidential transition experts. It provides lessons learned from past transitions at federal agencies and includes best practices and key decision points to help senior career executives lead successful transition planning efforts.
While this guide focuses on presidential transitions, most federal agencies will also experience a change in political leadership at least once during an administration. The practices outlined in this guide apply to principal leadership transitions independent of the election cycle.
Previous experiences can inform the work of the current presidential transition facing today’s unique challenges. This report includes eight recommendations for a president-elect’s transition team and an outgoing White House based on interviews with veterans of previous transitions and other experts.
Following the 2000 election, Bush-Cheney Transition Chairman Dick Cheney communicated the implications of a delayed transition, the requirements of building a new government and his thoughts on the General Service Administration’s denial of transition resources. These quotes are primarily from news conferences on Nov. 27 and Nov. 29, 2000.
This study, prepared by the Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition and the Boston Consulting Group, analyzes how newly elected presidents have allocated their time between the election and the inauguration, how their spouses handled the transition and the post-election roles taken by presidential running mates.
The transition from George W. Bush to Barack Obama presents a model of how two administrations from different parties can work together to keep America secure in the face of challenges at home and abroad.
Previous presidential transitions have occurred during times of crisis. During the 2008-2009 transition, the two sides closely cooperated to hand over management of the government during the financial crisis.