Federal Manager's Daily Report

Today marks the formal kickoff of the presidential transition period, a time in which there is substantial turnover among top agency leadership, with unique demands put on career employees, particularly managers and career senior execs.

Here’s how the official transition guide describes what’s to come:

“Following the election, the Administration (through GSA) will offer services and facilities to the President-elect and Vice-President-elect as they prepare to assume their duties. Post-election support will begin immediately following the GSA Administrator’s ascertainment of the apparent successful candidates for the Office of President and Vice-President. The offices for the President-elect’s transition will be located at GSA headquarters.

“Soon after the election, Agency Review Teams will be deployed by the President-elect to federal agencies. The teams review briefing materials and meet with internal agency transition teams to better understand each agency and its current state of affairs. In 2008, the Obama-Biden Transition team had approximately 500 agency review team members across more than 60 agencies and Executive Office of the President components.

“Following the election, the incoming Administration begins identifying, selecting, and vetting candidates for approximately 4,100 Presidential appointments. Announcements of candidates for key positions often occur between the election and Inauguration. Nominations of individuals for Senate-confirmed appointments, confirmation of nominees, and appointments to positions not requiring Senate confirmation begin on Inauguration Day and continue through the post-Inauguration phase.

“Presidential appointments may involve background, security, and financial disclosure reviews conducted by the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Justice, and the Office of Government Ethics prior to nomination. Agency Reviews and information from OPM plays a key role in understanding, from a human capital perspective, the skills, number, and types of Presidential appointments that need to be made.”