The Department of Agriculture’s office of the Chief Financial
Officer has issued guidance for agency heads and staff office
directors to determine the feasibility of conducting
public-private competitions and directing them to evaluate
any functions they think might be competed.
The guidance — OCFO Bulletin: 2004-00 1 – is in accordance
with Circular A-76 and said a business needs assessment must
be completed to identify the key business drivers of the
mission and align them with the agencies objectives, and that
a list of assumptions and constraints laying out the likely
timeline, workload, funding, etc., must be provided.
Market research “provides an analysis of the capabilities in
the commercial marketplace. This determines if other sources
that can satisfy the requirements of the mission function
exist. Agencies should establish an inventory of commercial
firms that produce, distribute and support products and/or
services similar to the mission function,” said the guidance.
It said “as-is” and “to-be” assessments should clarify the
current scope of operations and project the needs for future
workflow and growth, culminating in a performance gap analysis.
A cost/benefit analysis is critical for then making a business
case for sourcing a function, comparing the “as-is” and
“to-be” scopes with alternative options to meet management
requirements in finding the most cost-effective solution,
according to the guidance.
It also covers a civil rights impact assessment, an overview
of all capital infrastructure systems and their relationships,
an acquisition strategy in the event that the function is
sourced, project scheduling, requirements and recommendations.