Sowing Seeds for the Future: Contractors in an Election Year
By David J. Berteau, President and CEO, PSC
One certainty in American democracy is that elections arrive on schedule. Unlike parliamentary systems, under which national elections can be called with relatively short notice, the U.S. Constitution mandates that presidential elections occur on a specific Tuesday in November every four years.
In addition to the president, those elections include all 435 Representatives and roughly one-third of U.S. Senators.
One consequence of this mandatory schedule is that we always know when we are in the fourth year of a presidential term. 2024 is such a year.
Regardless of whether that fourth year is the end of a first presidential term or of a full eight-year run, every political appointee in every agency can see a finish line, a time limit on achievements of a particular four-year term. Appointees who want to leave their marks can feel that deadline approaching.
What, if anything, does that mean for federal contracting, for contractors, and for their government customers? This article reflects the observations of the author, from inside and outside government, since the 1970s.
Year four of a four-year term is often seen as a year in which very little gets done, either by Congress or the administration. However, it can be a year of significant accomplishment within a federal department or agency. If you are a contractor supporting a program or a federal official trying to secure those accomplishments, there are a few key actions that help them reach success.
Keys to Success
Those keys to success include:
1) Focus first and primarily on projects and goals for which good foundations have already been laid. For the most part, avoid new starts. There is rarely enough bureaucratic time and momentum to move far enough, fast enough.
2) Plan with detail and clear timelines. Plans should include cushions, fallbacks, and offramps in the event of a sidetrack or derailment of some element of the plan.
3)Track closely and frequently the steps needed for those projects to survive an election and continue into the following year. Those steps include guidance documents (directives, instructions, memos, etc.), funding and other resources, committees and councils, personnel, etc. Often, one critical element is a long-term support contract for continuity and implementation.
4) Build support by identifying (or creating) and enabling supporters and champions in the program and across the broader department or agency. Champions in other executive branch agencies and in Congress may be equally important.
5) Start now. Many of those steps needed will take most of the time remaining between now and next January.
Where Can Contractors Help
In most federal agencies, initiatives are solidified through guidance documents and other plans, which can include:
- an implementation plan for a strategy,
- a new or revised agency directive or instruction,
- a charter for a council or committee,
- a new career civilian position,
- Support contracts with sufficient qualified staff, defined work statements, and committed funds that extend into the future, and
- a spending plan for budgeted funds.
All of these things can take months to put in place. Existing contractors with appropriate scope and funding can support work now for them to be accomplished on time.
Elements of the bureaucracy may say, “There is already too little time.” For example, a new agency-level guidance document may routinely take more than 12 months to write, coordinate, and get approved. However, with sufficient support from the top and with regular monitoring of progress (including from coordinating offices), that process can move more quickly. Coordination happens at the speed of attention… as well as the speed of bureaucracy.
The same benefit from high-level support and constant attention can produce more timely results in those other actions cited in the bullets above.
What If There Is a Second Term?
Why should there be a focus on year four when there might be a year five? History says, “Don’t count on a second term.” If there is a second term, history then says, “Don’t count on appointees keeping their position.”
Every one of the last nine decades has seen a president who was reelected to a second term (with the exception that, in the 1940s, it was a third and then a fourth term). However, only four of the past 11 presidents actually served a full eight years, underscoring the uncertainty of how much time remains for any initiative.
Here is the fact that many fail to note: in every one of those reelections to a second term, there was substantial turnover and change in administration personnel, in every department and agency and at every level.
If the incumbent wins reelection, many of those who helped make that possible on the campaign trail are looking for a job in that second term. In addition, many political appointees are ready for a change after the first term. Numerous vacancies occur. Importantly, even if there is a second term and an appointee stays in the same job in year five, it will be helpful and often necessary to have solidified and implemented the work begun in the first term and be ready for new initiatives in the second term.
Conclusion
In sum, the keys to achievements in the fourth year of a four- year term are: (1) focus; (2) plan; (3) track; (4) build support; and (5) start now.
We know that federal services contractors are as committed to the missions and functions of their supported programs and agencies as are government personnel themselves, and that commitment can contribute significantly to success in Year Four.
Contractors who are alert to the opportunities to support such actions can bring to bear a knowledge of the necessary steps and a track record of success in undertaking those steps. Everyone can benefit from taking advantage of those opportunities, no matter what happens in the election.