Presidential Transition Preparing to lead the nation, whether as a presidential hopeful or an incumbent seeking a second term, requires extensive planning on personnel, policy, the budget and governance. This transition work must begin in the midst of the presidential campaign so a new administration will be ready to govern on day one, and so that a second-term president will be prepared for a fresh start. Managed well, this planning can lead to success. Handled poorly, a president can be susceptible to strategic errors and face difficulty responding to serious national security and domestic challenges. Center for Presidential Transition The Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition® is the nation’s premier nonpartisan source of information and resources designed to help presidential candidates and their teams lay the groundwork for a new administration and incumbent presidents prepare for a second term. The Center provides critical assistance on organizing a presidential transition; helps career officials prepare for incoming leadership; offers guidance to political appointees on unique aspects of government management; promotes transition improvements; and provides guidance on second term planning. LEARN MORE Ready to Govern Ready to Govern is a series of 90-minute onboarding sessions designed to help incoming political appointees and federal leaders navigate a complex federal organization and succeed in their new roles. Appointees can participate in up to 11 modules featuring proven content developed from hundreds of conversations with federal leaders. These sessions are led by bipartisan faculty comprised of current or former political appointees and career executives. LEARN MORE Ready to Serve Our Ready to Serve website is a one-stop-shop that helps candidates seeking all types of presidential appointments evaluate their qualifications and navigate the complex nomination and confirmation processes. The site provides guides, webinars and expert advice from former political appointees on background investigations, completing financial disclosure and ethics forms, the Senate confirmation experience and more. LEARN MORE Political Appointee Tracker Presidents are required to fill roughly 4,000 politically appointed government positions, including more than 1,200 jobs that require Senate confirmation. Despite the importance of these jobs, there is no up-to-date source of information about who holds these positions, which jobs are vacant or the status of Senate confirmations. In December 2016, The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service began tracking the status of key management positions to address this problem. Since then, the tracker has shed light on our government’s growing struggle—regardless of which party controls Congress and the White House—to fill key Senate-confirmed positions. Our data raises public awareness about the critical vacancies that stymy government effectiveness and helps hold elected officials responsible for filling key presidential appointments. We currently track the nomination and confirmation of about 800 of the 1,200 positions requiring Senate confirmation, including Cabinet secretaries, chief financial officers, general counsels, ambassadors and other critical leadership jobs. LEARN MORE Transition Lab Transition Lab is a 48-episode podcast series offering listeners an in-depth look at presidential transitions. Each episode features prominent guests and covers topics ranging from how our government orchestrates a transfer of power to the most historic handoffs of the American presidency. LEARN MORE Advisory Board Josh Bolten Former Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush Edward “Ted” Kaufman Former United States Senator, Former Chair of the Biden-Harris Transition Michael Leavitt Former Governor of Utah, Former Chair of the Romney Readiness Project Thomas “Mack” McLarty Former Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton Penny Pritzker Former Secretary of the Department of Commerce Resources April 25, 2023 Effective presidential transitions can earn the public’s trust Almost half of Americans are unsure a 2024 transition would be peaceful Presidential transitions can only be effective if the public trusts that the people involved will honor the results of democratic elections and value the need for new administrations to prepare to govern even before taking office. The Center for Presidential Transition® conducted a nationally representative survey to understand the country’s views on the custom of presidential transfers of power. The survey found that 56% of Americans agreed a peaceful transition would take place if a different candidate wins in 2024. By contrast, 44% of Americans did not think a transfer would be peaceful or were unsure. The public’s doubt should serve as both a call to action and an opportunity. Government leaders and organizations such as the Center must support public understanding of the importance of peaceful transitions as a critical function of our democracy. Read More January 19, 2023 Advice to Incoming Agency Leaders From Those Who Have Been There As President Joe Biden’s administration enters its third year, conventional wisdom suggests there will be a number of key changes to the leadership teams running federal agencies. Some senior officials will get promoted while others will leave. Some will just be starting their jobs after finally getting through the lengthy Senate confirmation process. In the past six months, about 230 people have been confirmed by the Senate to begin work in key leadership roles. Read more Download the report August 01, 2022 (Not so) Privileged nomination calendar Nominees in a streamlined confirmation process are taking almost 50% longer to confirm than all other nominees The Senate created the privileged nomination process more than a decade ago, a procedure designed to speed up the confirmation of nominees for roughly 280 positions that are typically noncontroversial. Despite this well-intentioned effort, nominees on the privileged calendar are worse off today than they were before the reform was adopted. Read more Download the report May 24, 2022 Slow Nominations and Confirmations Pose a Threat to National Security Data from the Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition reveals chronic delays at nearly every step of the presidential nomination and congressional confirmation process—even for the national security positions that all stakeholders agree are essential to minimize threats during the first months of a new administration. Read more Download the report January 20, 2022 The 2020-21 Presidential Transition: Lessons Learned and Recommendations This report by the Partnership and Boston Consulting Group looks back at the 2020-21 presidential transition and offers key recommendations to improve future transfers of power. Read our findings and watch our special report release event to learn more. Read more Download the report January 10, 2022 Joe Biden’s First Year in Office: Nominations and Confirmations The Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition has been tracking Senate-confirmed presidential appointments since late 2016. This year, we tracked and analyzed how President Joe Biden’s first year in office compares with the previous three presidents, examining his nominations and confirmations from Jan. 20, 2021, to Dec. 31, 2021. Read more Download the report August 09, 2021 Unconfirmed: Why reducing the number of senate-confirmed positions can make government more effective Using appointments data from the Political Appointee Tracker compiled by the Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post along with expert analysis, this report highlights key trends in filling Senate-confirmed positions and in the nomination and confirmation process. Read more Download the report April 14, 2021 The 2020-21 Presidential Looking Back: The Center for Presidential Transition’s Pivotal Role in the 2020–21 Trump to Biden Transfer of Power Despite unprecedented challenges, President Biden oversaw one of the most well-planned presidential transitions in U.S. history. The Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition supported this process behind the scenes, providing key insights to the Biden team as it prepared to potentially take office and working with stakeholders across government to facilitate an effective transfer of power. Read more 2020 Agency Transition Guide: A Comprehensive Guide to the Activities Required During Agency Transitions Federal agencies face a cascading series of challenges before and after a presidential election and into the early months of a new administration. Throughout the transition, the Partnership for Public Service brought together agency transition leaders from nearly 40 agencies to help improve this process. Read more Presidential Transition Guide: A Comprehensive Guide to the Activities Required During the Transition The Center for Presidential Transition’s comprehensive guide on the activities required during the transition. This guide for the 2020 presidential election cycle was produced in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group. Read more March 10, 2020 Presidential Transition Act Summary Introduction In passing the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, Congress explained: “Any disruption occasioned by the transfer of the executive power could produce results detrimental to the safety and well-being of the United States and its people.” Read more See All On the Blog April 19, 2023 The PLUM Act: A new era of transparency into senior leadership government April 06, 2023 Former White House officials highlight the value of early planning for presidential transitions March 23, 2023 Collaboration with career staff is critical to appointees’ success November 01, 2022 Outcome of midterms unlikely to improve the Senate confirmation process for executive branch nominees October 12, 2022 The importance of chronicling presidential transitions In the News May 08, 2023 Partnership for Public Service announces finalists for the 2023 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals May 04, 2023 Media Advisory: Public Service Recognition Week event to celebrate young leaders, explore federal recruitment efforts March 29, 2023 Partnership for Public Service, Boston Consulting Group and The Washington Post unveil top performers in 2022 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings March 02, 2023 Partnership for Public Service statement on Julie Su’s nomination to become labor secretary February 16, 2023 Partnership for Public Service statement on President Biden’s executive order on equity in policymaking