The road to outsourcing and privatizing federal operations is a bumpy one, several federal executives said at the Federal Quality Conference on Wednesday.
"If you're serious about outsourcing, it takes commitment, it takes planning, but that's easier said than done," said Craig D. Hunter, acting deputy chief of staff for logistics and operations at the Army Materiel Command.
Hunter's agency just completed a significant downsizing. "By the time we were done, we were about two-fifths the size we were in 1989," he recalled. "We had to do a major consolidation and find smarter and better ways of doing things."
Hunter outlined a process for assessing outsourcing and downsizing possibilities. The first step is to complete an agency analysis, answering such questions as: "What can we do better?" and "What will our mission be?" Second, Hunter suggested assessing the status quo, by defining costs and agency responsibilities. The next step, he said, is determining outsourcing alternatives. Finally, Hunter said, an agency should conduct an analysis of market interest and market capability.
Representatives of the Interior Department's service center shared their interdisciplinary approach to organizational transformation. The center's director, Mary Ellen Keck, said her operation was changed from a traditional federal adminstrative organization into a customer-driven, entrepreneurial service provider that focuses on results.
Now the ISC is comprised of "business line teams" in five areas: communications and information systems services; acquisition, fiscal, property and transportation services; specialized employee services; facilities management and services; and training and development.
Chuck Sommer, executive vice president of the Army Management Engineering College, shared the story of the difficult effort to reinvent and ultimately privatize his organization. Recently, the Army's Training and Doctrine Command recommended closing AMEC.
"We didn't know all that we were getting into," said Sommer. "There are a lot of impediments and blockades."
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