The Anatomy of a Competition
Job competitions between federal and private organizations historically have taken two to three years. The Office of Management and Budget believes most competitions can be finished in 12 months. Here's how the process generally works for competitions involving 65 or more federal employees.
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PRELIMINARY PLANNING
The agency picks units to face competition, determines the cost of performing the work, and appoints officials to run the competition.
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PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
The official start date for the competition is when the agency announces plans to accept bids for a specific activity. The agency clarifies how it will grade bids-by low cost, or by the new "best value" standard. OMB wants most competitions to take 12 months, but agencies can get six-month extensions.
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PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT
A team of agency employees creates and issues a performance work statement, which defines the work needed. The Defense Department average is 18 months to build a performance work statement, but OMB believes it can be done much faster.
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IN-HOUSE TEAM BUILDS THE MOST EFFICIENT ORGANIZATION
Another employee team develops the employees' bid, which is based on the "most efficient organization." Employees restructure themselves to be as competitive as possible. No matter who wins, most A-76 savings come from reducing the number of employees needed to do the work, according to the General Accounting Office.
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COMPETITION BEGINS
A private company and the federal organization submit bids.
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AGENCY PICKS A WINNER
OMB's new circular requires in-house winners to commit to performance agreements and to compete again once these agreements expire. Previously, those requirements applied only to private contractors.