FEDERAL
SECTOR REPORT
November 2003
IN THIS ISSUE
Federal
Partnerships and Cooperation
Links of the
Month: Memoranda of Understanding
Consulting
Services
Home Page
(c)
2004 by the P2C2 Group, Inc.
IT'S DEAL
TIME FOR INTERAGENCY COOPERATION
It doesn't make
sense to solve the same problem a dozen times ... or to pay for the
same function a hundred times, but federal agencies have been doing it
for years. Yet, with Fiscal Year 2005 budget planning now in progress,
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is blowing the whistle and
giving agencies a big nudge to enter into
collaborative solutions that involve multiple federal agencies, state
and local governments,
and/or existing e-business technologies.
Can you imagine
divisions of GE or Citicorp spending money on dozens of different
network solutions, accounting systems, or customer relationship
management applications? Stockholders would think that management had
lost its corporate mind. Taxpayers deserve the same efficiency as
stockholders. Collaborative government-wide solutions
make sense in many cases.
But
collaboration won't be practical in all cases because legislative and
regulatory constraints may prevent uniform solutions from working. This
is because Congress defines the mission, programs, and even
some of the processes of agencies in the federal executive branch.
Investments must
be collaborative wherever feasible. This is necessary for supporting
the President's Management Agenda and justifying the project budget to
OMB. Collaboration and cooperation often means a shared initiative
involving multiple agencies or other partners, such as state and local
governments. Where appropriate, investments must be fully aligned with
one or more of the President's E-Gov initiatives.
Developing
collaborative solutions that serve citizens better and reduce costs
require careful thought, collaboration, and follow-through. While
informal cooperation can be very useful, many situations require a
formal collaborative relationship and written agreements that document
the inter-organizational relationships, commitments and
responsibilities.
Putting It in
Writing
Any partnership
or agreement of importance needs to be in writing to avoid future
misunderstanding and provide an orientation for future personnel who
may not be involved in the initial deal making. For quite a few
partnerships, there are
boilerplate forms that you should use. Examples
include a standard Memorandum of Understanding,
Service Level Agreement, or Cooperative
Agreement (usually executed through the procurement
office).
Interagency
agreements require the signature of a senior agency official, such as
the agency head. Check with
decision makers early to make sure you don't
go off in the wrong direction. Often a discussion with your attorneys
(Solicitor's Office or Office of the General Counsel) is also helpful,
and they will undoubtedly need to review/approve any non-standard
agreements.
Covering
Essentials
Interagency
agreements are formal documents, just like a contract or corporate
charter. Rather than expounding on contents in the abstract, let's move
to a specific example that will make the key points.
