Get Your Bids in for Presidential Transition Planning

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Homeland Security issues contract for presidential transition planning help

The Homeland Security Department has hired a Washington-based nonprofit organization to help plan for the changeover to a new presidential administration in January 2009.

DHS awarded a sole-source contract to the Council for Excellence in Government to conduct a range of activities aimed at ensuring a seamless transition to new leadership, according to a procurement notice posted online last week. The one-year contract is worth $305,000, and asks the organization to create an advisory blue-ribbon group, hold workshops for key governmental leaders and help with a Homeland Security transition plan.

"A presidential transition is a very significant event. You basically have a complete changing of the political guard pretty much at one time," said Patricia McGinnis, the council's president and chief executive officer. "When it comes to national security and homeland security, obviously a smooth transition -- having people who are coming into place already understanding what the existing processes and protocols and communications around any kind of threat or emergency -- is very important."

The bipartisan blue-ribbon panel will help guide the work. The council will run 30-person, interactive workshops beginning next July, at which key people at DHS and other government agencies, and other experts, will go through potential scenarios and discuss a curriculum of what they need to know to make the transition smooth.

* and company even gets to say who will transition the next president.