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move the government off a capital expenditure model to an operating expense model? We can avoid the onetime spikes if we distribute that investment over time into an opex model.”
Another executive added: “We need to develop a uni ed formula- tion methodology for IT planning and, more important, shared-services adoption. The idea that we’re going to claim $100 million in savings by one agency is unrealistic. However, if we look at it in the consolidated buy- ing power of the federal government, that’s where the savings are going to fall out.”
Ultimately, one executive said agencies have no choice but to over- come those obstacles. “If you’re going to be a self-servicing agency, then you have to be measured at the same level of service performance and expecta- tion as any other vendor. Being able to perform at a handicap because we’re government is no longer an excuse.”
However, others challenged the notion that agencies don’t have the flexibility to become shared- services providers and said the prob- lem instead is that there is no con- sistent approach to franchise funds, which support the consolidation of common administrative services.
“What I as an owner of a franchise fund de ne as my operating cost is different than what you as the owner of a franchise fund de ne as your operating cost,” one executive said. “Who is the responsible party for nor- malizing the de nition of ‘operating’?”
A standard service catalog
The question of who is in charge was a recurring one. Some argued that the Of ce of Management and Bud- get is the logical choice, though its role is not clear. One executive said it was a matter of “requiring versus advising, mandating versus suggest- ing, standardizing versus guidelining. Right now, shared services are thriv-
ing because of the tolerance and the vision of the agency leadership today.” The executive went on to say OMB, the General Services Administration and the Of ce of Personnel Manage- ment must continue working together to de ne policy, mandates and stan- dards for the adoption and funding of governmentwide shared services. “If you want to push your services, then you have to de ne those words and those activities in a exible way that protects the agencies that take advantage of them,” the executive said. “You don’t want to have GAO do an audit and nd you are not in com- pliance with something. You should be able to say, ‘Well, here’s the de ni- tion from OMB. We’re in compliance.’” The group agreed on the need for standardization and baselines for shared services, with one saying his agency’s needs are not unique, “yet when we come to the table, we have to have everything exactly the way we want it. We need to take a hard look
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