With the inauguration two weeks away, federal employees are awaiting the quadrennial facelift of the executive branch.
But as with each presidential transition, getting to the final product is a long, grueling process.
"For the career employees — the 2 million career civil servants — it can be a time of anxiety transition," said David Eagles, director of The Partnership for Public Service's Center for Presidential Transition.
"In our convenings over the past several months with these federal agencies, it's something they are clearly focused on, but I think it's a unique opportunity here to let your agency shine and to talk about what's working well and to help the Trump team come in and get up to speed so that they can begin executing on the first day."
The Trump team's ability to get up to speed has been one of the most closely scrutinized activities in recent weeks, as administration appointments accelerate.
Presidential transitions are seen as critical times of national security vulnerability, so the speed and thoroughness with which they are completed are important.
That has meant more critique of the Trump transition team, who has appointed several cabinet secretaries, but still has to fill roles like Secretary of Veterans Affairs, as well as key management positions at the agency level.
"The people who are in charge of the actual operations of most of the federal government’s agencies have not be named or are not in place," said Don Kettl, professor and former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, on Dec. 28.
"So that the people who are in charge of the connection between the new West Wing and the actual government operations are not there yet."
Kettl said that filling the deputy secretaries and other support roles will be critical to ensuring operational continuity of government and implementing the political agenda of the new administration, but a lag in appointments could hamstring that process.
"It means that being able to ground the new administration to the actual operations of the government is being delayed, and that’s only going to increase the tensions not only in the next three weeks, but in the difficulty of trying to get a handle on the government once Jan. 20 comes."
But the Trump team is also converging at a time where presidential transitions have never before seen such preparation before assuming office.
Both Trump and then-opponent Hillary Clinton sent their transition teams to Washington in August, as the first official use of the Edward "Ted" Kaufman and Michael Leavitt Presidential Transitions Improvements Act of 2015, which passed into law in March.
The law codifies that the current administration begins planning the transfer of power no later than six months prior to Inauguration Day.
Eagles said that given that Trump has had preparation time that other candidates have not, the verdict is still out as to whether the transition is moving fast enough.
"From a pace standpoint, it’s still too early," he said. "At inauguration [in 2009], President Obama had confirmed seven cabinet officials, President Bush had confirmed seven [in 2000]. Prior to that, you are seeing anywhere in the ample range of five to seven officials; that’s the historical norm," he said.
"Where we stand today, I believe it’s something like 18 of the 21 cabinet officials have been named, but there’s still a long road to go between naming and confirming."
Eagles said that success for the Trump transition will mean having the top 100 administration positions in place by Jan. 20, but either way, it will lean heavily on the career workforce.
"I think one of the biggest mistakes these incoming teams can do is ignore the federal workforce," he said. "You really have to engage them on the first day. Because whether you want government big or small, you want it to work well. And it’s really those federal employees that ensure that the agency does work well."
