Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration today took a major step forward in implementing President George W. Bush's plan to lower the operational cost of federal human resources offices, while improving the quality of services HR professionals provide to employees, mangers and external customers.

OPM, working with a governmentwide task force of human resources professionals, has established the technical specifications for private-sector firms to be certified as private sector Human Resources Line of Business (HR LOB) Shared Service Centers. The General Services Administration (GSA) will administer the Shared Service Center Program, including bid review and contract award.

Shared Service Centers (SSC) create economies-of-scale by offering administrative HR services common to most, if not all, federal agencies. Core HR and payroll services include the processing of personnel actions, compensation management and benefits management. The SSCs also can offer non-core HR services, as well as consulting services.

GSA has released a pre-Solicitation Notice and draft Statement of Objectives for review by companies interested in operating as private Shared Service Centers. These issuances ultimately will lead to the publication of a Request for Proposals. Successful bidders will take their place beside five existing federal Shared Service Centers to provide core human resources and payroll services.

OPM, managing partner of the Human Resources Line of Business (LOB), in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget, has shepherded the establishment of Shared Service Centers. The short- and long-term goals of the HR LOB are to improve human resources management; achieve cost savings; and, free agency managers from back-office work, enabling them to focus on the strategic management of human capital.

GSA's Request for Proposal currently is targeted for release on March 15, 2007, with the announcement of successful bidders expected around mid year.