FCW popped out an interesting report last week: GSA plans to issue an RFP to solicit the private sector to act as a financial management service center, as part of the Financial Management Line of Business (FMLOB). According to Danny Harris, Deputy CFO at the Department of Education (and quite a snappy dresser, I have to say), GSA will issue this RFP in June. CGI Federal is clearly a front-runner for this particular prize, but I also know that Accenture and others would like to offer an SAP or Oracle solution, too.

This all makes me a bit envious of financial management folks. We who toil in the world of grants management have always peeked across the cubicle wall, jealously eyeing up the FM world’s fancy standards, Financial Services Assessment Guide, and other bling.

Anyway, regardless of that, it looks like the private sector may actually get a shot at competing with the government FM service providers, which will be a shot-in-the-arm of public-private collaborations…and most likely a shot-in-the-head for any industry person who tries to compete on this and loses. It’ll be a high-cost, high-stakes competition, to be sure!