Analysis Results Of Business Data Request 04-45 Presented to: Governmentwide Relocation Advisory...

Analysis Results Of Business Data Request 04-45

Presented to: Governmentwide Relocation Advisory BoardBy: Runzheimer InternationalSpeakers: Julie Blanford (Travel & Relocation Mgmt Solutions), Dr. Adlore Chaudier (Mercury Associates)When: February 16, 2005

February 16, 2005 Analysis of OMB BDR 04-45 Preliminary Findings

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Data Sought by the BDR

Sec. 1 Volume

# Authorized

# Completed

Broken out by new hire and current employee for 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006

Sec. 2 Budget Info Expense by BOC for 2003 - 2006

Sec. 3 3rd Party Firms By contractor, # homesales managed and component cost

Sec. 4 Relocations by Grade Breakout by grade for CONUS/other

Cost by Category Detail costs for 2003 and 2004 to date

Payment Statistics # of vouchers and timing of payments


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Basis for Data Analysis 162 BDR submissions from Federal departments,

agencies and bureaus in Excel format Respondents “customized” many submissions to add

or omit data fields; Runzheimer manually re-entered the data into a Microsoft Access database

Consultants reviewed data to identify outliers resulting from data entry errors and/or incongruent reporting of dollar amounts (e.g., reporting in “actual” dollars rather than thousands)

For drill-down analysis of expenses and activities, we focus primarily on FY 2003 data because it offers the most complete and reliable information


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BDR Analysis At-a-Glance Number of Agencies/Bureaus Responding: 160 Number of Agencies/Bureaus Included in Analysis

(omitting blanks and summaries): 154 Aggregate Relocation Authorizations for 2003 (New Hire +

Transfers): 22,334 Percentages of New-Hire and Current-Employee

Authorized Transfers: 27% New Hires, 73% Current Employees

Aggregate Completed Relocations for 2003: 18,968 (85% of authorizations)

Trend in Average Number of Authorizations (2005 and 2006): 5% increase per year

Aggregate Actual Relocation Budget for 2003: $655M


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BDR Analysis At-a-Glance Aggregate Est. Relocation Budget for 2004: $737M Average Budget/Authorized Move for 2003: $29,735 Average Budget/Authorized Move for 2004: $37,394 Trend in Average Estimated Budget/Move (2005 and

2006): 5% increase Number of RMC Managed Moves for 2003: 7,378 Aggregate Payment to RMCs for 2003: $177M Average Payment for RMC Assistance for 2003: $23,990 Employment Grades with Highest Proportions of

Transfers: GS-12, GS-13, FP-04 (a State Department classification)


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Respondent Groupings All Respondents (154, but reported

statistics reflect only those that responded to specific data fields)

Case Study Group (13) Department of State Department of Defense (25) Agency Detail and Departmental

Comparisons


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General Observations Many Federal components track many relocation data

elements, so the data is more complete than most of us expected; but pattern is spotty/inconsistent

Majority of respondents able to report activity and costs in a nearly standard format upon OMB request

Responses support GSA’s proposed rule changes (Pending FTR Case 2003-309) prescribing and requiring implementation of a RMIS

Inconsistent data tracking among agencies and within Departments

Few Departments appear to have the technology to aggregate relocation data centrally

Nine agencies noted that they gathered information manually from transferee files


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General Observations Most agencies identified payment types by

Budget Object Class (BOC) subclasses that align with Circular A-11

BOC subclass designations varied significantly among Agencies, in general, and within Departments, specifically

Disparate Budget Object Class sub-classification approaches among components of the same Departments points to decentralization of financial management as well as relocation administration


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General Observations Only a few agencies/bureaus initiate the vast

majority of Government transfers 10% of respondents (15 submissions) accounted

for 82% of 2003 total authorized transfers 10% of respondents accounted for 75% of the total

budget dollars for 2003 Most agencies reported nearly identical

relocation volumes for both authorized and completed transfers (2003) Many moves appear to be completed in the year

authorized or the backlog remains fairly consistent from year to year


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Number of Relocations (BDR Sec. 1)

Relocation Activity 2003 – 2006 (Table 1.1) Distribution of Authorized Relocations

2003 (Table 1.2, All Respondents) Distribution Completed 2003 (Table 1.3,

All Respondents) Respondents with Highest Transfer

Volumes (Tables 1.5 and 1.6)


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Relocation Budget Data (BDR Sec. 2)

Budget Data by Budget Object Class (Table 2.1)

Average and Median Budget Per Authorized Transfer (Table 2.3)

Departments/Agencies with Highest Budgets (Table 2.4)


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Relocation Management Company Contracts & Costs (BDR Sec. 3) 40% of All Respondents (62 submissions)

indicated use of one or more RMCs Payments for RMC services (Table 3.3) Average Payout per Managed Relocation

(Table 3.4) Comparison of Sec. 3 Responses with Sec.

4B (Table 3.6)


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Relocation Management Information (BDR Sect. 4) Systems for tracking relocation costs/data Top Ten Grades for Relocation 2003 and 2004

(Table 4.1.2) Relocation Costs by Category (Table 4.2.1, 2003

Actual Expenses) Comparison of 2003 Budget Data with Actual

Expenses (Table 4.2.3) Relocation Payment Processing Statistics (Table

4.3.1, All Respondents)


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Department of State

Table 5.1: Department of State Authorized Relocations (New Hires and Transferees)

2003 2004 2005

New Hires 2,267 2,281 2,343

Transferees 3,027 3,553 3,807

Total Authorized

5,294 5,834 6,150


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Department of State Table 5.2: Department of State Trends in Authorized

Relocations (New Hires and Transferees)

2004 vs. 2003 2004 vs. 2005 2005 vs. 2006

New Hires Increase

1% 3% 14%

Transferee Increase

15% 7% 5%

Total Increase 9% 5% 9%


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Department of State Relocation Budget

Department of State Budget Information (Table 5.4) Estimated budget increase from FY 2003 to

FY 2004 is 27%, with year-over-year increases for FY 2005 and FY 2006 being 3% each year


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Figure 5.5: State Dept. Average Budget Per Authorized Relocation

Average Payment Per Authorized Relocation

$22,569

$26,004$25,408

$23,865

$20,000

$21,000

$22,000

$23,000

$24,000

$25,000

$26,000

$27,000

2003 2004 2005 2006


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Department of State No information on use of relocation management

companies Responses regarding payments by category

suggest lack of a system for tracking and aggregating actual expenses associated with transfers Only expenses for house hunting trips in the

continental United States are available CONUS vs. “Other” Transfers State Dept. Employment Grades


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DoD: What We Know

BDR responses were limited to civilian moves only

Generalizations should not be made in haste

Few DoD respondents report data in the same way

Many respondents have only scant data


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DoD Total Average 2003 Budget Per Completed Relocation

Air Force Civilians $29,052Army Corps of Engineers $9,584 Defense Contract Audit Agency $23,483 Office of Inspector General $49,441

American Forces Information Service $11,707

Defense Security Service $32,080

Defense Threat Reduction Agency $55,175

Navy Bureau of Medicine & Surgery $29,067

Army Corps of Engineers $20,417 Defense Contract Audit Agency $29,052


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Some Reasons For Large Deviations in Averages DoDEA

All but 13 were OCONUS transfers Did not provide expense data:

“Entitlements authorized on PCS orders are obligated in two object classes and are not broken out individually. All disbursements are paid by either DFAS [Defense Finance Accounting Service] or military disbursing functions both in CONUS and overseas. The DoD disbursing system is electronic and vouchers are not provided to show the individual entitlement payments. CONUS returns are generally separations/retirements.”


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Air Force

Completed relocations = 1,783 (350 new hires and 1,433 current employees)

Budget Payment Categories

FY 2003 Actual Budget

Average Budget Per Completed Relo

Payment to 3rd Party Relocation Company

$11,000,000 $6,169

Other Payments (all authorized PCS & HHGs

$40,800,000 $22,883

Totals $51,800,000 $29,052


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Air Force Air Force only authorizes relocation services for

GS 12 through SES (Senior Executive Service) 3rd party relocation company moved only 370 If all other payments totaled $22,883 for this

group of 370, then the total average budget per completed relocation for this segment was $52,613

Average relocation budget per completed relocation for all others was, then, $18,051


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Air Force Specified Relocation Expense Total (Sec. 4) =

$51.8M Actual Relocation Expense Total = $25,867,000

Average cost per completed relocation = $14,508 Perhaps add in $11M for 3rd Party? Now total is $36,867,000

Average cost per completed relocation = $20,678 We do not find RITA included in the reported

totals


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Army Corps of Engineers 2003 Budget Breakout

Reimbursement of travel expenses

to employees18%

Reimbursement of relocation expenses to employees

36%Other4%

Payments to household goods

moving companies

21%

Payments to storage

companies4%

Payments to property

management companies

2%

Relocation income tax

allowance for employees

4%

Other payments (TQSE & RITA)

9%

Payments to 3rd party relocation

companies2%


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DoD Military PCS Budget Data 2003

Authorized Moves

2003 Budget‘000s

2004 Authorized

Moves

2004 Budget‘000s

Army 250,858 $1,345,922 302,209 $1,513,755

Navy 188,559 $786,533 195,947 $819,208

Marine Corps 102,834 $305,836 98,095 $325,936

Air Force 163,867 $1,002,381 161,344 $976,484

Total, Military Personnel 706,118 $3,440,672 757,595 $3,635,383


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DoD: What We Don’t Know Several DoD entities did not respond; most

notably, we lack data on civilian moves for US Navy (other than 3 medical facilities), USMC, NSA, and others

Some DoD responses were substantially incomplete; i.e., no Army volume or budget data, no DLA volume or budget data, etc.

No military relocation data


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Conclusions Changes in Federal relocation management and monitoring policy should

recognize that most Federal entities relocate few employees and only a few Federal entities relocate most employees.

10% of Respondents = 82% of 2003 Transfer Volume 10% of Respondents = 75% of 2003 Budget

Departments cannot easily aggregate relocation costs and measures of activity to leverage volume and expenditures in contracting for relocation services. Data gaps hinder comparisons among Departments. (USDA example)

Departments and agencies could benefit from implementation of

standardized BOC sub-classifications for line-item budget expenditures.


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Conclusions Little consistency in relocation data tracking among

agencies or within Departments. Most transferees are at the mid-to-upper

management level (comparable to “typical” transferees in the private sector).

Governmentwide, average relocation costs ($29,735 and $37,394 for 2003 and 2004, respectively) are significantly lower than the average private-sector relocation cost of $44,143.


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Recommendations Develop a criteria for identifying an

Extrapolation Profile Group and create model to project transfer volume and cost trends as well as costs of line-item expenses across the Federal Government.

Identify critical cost drivers that affect increases or decreases in Government relocation expenses.

Create a model that incorporates those drivers for use across the Federal Government to improve relocation budgeting and management to those budgets.


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Recommendations Select Departments or bureaus for follow-

up and: validate BDR responses, fill in data gaps as necessary, map relocation management processes,

particularly for departing and receiving locations, financial and reimbursement steps, and the inter-relationship of Departmental oversight and bureau policy compliance, and

identify best practices.


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Recommendations Separate analysis of OCONUS relocation from

CONUS relocation. Study the Department of Defense separately

from the civilian agencies. GSA should require implementation of a RMIS

through the FTR. Develop policies and management

recommendations that recognize that most Federal entities relocate fewer than 10 employees and, conversely, that a handful of agencies initiate the vast majority of relocations.


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Recommendations Supplement BDR data through targeted follow-on data-

gathering to identify: Number of transferees that received each type of payment noted

in BDR Sections 2 and 4 to enable estimation of the costs of revising current entitlements and benefits.

Non-cost metrics specific to the homesale program (e.g., % of inventoried homesales and employee-assisted sales); other benefit areas, such as TQSE (e.g. number of days of temporary living and whether accompanied or unaccompanied); and transferee demographics.

Qualitative assessment to determine the degree to which current relocation entitlements/benefits assist departments and agencies in meeting strategic staffing, recruitment and retention goals.

Analysis Results Of Business Data Request 04-45 Presented to: Governmentwide Relocation Advisory...

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