Traditionally, as soon as a new president is elected, the would-be president spends the approximately three-month gap leading up to Inauguration Day preparing to run the administration. This is to familiarize himself or herself with the announcement of policy proposals, the nomination of cabinet members, and (open in new tab) the handling of classified government information. This transition period is governed by the Presidential Transition Law. This transition law was enacted in 1963 to help the incoming president properly prepare to start on Day One (opens in new tab) by providing funds, facilities, and access to government services in the weeks and months following Election Day.

Unfortunately for President-elect Joe Biden, however, 2020 has struck again. That's because, according to the New York Times (opens in new tab), Donald Trump's appointee to the General Procurement Office has been denied access, citing the Trump administration's ongoing controversy over the legitimacy of the election results.

Even without the $6.6 million in federal funds, government office space, and access to federal agencies that would accompany a GSA official's confirmation letter naming him president-elect, Biden and his transition team have already moved into action. [Biden said at a press conference on November 10 (open in new tab), "We have already begun the transition.

Here is what we know so far about Biden's transition team.

Transition teams are typically led by the president-elect and vice president, a group of co-chairs, and a broad advisory committee.

The co-chairs for Biden and incoming Vice President-elect Kamala Harris include Anita Dunn, a senior advisor to the Biden campaign; New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham; former Delaware Senator Ted Kaufman; the national co-chair for the Biden campaign, Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond; and Jeff Zients, former director of the White House National Economic Council under President Obama.

To date, Biden and Harris have named 16 prominent government and industry leaders to the advisory board. These include Pete Buttigieg, Cindy McCain, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. Click here for the full list on the official transition website (opens in new tab).

Biden and Harris dove headfirst into the transition process in their first few days as president-elect and vice president-elect. Their team immediately launched a transition website, outlining the administration's initial priorities (opens in new tab): COVID-19, economic recovery, racial equality, and climate change. They also quickly formed the COVID-19 Task Force (opens in new tab), a group of 13 prominent physicians and scientists charged with developing the administration's pandemic response plan.

Most recently, on November 10, the transition team announced a list of approximately 500 individuals representing a wide range of industries and government sectors (open in new tab) to form an agency assessment team to evaluate the work of federal agencies in their areas of expertise, in preparation for the Biden-Harris administration to begin working with agencies as soon as it takes office open in new tab). In announcing these ARTs, the transition team noted that the team could begin work immediately, even without direct access to the agencies being evaluated.

According to the announcement, "each agency's evaluation team will work by meeting with former government officials and experts who have closely observed the federal agencies, as well as think tanks, labor organizations, trade associations, and other NGO stakeholders." After the GSA Administrator confirms the election results, ART members will work directly with federal agency staff to ensure that the incoming Biden-Harris administration effectively achieves the policy goals of the President and incoming Vice President."

ARTs span policy areas such as health care, the economy, national intelligence, education, and the arts, and members were recruited from universities, state and local governments, and global companies such as Visa, Autry, Airbnb, Lift, and Disney. According to the transition team's announcement, these leaders represent one of the most diverse agency review groups in history, with more than half being women and approximately 40% representing members of communities historically underrepresented in the federal government.