WASHINGTON — Good governance group warns of serious consequences if the president-elect is elected Donald Trump continues to stay informal transition planning with the Biden administration; He says inaction has already limited the federal government’s ability to grant security clearances and briefings to the incoming administration.

Without planning, says Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonprofit Public Service Partnership“It would not be possible to be ready for power from day one.”

Transition of the president-elect Managed by Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and former wrestling executive Linda McMahon, who ran the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. Last month, they said they expected to sign agreements with the Biden White House and the General Services Administration, which essentially acts as the federal government’s host, that would begin the formal transition process.

But these agreements are still not signed and the pressure is starting to mount.

The delay hinders the federal government’s ability to process security clearances for potentially hundreds of Trump administration national security officials. This could limit staff who can work on sensitive information until Inauguration Day on January 20.

This also means Trump appointees won’t yet have access to federal facilities, documents and personnel to prepare for office.

The agreements are mandated under the Presidential Transition Act, which takes effect in 2022. The law requires the president-elect’s team to agree to an ethics plan and requires that private donations be limited and disclosed.

In this law, Congress set deadlines of September 1 for the GSA agreement and October 1 for the White House agreement to ensure that new administrations are ready to govern the country when they take office. Both deadlines have already come and gone.

Stier, whose organization has been working with candidates and incumbents on the transition, said in a call with reporters Friday that the new administration “comes in with the responsibility of taking over the most complex operation on the planet.”

“They definitely need to have done a lot of preliminary work to be able to do this effectively,” he said, adding that Trump’s team was “obviously approaching this differently than previous transitions.”

“They have surpassed all the customary and, in our opinion, vital agreements that have been made with the federal government so far,” Stier said.

One this week’s statementLutnick and McMahon said Trump “selects personnel who, under his leadership, will serve our nation and implement policies that will make American lives affordable, safe and secure.” They did not mention signing agreements to start the transition.

Congressionally mandated ethics disclosures and contribution limits are factors in the hesitancy to sign the agreements, a person familiar with the matter said.

Trump transition spokesman Brian Hughes said Friday that the team’s “lawyers continue to communicate constructively with Biden-Harris Administration lawyers regarding any agreements contemplated by the Presidential Transition Act.”

“We will let you know when a decision is made,” Hughes said.