As federal agencies turn to public and private shared service providers to assist them in finding talent and service solutions for common management functions such as human resources, information technology and financial management, they have encountered numerous barriers. To help address these barriers, the Partnership for Public Service created the Shared Services Roundtable, a consortium of industry, federal shared service providers and policy stakeholders with the mission of developing recommendations for establishing the policies, business standards and system architecture that would make up an effective and efficient shared services marketplace. According to providers and customer agencies, many organizations are struggling to find high-quality, low-cost service options. The lack of a centralized, transparent and competitive shared services marketplace has greatly impeded the ability of federal agencies to assess providers based on past performance, drive competitive pricing and ensure compatibility with current systems. This document outline’s explains why now is the time to drive an enterprise-wide approach to shared services and initial recommendations on how to get there.