Political official to serve as acting commissioner of FTS

A politically appointed official will fill a key leadership post at the General Services Administration, a post traditionally occupied by a career civil servant, the agency's administrator announced Monday.

Barbara Shelton will take over in February as the acting commissioner of the Federal Technology Service, a division of GSA that procures information technology goods and services for federal agencies and has been embroiled in ongoing investigations of procurement abuses by its employees for more than a year.

Shelton currently serves in the politically appointed post of regional administrator of GSA's Mid-Atlantic Region, headquartered in Philadelphia. In that capacity, she is responsible for overseeing all GSA activities in a six state area. Her appointment as acting FTS commissioner will likely signal to some procurement observers that the Bush administration plans to tighten control over the agency.

In a brief statement issued by GSA, Shelton said, "I welcome the opportunity to serve the Bush administration and GSA…and I'm looking forward to working with FTS associates to ensure acquisition excellence for our federal agency customers and the American taxpayers."

GSA Administrator Stephen Perry indicated that Shelton will have a hand in the agency's reorganization. Shelton "will have a key role in working with others on the GSA management team to reorganize functions of FTS and the Federal Supply Service," Perry said. FSS, another GSA division, manages the widely used schedules program, a series of contracts for goods and services open to all federal agencies.

Procurement insiders around Washington have speculated for weeks that Perry would appoint a political official to the FTS job, possibly in anticipation of that person becoming the new head of a realigned GSA.

While the future of the agency remains uncertain, some have speculated that FTS' ability to remain in business has been jeopardized by its procurement scandals, which have included the misuse of appropriated funds and potential violations of federal law by employees, who were found to be buying goods unrelated to technology and steering business toward favored companies.

A senior Federal Supply Service official has asserted that FTS has been hard hit by a loss of customers from the Defense Department, which has become more vigilant about the use outside contracts and has instructed its employees to follow the letter of all procurement laws. FTS, however, has not acknowledged that a recent downturn in its sales of technology was caused by customers' fears of doing business with the procurement outfit.

The current FTS commissioner, Sandra Bates, is retiring from government on Feb. 11, after a government career that spanned more than 30 years and included stints in senior procurement positions at NASA and GSA. Shelton's appointment will become effective when Bates exits, GSA said in a statement.

Shelton came to GSA in January 2002. Prior to her appointment, she was deputy secretary for administration in Pennsylvania's Department of Labor and Industry from January 2000 to December 2001. Prior to that, she served as deputy secretary for procurement in the commonwealth's Department of General Services from March 1995 to December 1999.

GSA added that Shelton had 13 years of "private industry experience in information technology systems management and marketing with PPG Industries and Philip Morris Inc."

According to GSA documents, Shelton has been present at seminars on doing business with the federal government, as well as presentations on GSA's "Get It Right" campaign, a procurement training program initiated following revelations of the procurement abuses.

Shelton graduated with a bachelor's of science degree in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and earned an MBA from Columbia University, according to GSA.