Acting GSA chief expects smooth transition to new administrator

Recent changes at the top of the General Services Administration have caused some anxiety for the career workforce, but much of that concern likely will be blunted by the nomination of James A. Williams to run the agency for the last few months of the Bush administration, acting GSA Administrator David L. Bibb said on Friday.

On Wednesday, Bibb, who joined GSA as a management intern in 1971, announced he would retire Sept. 1. Hours later, the White House announced that Williams, who currently serves as commissioner of GSA's Federal Acquisition Service, would be nominated to be the agency's administrator.

"There is a little bit of angst, I would say, with the leadership changes," Bibb said in a Friday conference call with reporters. "Had we had two people coming in who were startups and knew nothing about GSA … then it would have really upset our workforce. But I think our workforce is really comfortable with me and I think they will be really comfortable with Jim."

Williams, who has declined media interviews until after his Senate confirmation hearing, is an atypical selection, if only because he is a career civil servant. In the past, career officials, such as Bibb, have tended to inherit the administrator position only in an interim role.

While Bibb said he believed that in the long term it is best for a political appointee to run GSA, he argued that Williams' experience and breadth of knowledge made him a strong candidate for the post.

"Whether he is working six months in a job or six years, he is going to be an activist," Bibb said. "I have full confidence that he is going to be more than a caretaker."

Earlier in his career, Williams served as director of the local telecommunications procurement division at GSA. He later served in several executive positions with the Internal Revenue Service and as the director of the Homeland Security Department's US VISIT program.

In June 2006, then-GSA administrator Lurita A. Doan brought Williams back to the agency to launch FAS, which combined the Federal Technology Service and Federal Supply Service into a single acquisition and procurement organization. Doan, who was fired by the White House in late April after an ugly public feud with GSA Inspector General Brian Miller, praised Williams' nomination.

"Jim Williams is a wonderful choice, which is why I brought him back to GSA two years ago," Doan told Government Executive. "He has firsthand experience with the challenges at GSA and is well-prepared to meet them."

Bibb's retirement has been in the works for several months and may have expedited the White House's search for a permanent agency chief.

He had been in negotiations with a startup firm since last fall, but had to wait until the company's finances were lined up before making a formal retirement announcement. The company, which has yet to debut and which Bibb declined to name, will be in the real estate sector and focus not only on federal work, but on private-public partnerships with state and local governments as well. He will be a salaried employee and expects to have a small ownership stake.

In the meantime, Bibb said there is still much that he, and eventually Williams, plans to accomplish before the administration transition.

The biggest priority, he said, is to continue GSA's business resurgence, particularly on the FAS side of the agency. Sales on the agency's multiple awards schedule this year were $24.2 billion as of April compared to $23.1 billion at the same time last year. GSA's assisted acquisition business is down somewhat, but Bibb said sales are on their way back up.

Bibb's other short-term priorities include planning for the presidential transition. GSA provides significant logistical support to the incoming team, including providing rental space and IT support to the approximately 600 people who fill key positions in the next administration.

Looking long term, Bibb is concerned about the $7 billion backlog of repair work at GSA properties.

"I would like to see progress in public-private sector ventures where we could inject some private sector capital into getting some of this backlog taken care of," he said. "Is that likely to happen before this administration leaves? [I expect] minor progress at best, because that is a pretty significant sea change. But I certainly hope we can make some progress for the remainder of this administration."

Bibb, like his predecessor, Doan, expressed concern about the proliferation of acquisition vehicles throughout the government. The growth of these intra-agency or interagency acquisition vehicles -- 260 currently exist -- has forced vendors to spend more money marketing their wares, he argued. Those costs, Bibb said, eventually are passed along to taxpayers.

"It's not that GSA fears competition," he said. "We are glad to have competition from other vehicles. It keeps us sharp. But 260 is not competition. It's chaos, and that needs to be limited."