Procurement chief to step down in September

The head of the Office of Management and Budget's procurement policy shop said Friday that he will resign on Sept. 2.

Paul Denett, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said he plans to "check out various industry options" after taking September off to travel with his family.

The procurement chief's announcement comes on the heels of the resignations of Robert Shea, OMB's associate director for administration and government performance, and Denett deputy Robert Burton.

Denett said Lesley Field, a former OFPP policy analyst, had been tapped to step in as deputy administrator and she will lead the office until the end of the Bush administration.

"She is an outstanding career civil servant," Denett said. "Over the last two years I've worked closely with her on several initiatives…on strategic sourcing, she was instrumental. She will work with senior procurement executives until the next president takes over."

Denett, who became OFPP administrator in August 2006, cited the strengthening of the contracting workforce as a top achievement and also one that will continue to be a challenge for the next administration. He said OFPP has successfully increased both the quantity and training of officials across the contracting workforce, including those in support positions like contracting officer technical representatives and program managers.

It will be imperative, he said, for the next administration to pick up where this one leaves off, measuring skill gaps and working to fill them.

"With over $400 billion and a significant portion of the discretionary budget going to procurement, they're going to have to give a high priority to strengthening the workforce," Denett said.

As OFPP administrator, Denett led a number of controversial initiatives, including competitive sourcing, under which federal jobs are put up for competition with private firms, and performance-based contracting. Denett's memos to agency procurement executives ran the gamut from guidance on interagency acquisitions and emergency acquisitions to tips for assessing internal controls.

John Threlkeld, a lobbyist for the American Federation of Government Employees and critic of the competitive sourcing effort, said Denett "steered clear of AFGE because of our leading role in the fight against privatization."

"We can judge him exclusively on his record, which is one of faithfully carrying out the administration's competitive sourcing agenda and directing agencies to conduct costly and controversial privatization studies."

Former OFPP Administrator Angela Styles, now a partner in the Washington law office of Crowell & Moring, said OFPP has done a good job over the last few years of trying to address workforce and competition issues, including the need to supplement the acquisition workforce even in a tight budget environment.

"In OFPP that can be tough, because you're in OMB," Styles said. "But you really do need to do these things even if it does cost additional money."