OPM adds two executives to deal with procurement issues
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After getting slammed by the General Accounting Office for how it ran the Recruitment One-Stop acquisition, the Office of Personnel Management is calling in the cavalry, hiring two senior procurement executives to manage agencywide and e-government acquisitions.
After getting slammed by the General Accounting Office for how it ran the Recruitment One-Stop acquisition, the Office of Personnel Management is calling in the cavalry. The agency today announced it has hired two senior procurement executives to manage agencywide and e-government acquisitions as well as competitions under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76.
OPM brought in Kay Thayer Ely from the private sector to manage all procurements for OPM's five Quicksilver e-government initiatives. Ely, a senior acquisition and strategic initiative consultant for Acquisition Solutions Inc. of Chantilly, Va., also will focus on the impact of public-private competitions to the federal work force.
OPM also brought in Corey Rindner from the Treasury Department. He will work on procurement policy and manage the federal personnel issues regarding the agency's public-private competition process.
Ely's hiring comes after GAO last month upheld a protest from losing bidder Symplicity Corp. of Arlington Va. on the Recruitment One-Stop contract. GAO decided OPM accepted an improper quote from the winning bidder, TMP Worldwide Government Services of New York, and included two labor categories that are not included in TMP's Federal Supply Services schedule contract [see GCN coverage here]
'OPM is dwelling on my expertise and experience on e-government procurements,' she said. ' I have a strong relationship with OMB and OPM wanted someone to take a look at things and get them back on track or continue on the path chosen. I think OPM needs someone with a great deal of procurement and acquisition expertise at this point.
Ely, who starts July 21, said she hasn't worked out the exact details of her e-government role with OPM or Rindner.
Ely brings a host of federal and private sector experience. In addition to her two years with Acquisition Solutions, she also worked in OMB's Office of Federal Procurement Policy as an associate administrator for acquisition implementation and as a procurement manger for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
'This is very exciting for me, my heart has taken me back into government,' Ely said. 'To go to an agency whose entire mission is focused on people is the real draw.'
Rinder also brings a combination of federal and private sector experience. He worked for Hughes Information Technology Systems of Landover, Md., and Raytheon Co. as well as the Navy and Army Corps of Engineers.
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