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Special Counsel backs whistleblower, says GSA ‘grossly mismanaged’ tech funds

The Office of Special Counsel has announced that it had reached a settlement with the General Services Administration on behalf of recently resigned Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Tom Sharpe.

The office said GSA “had grossly mismanaged its Technology Transformation Service” as described in a GSA report that OSC has forwarded to Congress and the White House, the special counsel having judged the response of the Obama administration’s GSA to Sharpe’s whistleblower disclosures to be “unreasonable.”

Sharpe resigned abruptly from the agency in June (his job is now occupied by Alan Thomas) just as the GSA inspector general was reporting that Sharpe had earlier made “protected disclosures” about “concerns of violations of law, gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds and abuse of authority” to former GSA Administrator Denise Turner Roth, the former deputy administrator, the former General Counsel, and the OIG.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2017/07/special-counsel-backs-whistleblower-says-gsa-grossly-mismanaged-tech-funds/139221/

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GSA swears in new acquisition chief as predecessor emerges as whistleblower

Former Defense Department acquisition official and private-industry veteran Alan Thomas was sworn in Monday as commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, just two weeks after incumbent Tom Sharpe abruptly resigned.

Sharpe’s resignation followed acting General Services Administration chief Tim Horne’s announcement that the agency’s newly stood-up Technology Transformation Service would move into the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) as part of President Trump’s efforts to streamline information technology acquisition.

Horne during Monday’s ceremony at GSA headquarters’ “historic administrative suite” acknowledged the three previous FAS commissioners — Sharpe, Steve Kemp and Jim Williams — since the unit was created in 2005 via a merger of the Federal Supply Service and the Federal Technology Service. Horne exulted that – after six months on the job at a desk that sits alongside others in the agency’s open-office bullpen – he finally got to use the high-ceilinged wood-paneled room that was built a century ago for powerful Interior secretaries (and where the 1920s Teapot Dome oil royalties bribery scandal was said to have originated) for the swearing in.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2017/06/gsa-swears-acquisition-chief-predecessor-emerges-whistleblower/138974

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GSA to move technology unit into acquisition service, new FAS commissioner named

The General Services Administration (GSA) is planning a major reorganization by moving the Technology Transformation Service (TTS) into the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS).

An internal memo obtained by Federal News Radio details the move and the congressional notification.

“To date, both FAS and TTS have produced laudable results, and the Trump administration is seeking even greater success requiring the efforts of a larger and diversified organization. Consistent with this vision, I notified Congress of my intent to reorganize GSA by moving the TTS organizationally into FAS,” wrote acting GSA Administrator Tim Horne in an email to staff. “The move will allow GSA to continue to support the missions of both organizations while achieving greater impact and results.”

Additionally, Horne announced GSA was shifting the FAS Commissioner position to become political and named Alan Thomas as the new head.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/management/2017/06/gsa-to-reorg-tts-into-acquisition-service-new-fas-commissioner-named/

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18F expects to break even in 2019, looks to show value

18F, the Obama administration’s tech-consulting team that came under scrutiny in early summer after a Government Accountability Office report revealed it was burning through more cash than it collected, is on pace to break even by 2019.

18F at GSADave Shive, acting commissioner of the Technology Transformation Service, which houses 18F within the General Services Administration, told an audience Tuesday 18F “expects to be cost recoverable” by 2019, in line with GAO’s best-case projections.

Shive lamented “no startup is profitable on day one,” and GSA’s cadre of tech talent—many of whom come from Silicon Valley and other tech hubs—is barely two years old, yet he admitted it’s been challenging to measure 18F’s value beyond the taxpayer dollars and cents Congress worries about.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2016/09/18f-expects-break-even-2019-looks-show-value/131502

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