OFPP Nominee Confirmed

This past Saturday evening, the Senate took a break from considering health care insurance reform to confirm Daniel Gordon to be the next administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP). President Obama nominated [1] Gordon on Oct. 2. A former deputy general counsel of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Gordon will face several challenges as soon as he begins his tenure.

During his nomination hearing on Nov. 10, Gordon outlined a broad set of goals that he intends to pursue as OFPP administrator. According to a Government Executive article [3], Gordon assured the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that he would work to expand the size and improve the training of the acquisition workforce; find ways to save money and reduce risk in acquisitions; advance procurement planning; and strengthen contract management. Coincidentally, President Obama recently laid out similar goals in two sets of guidance – one [4] in July and the other [5] in October – from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which houses the OFPP.

Gordon rightly focused most of his attention during his testimony on increasing the size of the acquisition workforce and improving its training. All of the issues he pointed out are salient to reforming the government's bloated and unaccountable contracting system, but true change will not occur until the government actively works to reform what some have dubbed the "culture of complacency" within the personnel system.

The confirmation of Gordon, according to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Peter Orszag, solidifies [6] the OMB team; and it couldn't have come any sooner. Gordon, as the administrator of the policy shop that oversees all aspects of federal government contracting, will be responsible for carrying out the president's directive [4] to cut procurement spending by 7 percent over the next two fiscal years. Along with reforming the acquisition workforce, and addressing contract competition and management, Gordon has his work cut out for him.

Image by Flickr user johnsolid [7] used under a Creative Commons license.