Two depart OMB for other agencies
The information technology staff churn has not spared the Office of Management and Budget, where two senior officials recently announced plans to take other government jobs.
By Christopher J. DorobekGCN StaffThe information technology staff churn has not spared the Office of Management and Budget, where two senior officials recently announced plans to take other government jobs.The Defense Department announced this month that Deidre A. Lee, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, would become the new director of Defense Procurement within a month.OMB also confirmed that Peter Weiss has left his post as senior policy analyst in OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Lee has served as OFPP administrator since July 1998. In her new position, she will be responsible for all DOD procurement policy matters. Her duties will include directing the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council and developing policy for contract pricing and financing, contract administration, international contracting and training of contracting personnel.Lee will also serve as the principal adviser to Jacques S. Gansler, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, on major weapons system contracting strategies.She replaces Eleanor Spector, who retired last month.Observers said DOD officials approached Lee about the job, which other officials described as a top career opportunity. Spector served in the post for 15 years, one official noted.Former OFPP administrator Steve Kelman, now a professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, called the DOD job the 'most important career job in contracting in the federal government. That's not an opening that happens every day.'Lee is a career government worker who started in entry-level procurement jobs, including some DOD jobs. Before coming to OFPP, she was associate administrator for procurement at NASA.Lee's main accomplishment 'is really working to help contracting people redefine their own self-image from being regulatory experts into what she called biz advisers,' Kelman said. She helped procurement shops look beyond the specifics of the Federal Acquisition Regulation and focus on helping agencies find the best way to carry out their missions, he said.During her time at OMB, Lee was also saddled with many responsibilities unrelated to her job as OFPP administrator, including serving as acting deputy director of management for OMB.Weiss, meanwhile, left OMB for a job in strategic planning and policy at NOAA's National Weather Service.Weiss is the chief author of OMB Circular A-130, a policy that encourages agencies to buy commercial products rather than design their own.He started at NOAA last week.
Lee will become Defense Procurement chief; analyst Weiss now at NOAA
Deidre A. Lee will begin her new job as Defense Procurement director within a month.