Cyber, contracting, HR experts join Trump agency teams

The Trump administration has named a personnel advisor, a bid protest expert and a former science and technology official to its list of agency "landing teams."

George Nesterczuk, former Office of Personnel Management expert, will be on the General Services Administration's landing team, as will contract lawyer Robert Tompkins. Bradley Buswell, former deputy undersecretary for science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security, will be on the DHS landing team, the President-elect's administration said.

The landing teams serve in a coordinating role between current agency leaders and employees and the incoming administration. They help identify key policy issues and help with personnel decisions.

Nesterczuk has extensive OPM experience. Between 2004 and 2006, he was senior advisor to the director at the Office of Personnel Management for the Department of Defense, leading OPM efforts in the establishment of the National Security Personnel System at the Department of Defense. From 1995 to 2000 he was worked on Capitol Hill as staff director of the Subcommittee on Civil Service of the Committee on Government Reform in the House of Representatives. In the early-to-mid-1980s, he was senior official in the Reagan administration, holding positions at OPM, the Defense Department, and the Department of Transportation.

Robert Tompkins, from Washington, D.C., law firm Holland & Knight, is another addition to the GSA landing team. According to his biography on the law firm's web site, he is experienced in government contract protests and disputes, government investigations and related proceedings, mergers and acquisitions, and Small Business Administration government contracting programs. He represents contractors and grant recipients in complex issues, including  congressional investigations, inspector general inquiries, suspension and debarment proceedings.

Buswell, a former deputy undersecretary of science and technology at DHS, joined the landing team at his old agency. Outside of DHS, he worked for Morpho Detection and Rapisan Aviation Products, which supply explosives and weapons detection systems to the Transportation Security Administration.