Procurement innovator De Vera moves to GSA

Manny De Vera, who created groundbreaking governmentwide information technology contracts at the National Institutes of Health, has joined the General Services Administration as director of the Information Technology Solutions Regional Services Center.

De Vera will be responsible for the center's regional programs, including the Federal Acquisition Services for Technology program and the Federal Information Systems Support Program. The center is part of the Office of Information Technology Integration (ITI) at GSA's Federal Technology Service.

De Vera previously headed NIH's Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center, where he created three governmentwide IT contracts: the Electronic Computer Store, the Chief Information Officer Solutions and Partners contract and ImageWorld, which is a government-wide contract offering imaging products and services. The contracts were innovative and controversial in 1995, and De Vera was replaced in 1996 amid questions about the programs' viability.

"What we are doing is hiring an individual who has shown an entrepreneurial spirit and an ability to innovate," said Mary Whitley, deputy assistant commissioner of ITI.