GSA official jumps to consultancy

Frank McDonough, a General Services Administration official with expertise in intergovernmental relations, is joining Guerra, Kiviat, Flyzik & Associates to help develop the consulting firm's state and local business practice.

With more companies organizing along federal, state and local lines, Phil Kiviat said there is a growing need for consulting firms to advise companies on developing contracts with state and local governments, especially for homeland security business.

"Frank is an expert in state and local governments," said Kiviat, who is a partner in the private consulting firm that advises companies on how to develop government-sector business.

McDonough, 64, spent 38 years working for the federal government, including the last 23 at GSA.

As GSA's deputy associate administrator for the Office of Intergovernmental Solutions, McDonough was responsible for interacting with government officials in other countries and with state and local governments to share best practices and exchange information. He also was leader in GSA's Trail Boss program during the 1990s. The program was designed to educate federal information technology managers on procurement issues in a time of rapidly changing rules.

McDonough said intergovernmental solutions are the future of public administration.

"A number of companies are beginning to see the trend and drift in this direction," McDonough said in a telephone interview today.

When he first started working on intergovernmental management seven years ago, McDonough said "people's eyes used to glaze over." But now it's a growing trend and "it's on the tip of everybody's tongue," said McDonough, who starts his new job on July 1 after a long-awaited trip to Scotland.

Jim Flyzik, the former chief information officer at the Treasury Department who had been on assignment at the Office of Homeland Security, joined the firm in December 2002. Since Flyzik joined the firm, Kiviat said the company's business has grown by one-third.