One person's view of FCW's GSA coverage

I moderated a panel on government performance on this morning on government performance, which is hosted by SAS. [Read more about the event here.]

The panel focused on government performance. And SAS did a good job of pulling together an interesting group of people. And the whole issue of government performance is such an important issue. There are also so many different angles to performance -- contracting, personnel, measurement, financial management as a way of measuring... I think it was fairly interesting, if you were lucky enough to attend.

Back to the point of this post -- I was at an event Tuesday evening where I was meeting some of the people involved, including some of the panelists. There is nothing worse then going into these things totally cold without having even spoken to panel members. Anyway, I was introduced myself to one of the person -- who will remain unnamed -- and this person apparently knew who I was who immediately said, "I promised myself that within 30-seconds of meeting you, I would tell you that I don't work for GSA and I never have because I don't want those editorials written about me."

Given the rest of our conversation, I believe the comment was in jest -- at least to a certain degree. And I am guessing that this person was referring to this editorial in which we called for GSA to open its books and present a financial picture of the agency – a fiscal state of the agency.

Rereading the editorial, it was strong, but I still think it is important. My sense is – and I would love to be corrected – that things at GSA have settled down a bit. I had a call from GSA officials earlier this week getting updated numbers and the agency's financial situation still seems dire, but there seems to be a certain degree of hope resulting from the GSA administrator nominee.

And I continue to believe – and, again, I stand to be corrected – that this is an important issue for both government and industry. I still believe there is a real need for GSA to come forward with a full accounting of the agency's financial situation so interested parties – GSA employees, GSA's agency customers, and industry – can be assured that the actions adequately address the problems. GSA officials have, so far, not wanted to lay out its numbers. To their credit, they have made more numbers available.

I am passionate about this issue, but only because I think it is so important.