GSA acting administrator: IT services contract top priority

Awarding a multibillion-dollar contract for information technology services that was derailed by a losing bidder's protest is the top priority for the General Services Administration, according to Acting Administrator David Bibb, who stepped into the top post after the sudden resignation of Lurita Doan on Tuesday.

"The biggest thing in the Federal Acquisition Service is to get the Alliant contract done," Bibb told Nextgov in an interview on Friday. "It will take a while to sort through. It's one of the highest priorities in the agency."

The agency must recompete Alliant after a judge ruled in March that GSA had been "arbitrary and capricious" in its initial award. That process will take several months "under the best circumstances," Bibb said. The contract is complicated, he noted, "butit's an absolute priority and people are working on it very hard."

The Alliant program office has gone back to sifting through 62 proposals in hopes of getting the award completed during this calendar year.

During the interview, Bibb, who served as Doan's deputy and as acting administratorfor seven months in 2005 and 2006, outlined his agency's priorities in the wake of Doan's unexpected resignation.

Bibb said GSA employees had reacted to Doan's departure "without skipping a beat." He said that while her resignation might have prompted some watercooler chat, but employees weren't at a loss for what to do. "There was a great deal of surprise on all our parts when Lurita announced her resignation," Bibb said. "I was off Monday, and late Tuesday she called her closest staff into her office and said she had resigned. I think there were five of us and five mouths dropped open. There was no speculation leading up to it, nothing imminent, no sign of that."

In the interview, Bibb addressed the dispute between Doan and GSA's inspector general, Brian Miller, which the former GSA chief said led the White House to demand her resignation. Brian Miller and Doan had battled, in part, over Doan's belief that Miller was overly aggressive in auditing pricing on GSA schedule contracts.

One of Bibb's first acts as acting administrator was to have a conversation with Miller."There's no question the relationship is strained," he said. "I recognize the IG has a role and I don't want to minimize that. I have a long history of working with IGs, and we both said, 'Let's see if we can't get this back to a state of normalcy.' We don't think the agency needs the turmoil to continue between the business lines and the IG."

Asked whether the turmoil had negatively affected the workplace, Bibb responded, "Most people on the lines go about their business, but I think, yeah probably, the turmoil did cause . . . just a little uneasiness between operation folks and the IG. There will always be some tension. . . . We just hope the IG can carry out his function in a situation or atmosphere that is professional on both sides. That's certainly what I want as acting administrator and what Brian Miller wants. We've worked together before and I'm hopeful that's what will occur."

Bibb praised Doan for her enthusiasm and the high energy she brought to the agency, but contrasted his own style as a GSA employee for 36 years. "Lurita is a very dynamic, popular individual," he said. "I'm not [un]popular, but my style is not Mrs. Doan's style. I haven't been accused as often of being too dynamic. More dependable -- if I say I'm going to do something, I'll get it done. … By and large I like to work through the chain of command."

Bibb also said GSA's $68 billion Network telecommunications contract, to which agencies have been slow to transition, is "very forward-looking."

"I know it takes agencies time to ramp up and make the conversion from whatever they were using before," he added. "We have new users coming to Networx that weren't on GSA services before. Our folks are pleased with the progress on the take-up and use of a large system like that. We're not disappointed."

Regarding other priorities, Bibb said, "Defense is a special area of interest to me…. We meet monthly with their acquisition folks. We want to do everything to support our largest customer and the warfighter."

Bibb also talked about what he called the new "state of mind" at GSA, under an effort known as "One GSA." He said he would like to continue to bring all of GSA's services together to provide a complete suite of products for the federal workplace, including furniture, telecommunications and technology. GSA, he said, is " interested in moving beyond our stovepipes to become a much more integrated agency."

Bibb also talked about GSA's environmental initiatives. "I'm our agency's senior environmental official, and I plan to continue to carry that title," he said. "I've been out front on green issues and advocating a lot of the changes made at GSA already. I've been preaching that for 10 years or so. We have a huge responsibility to not just our current generation, our children or grandchildren, but 20 generations from now. We are doing things to leave a good Earth for people down the line. Within that last two or three years, it's become part of what the public expects."