Big changes on GSA's IT category team

A top manager of some of the General Services Administration's key initiatives said he is moving on from decades of federal government service to be a local government CIO.

Bill Zielinski, assistant commissioner of the Information Technology Category (ITC) for the GSA's Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), told his team and colleagues in an email the morning of April 27 that he would depart his post on June 5.

"I've decided to take on a new position at the local level as the CIO of a large city," he said. The city was not specified.

Laura Stanton, he said, will step into Zielinski's position in an acting capacity. The moves were first reported by Federal News Network.

In another email the afternoon of April 27 obtained by FCW, FAS Commissioner Julie Dunne said the agency tapped Vera Ashworth, vice president at CGI Federal, to become deputy assistant commissioner for ITC on May 26.

"After 30 years with the federal government Bill has decided to take a new position outside the agency and will continue his public service at the local government level. Bill's last day with GSA will be June 5," said Dunne in her email. "During his tenure, Bill has been instrumental in advancing the transition to Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions, promoting innovation in federal IT acquisition, and promoting IT modernization, cybersecurity and supply chain security objectives," she said.

Zielinski said he took the CIO position in the large city to be closer to his family on the West Coast, as he and his wife adjust to life as "empty nesters."

"Although leaving GSA was a difficult decision, I am most confident that you are in good hands and will continue to transform the Federal IT market and make great things happen on behalf of GSA, the agencies we serve and the American people," said Zielinski.

Stanton has been serving as ITC deputy assistant commissioner for category management, watching over IT sub-categories, identity solutions, and customer engagement for ITC, said Dunne. She has also served as assistant commissioner for the Office of Enterprise Strategy Management where she directed FAS's strategic business planning, performance management, category management, and Acquisition Gateway development and adoption, Dunne said, as well as leading the agency's commercial platforms initiative.

In early March, Zielinski faced a storm of questioning on agencies' slow transition to the EIS contract during an House of Representatives oversight hearing. Lawmakers demanded to know why agencies weren't moving to the contract on schedule.

Zielinski told the lawmakers that he was also concerned about the slow agency transition to EIS. But he noted that some agencies -- the Social Security Administration, the Small Business Administration and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, for example -- had developed and awarded EIS task orders.