Dorn confirmed as OMB deputy

The Senate on Feb. 14 confirmed Nancy Dorn as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, the lead official for the Bush administration's governmentwide management initiatives.

Dorn replaces Sean O'Keefe, who left OMB to become administrator of NASA in December 2001.

As deputy director, Dorn is responsible for developing the federal budget, but she also is the chairwoman of the President's Management Council, which is responsible for ensuring that agencies implement the President's Management Agenda.

The agenda's five initiatives -- strategic workforce management, expanded use of e-government, increased competitive bidding of government services, improved financial performance and linking performance to budgets -- are aimed at improving government performance and service.

The administration issued the first scorecards rating agencies' status in each area as part of the fiscal 2003 budget request this month. Almost 85 percent of the scores for the 26 agencies detailed in the document were red.

Dorn last served as Vice President Dick Cheney's assistant for legislative affairs, and as the senior policy adviser to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Before that, she served in various public- and private-sector positions, including four years as a partner at Hooper Owen and Winburn, a government relations firm in Washington, D.C.