FTS' Bates to retire

Sandra Bates is retiring from her position as commissioner of the General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service. Her planned last day is Feb. 11, she said.

Bates has been at the center of recent controversies surrounding FTS, including lax adherence to procurement rules found in investigations of FTS regional offices. In conjunction with Defense Department officials, she helped create the "Get It Right" program last year in an effort to stop such abuses.

Bates joined the NASA Office of Space Communications in 1979 and stayed there until 1996. She joined FTS and then became its commissioner in 2000.

In a Jan. 10 e-mail to her staff, she connected her decision to leave the government with the turning of the new year.

"I've given a lot of thought to the future and to the new directions that make sense as I look ahead," she wrote. "As many people do, I've made some personal resolutions, and I have thought through an action plan to help me keep them."