Blum gets competitive OMB post

Federal competitive sourcing initiative manager Mathew Blum will become the new associate administrator for competitive sourcing within the Office of Management and Budget.

Blum, a career civil servant, will fill a long-vacant post, said OMB spokesman Alex Conant. “We are not creating a new position,” Conant said, adding that the job has been unfilled since 2001. Blum has worked at OMB since 1990 as an attorney and most recently has managed the competitive sourcing initiative, an effort to encourage agencies to compete with the private sector for federal jobs not defined as strictly governmental.

However, the politically appointed position of administrator of OFFP, will “continue to be the lead person on competitive sourcing,” Conant said. The decision to fill the vacancy preceded by months the resignation and arrest of David Safavian, former OFFP administrator, he added.

OMB is searching for a new administrator, Conant said, without adding specifics. “The process is under way,” he said.