GSA officials trade places

Two top acquisition officials at the General Services Administration will trade jobs temporarily to look at the agency from a new vantage point. Mike Sade, assistant commissioner for acquisition management at the Federal Acquisition Service, will become senior adviser to John Johnson, assistant commissioner for the Office of Integrated Technology Services (ITS). In Sade’s place, Steve Kempf, Johnson’s deputy assistant commissioner for ITS, will become acting assistant commissioner for acquisition management, said Jim Williams, FAS commissioner. Sade’s and Kempf’s rotations will last about six months, Williams said. Sade won’t rotate into a deputy position, but will help Johnson’s office with several initiatives such as environmental issues and customer outreach, Williams said. Sade and Johnson are discussing the details of the arrangement, Williams said. “It was Mike’s desire to do this, so we wanted to accommodate him,” he said. “He was at a point in his life where he wanted to get to know us more operationally. He wanted to take a step back for a while.” Williams said Sade asked for the change in his role at GSA so he could get an in-depth understanding of FAS’ operations. Sade, who joined GSA in December 2006, would benefit from the opportunity to learn about the agency from the inside, Williams said. Sade has a history of working with IT acquisitions for the government. Before GSA, he worked for 16 years at the Commerce Department, most recently as director of its Commerce Information Technology Solutions governmentwide acquisition contract. For Sade, this new senior adviser role should give him a new perspective on how he can improve the IT acquisition process within GSA, Williams said. “John needs some help, too,” Williams said. ITS awarded a number of large IT contracts in 2007, such as the Alliant GWAC. Now ITS must make sure that it delivers those contracts’ services to the customers in the way they need them, Williams said.