OMB names category management leads

Tiffany Hixon of the General Services Administration is among the 10 category managers tapped by the Office of Management and Budget to oversee the government's Category Management acquisition plan.

Hixon, a regional commissioner for GSA's Federal Acquisition Service, is the Professional Services Category Manager, said Anne Rung, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, in a Feb. 25 blog post announcing the new managers.

As FCW reported earlier, Kim Luke, a former vice president at Hewlett Packard, will serve as Information Technology Category Manager. While at HP, Luke was vice president of strategic growth, and managed the company's federal contracts.

In addition to the IT and professional services categories, the categories include medical, transportation, travel and lodging, human capital, security and protection, facilities and construction, industrial products and services and office management.

OMB drew on senior leaders from within its ranks, as well as from GSA, the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Office of Personnel Management. The officials, Rung said, will also oversee a "Category Management Center of Excellence" on behalf of the government while working closely with a program management office in GSA.

Each of the 10 managers, Rung said, brings "tremendous expertise" to the categories they manage, helping the push towards more efficiencies and savings.

Hixson, for example, brings more than 25 years of professional experience in the field of acquisition management, working her way up through the acquisition ranks from contract specialist to director for Commerce Acquisition Solutions at the Department of Commerce, then to her position at FAS.

"Kim and Tiffany will oversee the Professional Services and IT areas of Federal procurement, respectively -- together representing nearly $114 billion a year in spending," Rung said.