Former GSA FAS execs start consulting firm

The former head of the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service and his deputy have formed a new consultancy after leaving the agency.

Former FAS Commissioner Tom Sharpe and Deputy Commissioner Kevin Youel Page told FCW in an interview that they founded Onetegrity on July 7.

They said they have set up financial operations to support the effort and have registered on GSA's System for Award Management, which is the central site for doing business with the federal government.

In the July 25 interview, Page and Sharpe said that since they formed the advisory firm, they have met with over a dozen companies to discuss how they can help smooth contractors' work with the government or help businesses currently outside the federal market enter it.

Sharpe's and Page's LinkedIn profiles say the company is "dedicated to supporting industry and government leaders to achieve transformational results."

Their website states that the company will help clients develop and improve mission outcomes through innovative procurement contracts, grants, and research and development techniques.

Page said they want to help clients with transformational potential in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and the internet of things.

"We're looking to do work with high impact" on federal agencies' capabilities, "similar to what we did at GSA and Treasury," Sharpe said.

Page held multiple key acquisition positions at GSA and, before that, at the Treasury Department and in industry. Before joining GSA, Sharpe had been the senior executive responsible for procurement policy across Treasury.

Page won a Federal 100 Award in 2017 for his work on converting FAS into a "cloud first" operation, making FAS services and products consumable by agencies under a cloud economics model and positioning the agency as an infrastructure-, platform- and software-as-a-service shared-services provider.

Sharpe and Page, however, abruptly left GSA in early June, and FAS was reorganized to fold in the relatively new Technology Transformation Service, with a new political appointee at the helm.

Both men had been involved in a rancorous two-year struggle with former GSA Administrator Denise Turner Roth over how to fund and manage TTS and 18F.

The two executives were ultimately backed by a report by GSA's Office of Inspector General and a report by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which examines federal agency whistleblower complaints. The latter report states that GSA had "grossly mismanaged" TTS. The men reached a settlement with GSA with the help of the IG. Sharpe and Page declined to comment on the settlement. Sharpe said all that is behind them, and he rarely thinks about the conflict now.

According to Page, the new company had been an aspiration in the backs of their minds when they worked at GSA. "It's something we wanted to do," said Sharpe, who added that as he neared age 60, he was wondering what to do after he retired. His departure from the agency gave him the chance to act, he said.

"We've known each other for a long time," Page said. "Only after we left GSA did we work on it."

Page and Sharpe currently work from their Washington, D.C., homes but said they have been exploring office space in the area. They’re also looking to the future and plan to hire young but experienced consultants with federal and commercial backgrounds.

Sharpe said the conflict with GSA has not come up in discussions with clients. "We're focused on moving forward," he added.