OPM names new CIO

The Office of Personnel Management has a new CIO. Former Maryland CIO David Garcia will replace David DeVries, who resigned in September. OPM deputy CIO Rob Leahy has served in an interim role since Sept. 2.

OPM confirmed the news to FCW. Federal News Radio first reported the hire.

Garcia founded NMR Consulting, a Fairfax, Va.-based firm that offers IT, program management, infrastructure and logistics services and is on several large federal contract vehicles, including the General Services Administration's Schedule 70. The company also has spots as a subcontractor on Department of Homeland Security's EAGLE II, the Defense Information System Agency's Encore, IT Solutions vehicle and the Army's Information Technology Enterprise Solutions II, according to its website.

In addition to the Maryland CIO post, Garcia's public-sector experience includes service as an intelligence analyst in the Army and, from 1995 to 1998, as the chief of the Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Garcia returned from the private sector in 2015 to serve as Maryland’s CIO under Republican Gov. Larry Hogan before resigning in January.

In joining OPM, which lacks a permanent director, Garcia will face pressing IT priorities.

Since the massive data breach in 2014, the personnel agency has been working to better secure its systems containing personal information. Recent watchdogs' reports criticized the agency’s lag time in addressing its vulnerabilities and pointed out a variety of lingering security concerns.

Additionally, the agency oversees the National Background Investigations Bureau, which currently has a backlog of more than 700,000 security clearance applications.