Obama appoints DoD acquisition policy chief to head spending watchdog

President Barack Obama announced he will appoint Richard Ginman, the director of Defense Department procurement policy, to chair the Government Accountability a...

President Barack Obama announced he will appoint Richard Ginman, the director of Defense Department procurement policy, to chair the Government Accountability and Transparency(GAT) Board, a spending and transparency watchdog.

Ginman has served as the director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP) for a little more than year. He previously served as the deputy director for three years starting in 2008 and in other positions in the office before that.

Ginman retired as a Navy rear admiral in 2000, after serving in high-ranking acquisition positions throughout the service in the 1990s. Ginman also has experience in the private sector, including a stint leading General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems’ maritime information unit.

Obama created the GAT Board in a June 2011 executive order as part of the administration’s Campaign to Cut Waste initiatives. The board was designed to increase transparency surrounding federal spending, modeled on a similar effort to track spending disbursed by the 2009 Recovery Act.

Obama appointed Earl Devaney, who also led the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, to be the GATB’s first chairman last August. Devaney retired in December.

The governmentwide board is staffed with a number of high-profile agency officials, including inspectors general and acquisition and financial chiefs.

The last GAT Board meeting was scheduled for June 2012.

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