Denett Departs

FederalNewsRadio has learned that Paul Denett, Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at the Office of Management and Budget, is leaving his position.

On Friday's Daily Debrief, host Amy Morris spoke with Denett, who says he's leaving now because, well, it's the right time.

I've put in two years as the administrator. My wife retired from the Department of the Interior awhile ago and she's been encouraging me to take a little time off and go do some fun family things with her.

Denett has selected Lesley A. Field, a career federal employee, to become the new Deputy Administrator at OFPP.

She's worked her way up through the ranks at the Department of Transportation and has been with OMB's Office of Federal Procurement Policy for the last eight years. I feel I'm handing the reigns to a very able career person who will keep our inititatives going until the new president picks a new administrator.

Denett says it is possible that someone else could be picked to serve as administrator for the remaining time of the Bush administration, but Field will, in all likelihood, remain at the helm until next year.

So, what should the next OFPP administrator keep in mind?

They have to keep their eye on the workforce. We've worked hard to increase the number of procurement people in the acquisition workforce. We've gone up in the last several years from 26,000 contracting officers to 28,000. I think that trend needs to continue.

Denett says, overall, he hopes the attention to the importance of aquisition officials is maintained.

It is among my best successes. I like that. I like the fact that we've just drawn attention to a lot of constructive things that we need to do. We need to get out data accurate so that we can all measure and come out with the right policies. If we have inaccurate data, then our decisions are based on faulty baselines, so we've worked hard to get that right -- to figure out the right number of people.

Denett says some of OFPP's other successes include strategic sourcing and use of the GSA schedules.

There are challenges ahead, however.

Working with the Hill. I think we need to do a better job of getting on the same page with them. I think we all have the same desire to have the acquisition function work well for the American taxpayer, but sometimes we get disconnected and squander some valuable time on debates on issues that we really should be pulling together on.

Denett says his last day will be Sept. 2.

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