GSA chief’s top goal is efficiency

While finding the most efficient way to conduct business at the General Services Administration is a goal for newly confirmed Administrator Stephen Perry, eliminating or outsourcing jobs is not yet on his to-do list, he said in a recent interview with GovExec.com. Perry, who took the helm of GSA on June 1, brings to the agency more than 37 years of management experience gained as a senior vice president at The Timken Co. and as director of Ohio's Department of Administrative Services for two years. He spent his first days at GSA meeting employees. "My thought was when you join a new team, the first thing you should try to do is get to know your teammates," Perry said. "I've been pleased with the capability and the energy level of the people and the fact that while certainly there are exceptions, people seem to really like the environment here at GSA." Perry said he used the information gathered from these 'meet-and-greets' to gauge the mood at the agency, as well as the status of its three services--the Federal Supply Service, the Federal Technology Service and the Public Buildings Service. No plans have been made to eliminate any GSA functions yet, but Perry said outsourcing will be considered as a method to deliver the best value to GSA customers. "If we find cases where we're doing something that a private sector firm could actually do more effectively, then we'll have to transition to that," Perry said. "We will be looking at that across the whole of GSA to see if there are opportunities for us to either improve the way we're doing it in-house or move it to an outsourced approach." Earlier this year, GSA underwent a controversial shutdown of six Federal Supply Service warehouses that eliminated more than 250 federal jobs. GSA originally announced it would shut eight warehouses in July 1999 because of a long-term sales decline in the stock program. In regard to future warehouse closings, Perry said, "We're trying to be sensitive to the impact that would have on people at GSA. .... We will continue to look at all parts of GSA's operations to make sure we are using an approach that delivers the best value to customers and to taxpayers, and sometimes in the course of doing that we will have to make very, very tough choices, but they are the right choices for the long-term." Perry's says his biggest goal is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of GSA's functions. To that end, he arrived with an organizational model he hopes to put in place. "I envision that I might be able to bring to GSA, the rigor of a performance management process that causes people to really be aligned with one another and focused on achieving their goals and working to the extent of their talent to make that happen," he said. Perry's performance plan includes setting "challenging" goals, measuring the progress in achieving those goals and then measuring performance, a process he said leads to both personal and organizational success. "If they are committed to what it is the organization is trying to achieve, then they are happy to be a part of the team, they feel good about it. I like to say they wake up in the morning saying 'Hallelujah! I get to go to work at GSA today!' because they really believe in what the organization is trying to do."