Joseph Jordan at an Office of Personnel Management ceremony in March 2011

Joseph Jordan at an Office of Personnel Management ceremony in March 2011 Timothy White, OPM

White House names new procurement policy chief

Joseph Jordan is a former contracting official at the Small Business Administration.

President Obama will nominate Joseph Jordan, a senior Office of Management and Budget official, to head the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, the White House announced Friday.

The post has been vacant since Dan Gordon left the administration in November.

Jordan has been a senior adviser to OMB Acting Director Jeffrey Zients since December 2011. Before that, he was associate administrator for government contracting and business development at the Small Business Administration. Prior to serving in government, he worked at management consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

From 1998 to 2000, Jordan was an associate producer on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews

Observers had speculated Jordan might be slated for the procurement post after he joined OMB late last year. But the agency has been mum on who would fill the position in Gordon's absence.

Gordon left the OFPP job  to become associate dean for government contracts law at the George Washington University Law School.