GSA's Williams named to head agency
Current head of Federal Acquisition Service earns nod from White House to take over.
President Bush will nominate James A. Williams, currently the head of the Federal Acquisition Service at the General Services Administration, to be the agency's new director, the White House announced Wednesday.
Williams was named to head FAS in June 2006. The appointment marked his third tour of duty at GSA. In the mid-1980s, he spent about two years working on the Federal Technology Service 2000 telecommunications contract. From 1989 to 1991, he was director of the agency's local telecommunications procurement division.
Immediately prior to taking the FAS post, Williams was director of the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program at the Homeland Security Department. Earlier in his career, he was deputy associate commissioner for program management in the Business Systems Modernization Office at the Internal Revenue Service.
"I am honored to be nominated by the president to lead the General Services Administration," Williams said. "If confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to serving the president, working with the fine men and women of GSA and for the citizens of our great nation."
Earlier Wednesday, GSA announced that David L. Bibb, who has been serving as acting administrator of the agency, would retire from government on Sept. 1.
Bibb, who has worked at GSA since 1971, was named to head the agency on an acting basis in late April after the sudden resignation of Lurita A. Doan.
Bibb has been GSA's deputy administrator since 2003. Prior to that appointment, he held several executive positions in the agency, including assistant commissioner for planning and deputy commissioner of GSA's Public Buildings Service and deputy associate administrator for real property in the agency's Office of Governmentwide Policy.
"There is no better place to work in the federal government than GSA," said Bibb. "I've had the privilege to work alongside some of the most dedicated, brightest, hardworking people you will find anywhere in government. The citizens of our country can be proud of the work GSA has done to bring the best value to taxpayers when delivering the goods and services that keep government running."
In his limited time as the head of GSA, Bibb has worked to repair relations with the agency's inspector general, Brian Miller. A long-running feud with Miller was a primary factor in Doan's ouster.
"There's no question the relationship is strained," Bibb said in a May interview with Government Executive's Nextgov.com site. "I recognize the IG has a role, and I don't want to minimize that. I have a long history of working with IGs, and we both said, 'Let's see if we can't get this back to a state of normalcy.' "