Administrator Doan always like to say that her two favorite words were "YES" and "NOW". Today the only words we hear at GSA are "No" and "Wait". All the energy has drained and you can expect even more departures of the most creative and experienced people soon.

Posted by GSA lady on June 30, 2008 - 09:15 AM

Five years ago, GSA FTS and FSS may have been the most impressive operations in the history of federal civilian government. Today all that has been destroyed. GSA is all about who will be in what position, and whether they will be "Acting" or not. A mid-level GSA manager spoke before industry last month. He just talked about how hard it was to hire the right people and how his staff would never be at a level where he needs it to be at some vague target date in the future. Industry really doesn't care. Meanwhile the grunts at the GSA buying level operate in accordance with huge checklists where each item is a reason to say "NO." Everybody loses: government folks and taxpayers who pay for the services, but get less and much later. The industry that has evolved with the formerly reformed GSA to provide the needed services efficiently, suddenly finds GSA is slow and difficult to work worth - a bad investment. I'll bet Bibb and Williams can get over position and title and lead an agency that aims to lead, setting new standards of efficiency and effectiveness for the Federal Acquisition line of business. This will involve reversing the current PATRIOT mission - Perfoming against Audit Threats Real Imagined Or Theoretical. (PATRIOT = CYA for senior leaders and negative value added for the taxpayer.)

Posted by Federal Enterprise Architect on July 1, 2008 - 08:30 AM

Over the years I have experienced a number of organizational changes. On each occasion my initial feeling has been - it is about time! Then shortly after the first announcement, management starts to espouse some variation of the mantra: Change is hard/scary/ difficult. This dichotomy has always confused me. If change is necessary for improvement, it must be a good thing; perhaps a challenge, but never the less, a good thing to embrace as we forge ahead. Then I realize change in Government is not for achieving improvements. It is to hide inconvenient and well known problems that become to obvious to ignore.

Posted by Dr. Hopeful on July 1, 2008 - 11:44 AM

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