TANGHERLINI LEAVING GSA, IMPACT MAY BE MINIMAL

GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini announced last week that he will leave the agency as of February 13th, marking the end of a nearly 6 year run as either acting or permanent Administrator.  Tanhgherlini’s departure is being termed “voluntary” and there is no obvious friction between himself and the White House.  While much of Tangherlini’s tenure has been focused on the Public Building Service, his initiatives on strategic sourcing, and more recently Category Management, are likely to stay in place after his departure.  Similarly, his change will have little, if any impact, on GSA’s project to consolidate its service schedules.  Tangherlini focused on reducing prices and the number of companies with which GSA did business during his tenure, leading some to question the agency’s support for anything but the cheapest products and the operation of the Multiple Award Schedules program.

 

FAS Commissioner Tom Sharpe will remain at the agency and, as such, day to day contract-related initiatives are unlikely to change much.  It is too soon to say what the Administration may do in terms of nominating a new Administrator, given that it is in year 7 of an 8 year term.  Denise Turner Roth is the current Deputy Administrator, though she has been in place for a little under a year.  She has kept a low outward profile during that time and most of her previous experience has been at the city government level in North Carolina.  It is possible, therefore, that the agency will be effectively managed by officials in the Office of Management and Budget.