More details on GSA’s new IT category executive, Bill Zielinksi
After stints as Social Security Administration chief information officer and leading U.S. CIO Tony Scott’s Agency Oversight Team, Bill Zielinski has joined the General Service Administration to ensure its IT acquisition offerings align with the evolving federalwide acquisition practice category management.
GSA Assistant Commissioner Mary Davie — who runs the Office of Integrated Technology Services, or ITS — within the Federal Acquisition Service, confirmed to FedScoop that Zielinksi would join her team as IT category executive, an announcement she first made on Twitter and FedScoop reported Monday. Zielinski will also serve as director of the Office of Strategic Programs.
“Bill was chosen because of his experience, skill and relationships across the federal government and with industry,” Davie told FedScoop in an email. “He brings some great perspectives as someone who has been an IT manager, a CIO, and has worked at OMB. His understanding of how technology can support and enhance agency missions is critical for ITS to succeed in supporting our customer agencies. He’s perfect for the position.”
Category management is an acquisition approach promoted by the Office of Management and Budget and Chief Acquisition Officer Anne Rung to make the buying and managing of commoditized goods and services by the federal government more unified and strategic by grouping similar products into categories. In February, OMB announced 11 governmentwide category managers who will run the 10 main categories of government spend under the approach.
[Read more: OMB names governmentwide procurement category managers]
The federal government buys about $50 billion worth in IT products and services annually, and GSA deals with a big portion of that contracting activity. The IT schedules alone make up about $17 billion in business each year, and there’s billions more on top of that in GSA’s other governmentwide contract vehicles, like Alliant and the 8(a) STARS programs.
In his new position, Zielinski will be responsible for overseeing all of GSA’s IT category teams — which, for now, focus on the areas of hardware, software, telecommunications, IT services and consulting, and cybersecurity — as it transitions to be a more “category-focused organization,” Davie said.
“Bill will help guide the categories with his experience and knowledge of IT, acquisition, and customers,” she said. “This includes helping determine appropriate IT solutions and working on cross-category initiatives.”
In the current structuring of the Federal Acquisition Service, Davie said Zielinski will oversee IT units across the organization, including the USAccess and Federal Public Key Infrastructure identity management programs, its cybersecurity services, the Cloud Program Management Office, and ITS’ several governmentwide contracts. He’ll also work with the ITS acquisition group, the 18F digital services team, the Office of Governmentwide Policy and FAS’ Assisted Acquisition Services to make sure they’re best using category management to meet customers’ needs.
Davie told FedScoop in February that GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service was shifting its organizational structure to better align with category management.
Contact the reporter on this story via email at Billy.Mitchell@FedScoop.com or follow him on Twitter @BillyMitchell89. Subscribe to the Daily Scoop to get all the federal IT news you need in your inbox every morning at fdscp.com/sign-me-on.
