The federal government's top procurement official is leaving the White House to become acquisition director for the Defense Department, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
Deidre Lee, currently the head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at the Office of Management and Budget, will leave for the Defense Department later this month. At DoD, she will be in charge of procurement policy. DoD dominates federal contracting, accounting for 64 percent of the $182 billion in prime contracts awarded by the federal government in 1998.
Lee leaves OMB after 19 months on the job. She has been forced to both hold down the procurement policy job and act as OMB's acting deputy director for management since March 1999, when G. Edward DeSeve gave up waiting for Congress to approve his nomination. Sally Katzen, currently deputy director of the National Economic Council, was slated to take over the deputy director for management position, but her nomination was met with a cool response from Republican senators.
The head of OMB's procurement policy office oversees contracting rules for the entire federal government. The deputy director for management is charged with implementing the President's priority management objectives, which this year included two dozen initiatives. In this position, Lee chaired several governmentwide councils, including the President's Management Council, the Chief Information Officers Council and the Chief Financial Officers Council.
"Dee Lee did a great job for us and I'm sure she'll do the same for the Pentagon. We wish her well," said Linda Ricci, an OMB spokeswoman.
Replacements for the two key positions have not been announced.
At the Pentagon, Lee will report to Jacques S. Gansler, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. She will replace Eleanor Spector, who retired in February.
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