GSA's McDonough joining Guerra consulting firm

Frank McDonough's retirement will last just long enough to hit the back nine at St. Andrews Golf Course in Scotland. The long-time systems policy-maker has taken a job with the consulting firm of Guerra, Kiviat, Flyzik and Associates of Oak Hill, Va.

McDonough, the General Services Administration's deputy associate administrator for the Office of Intergovernmental Solutions, will retire Friday and join the firm July 17. McDonough will take a vacation to Ireland and Scotland before joining the consulting group.

"Phil, Bob and Jim have focused on helping companies in the federal market and with the increasing trend of federal money going to state and local governments, some companies may want to throw their hat into that ring too, and that is what I've been doing for the last six years," McDonough said. "I have a lot of contacts and knowledge of the field. I just will be looking at it from the other side of the mirror now."

McDonough said he has known each of the partners for more than 25 years. They cemented the deal in New Orleans last week when he played a round of golf with Flyzik during the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils preconference tournament.

"I spoke with Jim about the opportunities, and I asked him how he can drive a golf ball so far," McDonough said with a laugh.

Homeland security, outsourcing, e-government and health systems are the areas in which he will start working with vendors, McDonough said.

"Over the past six years, people really have started to understand that intergovernmental relationships are the future of public administration," McDonough said. "It will be challenging because of the size of the market, but I have identified a number of channels, such as associations, I can work through to understand what is going on."