Well-known fed faces change places

Sandra Bates, commissioner of the Federal Technology Service, will retire Feb. 11 after a 35-year government career. "I knew it was time for a new direction," she said in an interview with PostNewsweek Tech Media. "I think we have strong leadership in FTS, and all the programs are poised to take off. We have turned the corner in all our business lines."Among Bates' numerous honors is the prestigious John Franke Award from the American Council for Technology. She did two stints with the General Services Administration, and became FTS commissioner in 2000. For 16 years between GSA tenures, she oversaw telecommunications projects at NASA. Neither Bates nor a GSA spokeswoman would say whether Jim Williams, FTS deputy commissioner, will be named acting commissioner. The Office of Management and Budget tapped Stacie Higgins to manage its government-to-government Quicksilver portfolio and Grants Management Lines of Business initiative.Higgins this month replaced Kamela White, who resumes her duties in OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. As the Quicksilver portfolio manager, Higgins will ensure collaboration among federal, state and local governments to deliver services to citizens. E-government projects she will oversee include Disaster Management, E-Vital, Geospatial One-Stop, Grants.gov and Project Safecom. [IMGCAP(2)]Office of Personnel Management Director Kay Coles James will leave her job at month's end. During the last four years, James has overseen some major IT initiatives at OPM, including five Quicksilver e-government projects to upgrade federal hiring, recruitment, retention and retirement systems. Also during her tenure, OPM suffered through a handful of contracting miscues, including the protest and eventual recompete of the Recruitment One-Stop deal, and that charges of bias forced the agency to pull the E-Learning procurement. There is speculation that James might run for Virginia governor. Before joining OPM, she was Virginia's secretary for health and human resources under former Gov. George Allen (R). Dan Blair, OPM's deputy director, will be interim director until a new director takes over.