NASA chooses Diaz to lead IT consolidation project

Deborah Diaz, formerly at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, will lead NASA's information technology consolidation project, which is expected to cost more than $4 billion, a NASA official confirmed today.

Diaz will serve as NASA’s program director for the Information Technology Infrastructure Integration Program, NASA Chief Information Officer Linda Cureton said. Diaz will also serve as NASA’s acting associate CIO for architecture and infrastructure.

She made the switch this week, according to a report on the “DorobekInsider” blog.

NASA plans to award five contracts as part of the new IT infrastructure program in an effort to consolidate the agency's IT and data services. The contracts are estimated to be worth $4.3 billion, according to market research firm Input.

The program will consolidate current NASA contracts, including the Outsourcing Desktop Initiative for NASA and Unified NASA IT Services.

Diaz became deputy CIO at USPTO in 2007. Previously, she served as CIO at the Homeland Security Department’s Science and Technology Directorate.

At DHS, she oversaw programs and an IT infrastructure worth about $1 billion and served as the senior adviser on IT interoperability and biometric, geospatial and wireless technologies.

Diaz also provided executive leadership for the President’s Management Council by helping to create a governmentwide Web portal and coordinate several e-government initiatives, according to USPTO.