Key executive in OMB’s category management initiative resigns

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Key executive in OMB’s category management initiative resigns

Kim Luke left government after just four months as the IT category manager. GSA’s Mary Davie has taken over in the role.

Jason Miller@jmillerWFED

June 14, 2016 5:43 am

2 min read

A key leader in the Office of Management and Budget’s category management initiative has surprisingly left his position.

Kim Luke resigned on June 10 after spending just four months as the IT category manager. Multiple government and industry sources confirmed Luke’s sudden departure.

Kim Luke was the IT category manager for four months before resigning in June.

Sources say Luke left because of a family emergency.

An OMB official also confirmed Mary Davie, the General Services Administration’s assistant commissioner for Integrated Technology Service, replaced Luke as the IT category manager.

Luke came to OMB in January after spending the previous seven years as Hewlett Packard’s vice president for strategic growth in the private sector.

He worked at EDS, before it was bought by HP, for 25 years in a variety of positions.

As IT category manager, Luke was supposed to oversee and manage how the government improves its buying habits for almost $50 billion across six subcategories, including software, hardware, security and consulting.
Luke was one of 10 category managers OMB named this year to help run the commodity buying programs for everything from office supplies to medical supplies to professional services.

The IT category is one of the largest among the 10 under the program with a potential spend of more than $49 billion. The category includes hardware, software, consulting, security, outsourcing and telecommunications.

OMB’s decision to name Davie is logical, but could also raise concerns about having an operational person running the policy side too.

The White House kicked off the category management initiative under the strategic sourcing program in 2012 and expanded it in 2014.

OMB made it a cross-agency priority goal in 2015. OMB and the Defense Department reported in the fiscal 2016 quarter 1 update on Performance.gov that so far agencies have saved or avoided spending $5 billion with a goal of $5.8 billion by the end of calendar year 2016. Additionally, OMB and DoD say 72 percent of IT spend sampled — $39 billion out of $50 billion — is meeting the spend under management approach.