Senate confirms Rhodes to lead White House procurement office

Kevin Rhodes has received Senate confirmation to lead the White House’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy, a move that designates him as the first permanent leader of that component in six years.

Senate lawmakers approved the nomination of Rhodes on Thursday, five months after the White House announced him as President Trump’s choice for the role.

Rhodes has been acting as a senior adviser to OFPP’s parent agency, the Office of Management and Budget, since February with the responsibility of leading the Trump administration’s push to restructure federal procurement.

All but one section of the Federal Acquisition Regulation has been overhauled since then. OFPP and the FAR Council have collaborated on the effort and gradually rolled out the changes.

OFPP is also playing a large role in the implementation of two executive orders on reforming federal acquisition, starting with the first order President Trump signed in March to consolidate the government’s purchases of “common goods and services” at the General Services Administration.

A second order signed in April makes buying of commercial products and services a priority, plus it mandates justifications from agencies in the event they want to go down the custom route.

In an April 26 commentary article for GovExec’s publications including WT, Rhodes and two co-authors laid out the administration’s vision for revamping the FAR as a way to transform how the government acquires $1 trillion in goods and services each year.

Stephen Ehikian, the now-former GSA deputy administrator, and GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service commissioner Josh Gruenbaum wrote the article with Rhodes.

Prior to Rhodes, Michael Wooten was the most recently confirmed leader of OFPP and served in that role for 18 months starting in 2019. Anne Rung was Wooten’s predecessor at OFPP and left in 2016, which means that the office has been led by an acting administrator for roughly eight out of the previous nine years.