What Is Happening at GSA?

Office of Information Technology Category 

Federal Acquisition Service  (FAS)

U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)

We Mr. Warren J. Blankenship serves as the Deputy IT Government-wide Category within the Office of Information Technology Category (ITC) in GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). The Federal Acquisition Service provides buying platforms and acquisition services to federal, state and local governments for a broad range of items from office supplies to motor vehicles to information technology and telecommunications products and services. As an organization within FAS, ITC provides access to a wide range of commercial and custom IT products, services and solutions.  

Mr. Blankenship presides over 13 governmentwide IT contract vehicles, generating almost $82.1B in annual spend and are designated as Best-In-Class by the Office of Management and Budget. He is responsible for ensuring category management maturity based on Spend Under Management principles as well as priorities outlined in the President’s Management Agenda, the Federal Data Strategy, the SECURE Technology Act, the FY25 IT Government-wide Category Management plan and other areas designed to highlight successes at both the governmentwide and agency-wide level. Additionally, his role entails bringing awareness to agencies regarding the technology life cycle and its impact on the acquisition process. 

Previously, Mr. Blankenship served as the Director of IT Schedule 70 Governance Division where he was responsible for the overall direction of the organization’s acquisition workforce with respect to policy, guidance and procedures and their applicability under the larger Multiple Award Schedule Program. Additionally, he led the charge in training needs for the acquisition staff and served as the organization’s liaison with other GSA policy offices, other government agencies and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy.  

Prior to that appointment, Mr. Blankenship served as the Deputy Director of IT Schedule 70 Business Programs within ITC. In this role, Mr. Blankenship was responsible for fostering the image and brand of the program. He led a cadre of staff that focused on strategic initiatives as well as customer and vendor support with regard to the overall mission and vision of the Center. Some of the functions included meeting with customers to assist with program needs and requirements, assisting current vendors with training and marketing to ensure successful Schedule contracts and researching new and emerging technologies that could be incorporated into the program. He was also responsible for driving business volume and developing revenue forecasts that ultimately sought to keep the program sustainable and primed for growth.

Previously, Mr. Blankenship served as the Deputy Director, IT Schedule 70 Operations in the Office of IT Schedule Programs.  In this capacity, he was responsible for over 5,000 contracts with annual sales revenue of $15 Billion along with leading a diverse workforce that included developing, coordinating and revising a wide variety of GSA and governmentwide procurement policies and for reviewing proposed changes to existing regulations and determining whether they should be addressed. These policies and regulations had far-reaching implications for all acquisitions throughout the federal government. 

Mr. Blankenship has held numerous leadership roles throughout GSA and served as an Agency Expert in GSA’s Office of Government-wide Policy where he crafted various sections of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.  

Mr. Blankenship is also a very active member in the DC Chapter of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA). He has served on the Executive Committee Board since 2009 and has served in the role of Vice President of Membership for two years and served as Chapter President for two terms. Mr. Blankenship possesses over 30 years of experience in the field of contracting and policy. Aside from GSA, he has been employed with such agencies as the Department of Energy, the Department of State, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Institutes of Health. 

Mr. Blankenship is the recipient of the GovExec FED 100 Award in 2023; the NCMA Outstanding Fellow Award in 2024, the NCMA Fellow Award in 2018 and the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council Fellow in 2014. He also graduated from the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Federal Executive Institute Leadership for a Democratic Society in 2022.  He holds a FAC-C Level III Federal Acquisition Certification in Program Management, a Federal Acquisition Certification for Program and Project Managers (FAC-P/PM), and Contracting and an Unlimited Contracting Officer’s Warrant. 

Mr. Blankenship holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Media and Communications from the University of the District of Columbia and a Master of Arts Degree in Business Communications from American University.