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2000 E. R. "Dick" Alley Award Winner
Stephen Arginteanu
 Stephen
Arginteanu is a Procurement Technical Advisor for the General Service
Administration's (GSA) Public Building Service (PBS) in New York.
He began his acquisition career in 1972 as a Contract Specialist
with GSA in the agency's Federal Supply Service. Just two years
after joining GSA, Steve had his first contact with Dick Alley and
the JWOD Program. Beginning in 1974, Steve would call on Dick Alley
when problems arose under contracts or when new items were proposed
for addition to the Procurement List. A year later, in 1975, the
two met face-to-face and toured a Lighthouse for the Blind work
center in Long Island City, NY. A strong business relationship was
forged during this time and Steve considered Dick his mentor on
the JWOD Program. Theirs was a relationship that, over the years,
was built on a foundation of mutual trust and respect.
In 1982, GSA created its Office of Project Control and Oversight
to ensure that its contracting officials followed appropriate procurement
and procedural regulations and statutes, and exercised sound business
judgment in procurement decisions. Due to his extensive expertise
in Federal procurement and contract management, Steve was reassigned
from his then position of Assistant Branch Chief of his PBS division
to the new position of Procurement Analyst within the Office of
Project Control and Oversight. While serving in this position, Steve
continued to educate contracting personnel about the JWOD Program.
Steve accepted yet another reassignment in 1989 when he became
Supervisory Contract Specialist in the Contracts Branch, Contracts
Division of PBS. He served in the capacity of Branch Chief and was
responsible for planning and organizing all procurement activities
of the Branch to ensure the highest quality of contract awards and
administration. His influence spread as this position entailed maintaining
continuous contract coverage for Building Service Contracts awarded
in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
While serving in this position, Steve continued his relationship
with the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled in the award and administration of contracts for custodial
services under the JWOD Program. Since that time, the branch has
awarded approximately 30 JWOD custodial contracts per year, valued
at $23.6 million. These contracts provided jobs for 441 people with
severe disabilities.
In 1994, Steve became the PBS representative to a working group
composed of members of the Committee, NISH, and individuals from
nonprofit agencies that performed custodial contracts under the
JWOD Program. The group worked together to explore quality, cost
and related issues of planning, communications, pricing and statements
of work for custodial services contracts.
Stephen Arginteanu diligently works towards the common goal of
obtaining the best value in custodial services contracts for the
Public Building Service while providing job opportunities for people
who are blind or have other severe disabilities. And the best is
yet to come! Steve continues to work with the JWOD Program on new
initiatives, such as performance-based specifications in lieu of
prescriptive specifications, pricing policies consistent with and
comparable to those of the private sector, and the implementation
of partnering arrangements to maximize value for U.S. taxpayers.
Congratulations to Steve Arginteanu on being selected to receive
the JWOD Program's highest honor—the E.R. "Dick" Alley Award!
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