Robin Downing Email & Phone Number

In NIH's Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO), I lead several initiatives that respond to Acts of Congress to improve IT programs. I work daily with the 27 Institutes and Centers and the Office of the Director to design commodity IT acquisition solutions in ways that benefit the NIH enterprise. The initiatives change the way highly federalized administrative and IT functions support health science and research. Recently, I successfully designed and orchestrated an NIH-wide wireless telecommunications consolidation that includes three wireless carriers (AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile) to one contract. This was a significant change management initiative that involved the elimination of over 60 contracts, over 500 monthly purchase card transactions, and the addition of a new job function that professionalizes wireless mobile expense management at each of the 27 ICs and the Office of the Director. I stood up a software asset tool and services that automatically inventoried software assets in the 14 ICs that run a single instance of the BigFix discovery application, and demonstrated that Software-as-a-Service publishers, such as Adobe, can be included in the same pane of glass as on-premise software for tracking and optimization. I implement NIH's response to the Federal IT Acquisitions Reform Act (FITARA), and lead initiatives that improve OCIO communication and collaboration.Currently, I am working at NIH's Clinical Center, supporting their CIO by standing up software and hardware asset management capabilities.

Bethesda, Md, Us

At the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) I was responsible for leading infrastructure operations, where I initiated kanban practices and principles to improve our understanding of project and task status, and our ability to communicate prioritizations on a regular basis to the engineering teams. This allowed the teams to always focus on the most important tasks, while seeking to limit their work in progress, and move tasks to done. I was also responsible for standing up NHLBI’s IT quality program based on the principles of kaizen/continuous improvement, built in quality, and shortening the feedback loop with a roadmap for improvement of performance across IT functions in crawl, walk, and run phases. Another contribution was to establish an incident management approach so that the organization could rely on consistent and logical processes for responding to critical incidents that involved loss of data, services, or availability, and set in place a culture of continuous learning from incidents and their responses. I led the root cause analysis of the issues surrounding a Hitachi BlueArc system that failed when capacity was exceeded, and ensured the final report was both factual and sufficient to serve as a representative model for future reports; ensured numerous remediation efforts were completed successfully, to include expansion of disks in BlueArc and the replication site, expansion of disks in the replacement Isilon system, creation of SOPs, and improving monitoring capabilities; and developed a repeatable process for identifying opportunities for improvement based on lessons learned from incidents, along with the process for monitoring, reporting, and ensuring completion of the opportunities and remediation actions.

Washington, Dc, Us

Associate Chief of the Systems Engineering Division responsible for providing program management, budget, and full-lifecycle acquisition support, from acquisition planning through award and administration, for small and large IT services, hardware, and software acquisitions for the Division. Responsible for the successful execution of more than 60 contracting awards/options/extensions annually for the Division valued from $200K to $79M, with total contract lifecycle cost valued at $602M. Advised management on matters pertaining to acquisition strategy and contracting actions, including contracting procedures and policy interpretation. Responsible for providing program management guidance and support across the Division (risk and fraud, verification, operations and sustainment, and transformation) and for monitoring, tracking, and reporting program and project scope, schedule, cost, and risk factors. Responsible for maintaining the Division’s annual operating budget ($105M), expenditures, and budget execution ensuring acquisition requests are funded and approved at the Division, OIT, and Management Directorate levels. Formulated budgets and produced budget execution plans based upon program needs.Acquisition and Program Manager responsible for Joint Engineering Teams - Sustainment (JETS), an innovative agile IT sustainment contract (valued at $300M over 4 years) that is used throughout DHS to showcase TechFAR type flexibility. Program Manager and principle architect of the Sustainment Program Application Support (SPAS) contract, which provided operations, maintenance, and enhancement support for 36 legacy USCIS IT systems, a 3-year (plus extensions) $300M contract.Acquisition Manager for the development and award of OIT’s Transformation contracts, such as Transformation Agile Pilot (TAP), Architecture and Design Services (ADS), Transformation Integration and Configuration Services (TICS) and Flexible Agile Development Services (FADS).

Dublin 2, Ie

As an Accenture Manager, I was assigned to US-VISIT, a Department of Homeland Security program that employed biometrics and biographic data to screen non-U.S. citizens prior to entry in the U.S. I performed a number of roles, including Control Account Manager, Requirements Manager, and Human Factors Engineer for Increment 2A, which deployed electronic passport readers to U.S. points of entry across the county. I interacted with Customs and Border Protection managers and agents to design solutions that minimize queues at points of entry and improve the accessibility of kiosks at entry and exit points. I led efforts to stand up a human performance modeling capability for US-VISIT in support of decisions regarding the planned introduction of 10-print scanning for traveler unique identification. The Human Factors Engineering Plan I authored became the model for such plans throughout DHS.

Senior Business Analyst for Department of Defense (DoD) USXPORTS Program engagement responsible for streamlining business processes in the interagency US export control domain. Authored the USXPORTS Business Process Analysis and Recommendation Report, an analysis of Departments of State, Commerce, Defense, Energy, and CIA export control offices that consolidated 42 existing export control processes into one. Planned and facilitated USXPORT workshops and focus groups that identified critical areas for business process improvements and defined key user requirements for a single software application that replaced each agency’s stovepiped export control systems. Translated output into use cases that documented system functional requirements supporting the business process reengineering initiative.Requirements Manager for D0D Global Combat Support System (GCSS) engagement responsible for query-related products. Created use cases and human-machine interface prototypes of the GCSS logistics querying capability, which became the design for the portal-based application. Developed GCSS queries within the Global Named Object Model Extension using both XML and an eclipse development environment.Senior Business Analyst for the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining, an XML schema development and data transformation project. Provided business domain and data harmonization analysis that secured a long-lasting relationship with the Center. Authored the mine action XML (maXML) Vision Document and maXML Specification Document, which provided an introduction to XML schema and a detailed description of the maXML architecture.Instructional designer for an export control system (Tracker) fielded by the Department of State for export control agencies in Central Europe. Implemented the Instructional Systems Design methodology and delivered instruction to licensing officers from Central European countries. Conducted software usability tests and heuristic reviews.

Mclean, Va, Us

Performed a range of functions as a management consultant to numerous Government agencies in Washington D.C. and abroad. The most rewarding was a 4-year engagement with the Royal Thai Supreme Command Program (a joint forces command in charge of coordinating Cobra Gold exercises with DoD annually). Implemented the Instructional Systems Design methodology in the design and development of mobile satellite configuration, mobile command post operations, and decision support system instruction for both users and military trainers. The instruction walked learners through complex mathematical processes for configuring satellite antenna and associated hardware, and developed learning aids that improved the accuracy and efficiency with which users performed calculations needed for the proper configuration of the satellite system. Supported U.S. Government clients, such as Office of National Drug Control Policy and Department of Commerce, with process re-engineering, organizational redesign, and strategic visioning projects. Assisted the United States Customs Service with their command center consolidation and the relocation of assets, such as hardware, servers, routers, and switches from the East Coast to West Coast sites. Authored numerous system administration manuals, operations manuals, and various other documents for client use. Edited scientific and technical reports and papers for delivery to clients. Recognized as a one of the leading editors of Booz Allen proposals.

Master'S Degree, Human Performance Systems

Master'S Degree, International Studies, Chinese Regional Studies