Many jobs in federal government have what are lovingly termed “other duties as assigned.” But acting General Services Administration chief Jim Williams has discovered that his “other duties” may be the most important of all.
In a speech during the GEIA Vision Conference today, Williams mentioned that one little known duty of his office is to declare an apparent winner of the presidential election on Nov. 4.
Since the Electoral College won’t meet to officially declare a president-elect until Dec. 15, GSA needs to name an apparent winner so the agency can move forward quickly with its transition duties in the slim 77-day time period between Nov. 4 and Jan. 20, Williams said.
 From my perspective I don’t care who wins. I just don’t want it to be close, because the administrator has to pick a winner and hand over the keys and say ‘Let’s get started.’
