Commissioner for Patents John Doll will retire on Oct. 2 after 35 years at the agency, the Commerce Department announced Thursday in a news release. He will be replaced by long-time patent employee Robert Stoll, who has been nominated by David Kappos, undersecretary of Commerce for intellectual property and director of the Patent and Trademark Office.

Kappos also named Margaret Focarino as deputy commissioner for patents.

The commissioner for patents is appointed by the Commerce secretary for a five-year term after being nominated by the undersecretary of commerce. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said he supports Stoll’s selection and hopes it will bring more efficiency to the patent office.

I have directed the USPTO to pursue an aggressive agenda to significantly reduce the time it takes to process patent applications. The length of time it takes causes uncertainty for inventors and entrepreneurs, stifles innovation and impedes our economic recovery. Bob’s deep knowledge of the Patent Office will make him an important addition to the senior management team as they reform the system and help us regain America’s competitiveness.”

The course gives businesses information about the federal market, such as where to find opportunities, contract rules and how to sell to federal agencies.

The course, “Recovery Act Opportunities: How to Win Federal Contracts,” is part of the new Obama administration initiative to increase the use of small business among federal agencies. Last month, the White House announced SBA and the Commerce Department will take part in 200 outreach, education and training events over the next thee months to help small businesses win Recovery Act funded contracts.

You can access the course by clicking here.

FedLine guesses the advice provided there resembles nothing found in the book and Pulitzer Prize winning play How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Robert Groves will lead the 2010 Census

The confirmation comes at a critical time for the Commerce Department bureau, which is about to undertake its once-a-decade tally of the U.S. population.

Groves has the skills to tackle this challenge, top senators say. From 1990-1992, he was associate director for statistical design, standards and methodology at the Census Bureau. For the last eight years, he has directed the University of Michigan Survey Research Center.

“Dr. Groves is a brilliant social scientist, he has impeccable credentials and the administration would have had a hard time appointing a better-qualified candidate to lead the Census Bureau,” said Joe Lieberman, Ind.-Conn., who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

With this news, both the National Weather Service and FEMA remind us that “be prepared” should be everyone’s motto, not just the Boy Scouts’ motto.  FEMA had this to say in a news release today:

Everyone, even, those living outside of hurricane-risk areas, should check personal preparations such as emergency kit supplies (enough to last at least 72 hours), note messages from local emergency officials, and rehearse emergency evacuation routes…Important items to have ready in case of an emergency include a battery-powered radio, flashlight, extra batteries, medicines, non-perishable food, hand-operated can opener, utility knife, and first aid supplies. Copy and store your important documents in a waterproof bag. These may include medical records, contracts, property deeds, leases, banking records, insurance records and birth certificates.

Now that you know what to do at home, do you recall what to do in the federal office space should a storm strike? Have you looked at your continuity of operations plans lately? Are you prepared?

Options being considered include thin solar films that are imbedded into roofs, additional insulation to repel heat, and vegetative roofs such as a 5,000-square-foot garden patch atop the seven-story Interior Department headquarters building in Washington.

Other agencies have outfitted their roofs with vegetation, recognizing both the environmental and economic benefits. Our videographer, Colin Kelly, recently toured two examples outside the nation’s capital in Suitland, Md. Follow the links for video of green roofs at the Census Bureau headquarters and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility.

Obama said he’s grateful that the two-term governor, the nation’s first of Chinese descent, has “agreed to leave one Washington for another.” He said the Commerce Department will play a vital role in helping carry out the administration’s economic recovery policies.

Gary will be a trusted voice in my cabinet, a tireless advocate for our economic competitiveness, and an influential ambassador for American industry who will help us do everything we can – especially now – to promote it around the world.

Of course, Locke wasn’t Obama’s first choice for the Cabinet position, or even the second. The first pick, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, bowed out in early January because of an ongoing federal investigation into one of his political contributors. Obama’s second choice, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, abruptly withdrew his nomination Feb. 12 after deciding that he couldn’t work in a Democratic administration.

Now all eyes are on Obama to find yet another candidate for the unheralded position. But there’s another solution, says Derek Shearer, a former deputy undersecretary at Commerce under President Clinton.

In this commentary from today’s Huffington Post, Shearer says Obama should consider abolishing the Commerce Department (something Obama’s No. 2 pick for the job voted to do in the 1990s).

He recommends spinning off the largely autonomous Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis into a new independent statistics agency and making the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Institute of Standards and Technology each their own separate independent agencies.

The remaining Commerce agencies that deal with the economy could be better packaged as a new Department of Industry and Trade, which would carry more heft and attract better leaders than the current department, Shearer contends.

It’s an interesting suggestion. So what do you think? Should Obama stop looking for a Commerce secretary and start looking for a reorganization chart?

“I didn’t campaign for this job,” he said, adding that he did call the White House after hearing he was a candidate to check on the status of the nomination.

Gregg said the reorganization of the Census Bureau was only a “slight issue” in his decision to pull his name from consideration. He said President Barack Obama is a “strong, effective and good president” and that his nomination “wasn’t a good fit and was not fair to (Obama).”

He said repeatedly that the decision to step down helps him remain true to himself and not serve in a situation where he couldn’t remain true to his values.

I said yes, but that was my mistake, not his. After 30 years of being myself, it would be hard to assume another role.

He said he was too caught up in the “euphoria” of being nominated to focus on the details.

When they asked me if I’d do the job, I said yes … I should have focused sooner on the implications of being in the Cabinet.

Gregg, a Republican from New Hampshire, said he won’t run for re-election in 2010. He declined to say if he will vote on the stimulus bill Friday in the Senate, but he did add that the markets will respond to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s “Tarp 2″ proposal announced this week once they hear the details.

– Rebecca Neal

Update: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs just issued a rather terse statement regarding Judd Gregg’s abrupt departure as Commerce secretary nominee. Here’s the statement, in its entirety:

Senator Gregg reached out to the President and offered his name for Secretary of Commerce.  He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace, and move forward with the President’s agenda.  Once it became clear after his nomination that Senator Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama’s key economic priorities, it became necessary for Senator Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways.  We regret that he has had a change of heart.

Original post: Sen. Judd Gregg has withdrawn his nomination for Commerce secretary.

President Barack Obama nominated Gregg on Feb. 3 in an effort to reach across the political aisle. But philosophical differences between the Republican senator and the Democratic administration were too large to overcome, Gregg said in a statement issued this afternoon.

It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me. Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.

Gregg abstained from voting on the stimulus bill when it came before the Senate on Tuesday, provoking a firestorm of criticism from his home state of New Hampshire. And observers have noted that Gregg voted in the 1990s to kill the Census Bureau, which he would be tasked with leading as head of the Commerce Department.

Gregg is the second nominee for the Commerce post to have withdrawn from consideration. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, President Obama’s first choice, stepped down last month.

President Obama will tap moderate Senate Republican Judd Gregg for Commerce secretary

Administration officials confirmed last night that President Obama will nominate the moderate Republican this morning. The move had been rumored for the past week, although some Obama supporters had been urging him to select Symantec CEO John Thompson, one of the most prominent black businessmen in the country.

One sticking point regarding Gregg was what would happen to his Senate seat. With Gregg leaving, New Hampshire’s Democratic governor would be tasked with naming his replacement until the next election is held in 2010. If a Democrat was selected, Senate Democrats would have a filibuster-proof majority of 60 members. But Gregg said Monday he would not leave the Senate unless Gov. John Lynch appoints a Republican to fill out the remainder of his term.

Lynch reportedly will name former University of New Hampshire President Jane Ellen “Bonnie” Newman, another moderate Republican, to the seat. Newman is said to have no interest in running for the seat in 2010, which would give Democrats a chance to win the seat outright in the next election.

CNN quoted multiple unnamed sources yesterday evening that Obama fundraiser Penny Pritzker was the top choice to become secretary of the Commerce Department. The 49-year-old billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, Pritzker was national finance chair of Obama’s record-breaking presidential campaign, which netted $640 million.

But after numerous media sources picked up the news, Pritzer issued a statement today saying she was not in the running for the position.

ABC News quotes Obama officials as saying Pritzer was never in serious contention for the post. “The reports over the last 24 hours are simply not true,” one aide said.

Perhaps so. Or perhaps Pritzer reconsidered after taking a look at a just-released report from the Commerce inspector general, which details the many challenges awaiting the next secretary.