« Previous | Main | Next »

U.S. Contract Boss Facing New Heat

February 12, 2007 8:00 PM

Lurita_doan_gsa_nrUpdated 7/12/07 at 8 p.m.

Another senior administration official is under the gun for allegations of improper behavior in office.

Multiple investigations are digging into the Bush-appointed chief of the General Services Administration, probing charges of improper and possibly illegal activities.

The woman accused is Lurita Doan, a big-time GOP supporter who was picked to head the GSA last April. Her agency spends over $56 billion a year on paper clips, office space, car fleets and other necessities for federal agencies.

Since 2000, Doan and her husband have donated over $210,000 to Republican candidates and groups. She was invited to speak before the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Much of the scrutiny Doan is receiving stems from a January Washington Post report that she improperly awarded a $20,000 no-bid contract to a firm run by a personal friend of hers -- even signing the contract herself.  Because only GSA contracting officers are legally allowed to sign contracts, Doan's action may be illegal, a former official told the Post.  According to the Post, the contract was "terminated" last summer after objections from GSA lawyers that it should have been competitively bid and subjected to further internal review. 

Representatives of Ms. Doan dispute that any contract was ever entered; they characterize the document as a non-binding service order. Doan told the Post that she thought she was following proper procedures but "made a mistake."

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is pushing to learn more about the matter.

In a Feb. 2 letter obtained by ABC News, GSA associate administrator Kevin Messner wrote to Waxman that Doan had taken responsibility for her "procedural mistake" and "rejects the implication that her intentions were improper." Waxman had sought GSA documents as part of his investigating the matter.

In addition to Waxman and his committee, GSA's own internal watchdog is digging into that one.  The Justice Department may also be looking at the deal, according to the Post.

Then there's what the Post termed her unusual "intervention" in the case of five major government contractors. Last September, KPMG, Ernst and Young, BearingPoint Inc. and two other firms, while not admitting liability, paid over $66 million to settle claims they had cheated the government.  GSA officials were weighing whether or not the companies should be barred from doing further business with the government.

The Post reported that Doan stepped between her own employees and the firms and asked if the process could be halted "until cooler heads can prevail."  Despite her inquiry, the process continued, according to the Post, and the companies were forced to agree to change their business practices.

But the allegation caught Waxman's eye, and the chairman has asked for more information from GSA about that incident.

In his Feb. 2 response obtained by ABC News, GSA associate administrator Messner disputed the Post's characterization of Doan's involvement in the matter. "It is a distortion to equate a desire to be informed when such decisions are pending with interference in this process."

Together, the so-called contract and alleged intervention won Doan a spot on the list of the 25 Most Corrupt Administration Officials released this week by the left-leaning watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

A New Orleans native, Doan started her own government contracting firm in 1990, working for defense and homeland security operations.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

Most of Doan's early contracts were awarded without competition, primarily through set-aside programs meant to aid businesses owned by women or minorities or located in disadvantaged areas, "Government Executive" magazine reported in February.  Doan told the magazine her company did not rely on those designations when winning contracts.

Attempts to contact Doan through GSA were unsuccessful.

February 12, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (36)

User Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

The job of the legislature is oversight...providing checks and balances for the other two co-equal branches of government. The Republicans have now had six years of balance-free, unchecked power. Having Democrats in congress actually doing their job is now beginning to uncover what kind of damage a single party with uncontested power can do. Blaming the democrats, the mythical liberal media, or in the case of A.J's most outrageous 'reach', illegal immigration is illogical, unreasonable, and disingenuous. The simple fact is, when one party has full control...whichever party that is...this is the kind of thing that will happen. Voters aren't stupid, and are not fooled. They will eventually do what the politicians won't...that is, correct the over-balance.

Posted by: spiritkub | Feb 12, 2007 2:02:37 PM

Hey, Whatever happened to the story about Senate Majority Leader and his very lucrative land deal? Oh yeah, thats right. this had to go away. Harry Reid has a (D) at the end of his name. I really do enjoy the internet. I can find out about corruption outside of the Newspapers and Nighttime TV broadcasts.

Posted by: Mike Jones | Feb 12, 2007 2:06:24 PM

For many years now contracts at the state and federal level have been awarded to minority and women owned businesses instead of low bid. And to compete many businesses have cheated by putting a minority or woman at the helm (in name only)to get this perk. This is nothing new and was not started by Republicans--rather it is a liberal view that we should give these companies "affirmative action" at the corporate level. How insulting to think that women and minorities need extra help to compete. If the women is found guilty, she should be punished. But I am also tired and angry of our biased media. State the facts you find, and let the correct authorities do the job!

Posted by: Kim | Feb 12, 2007 2:15:12 PM

Impeach the adminstration not because of this specifically, (another nail in the coffin perhaps) but the web of lies fed to all of us; declaring a war on faked evidence. If a court official faked evidence to convict/acquit a suspect; they would go to jail. In light of the current testimony reported from the Libby scandal; Cheney seems to be running his own adminstration as well. The GOP and Dems need to stop them before they launch another war we can't win.

Posted by: Bill | Feb 12, 2007 2:20:25 PM

To A.J. and all those who ignore some facts and inflate hearsay. It flies in the face of reason to accuse Bush of "immorality" to the degree espoused. Such a tendency would smack of insanity because it is clear that Bush has not benefited at all from his supposed immoral behavior. The more likely motivation is a belief that the US had no choice but to act in Iraq. Also, Bush INCREASED spending on both stem cell research and AIDS. Stem cell research is NOT illegal. Fetal stem cell research has scientifically dubious future, but ADULT stem cell research has already reaped benefits. And as a member of the middle class, I can safely state that I and my friends are doing fine. I don't see ANY distruction even though jobs in my field are often in India now. The world changes. Change with it or you won't be happy. Oh, and by the way, what other countries could help in Darfur? France? Germany? Russia? How about all of Africa? Come on. Look at the whole picture.

Posted by: Bill | Feb 12, 2007 2:26:35 PM

Let's all start over after we throw everyone out!

Posted by: joe m | Feb 12, 2007 2:37:06 PM

In a word, it's corruption. Anyone minimizing this is just covering for political reasons.

Posted by: Ben | Feb 12, 2007 2:49:16 PM

Lie and Deny.. that is the motto
of the Bush administration .. When is the American people going
to say enough is enough .. and start sending these corrupt individual to secret foreign sites.

Posted by: Stan Klecha | Feb 12, 2007 2:55:27 PM

I remember a No-bid contract for the Panama Canal to the Chinese during the Clinton administration. All believed there was NO WAY America could lose the operations of the Panama Canal. But then, China was able to purchase the rights in a no-bid contract.

This 'scandal', as it was never called, went all the way to congress, where they were totally unable to understand how this could have happened.

Never mind, that this contract COULD NOT be reversed.

Want to learn whats going on in Panama today? Just google "china panama canal".

Not a peep of this was ever spoken by the MSM.

Posted by: JelloBiafra | Feb 12, 2007 4:33:08 PM

(A.J dont forget the canadian border as well, people use to be able to cross with a drivers liscense and obtain legal residency in California. Plus Canada has plenty of muslims, Mexico not so much, I've never seen a mosque there, canada plenty.)

Back to the issue of corruption, yup from bottom to the top. Nothing new, but come to mind we should have a law that politicians should have at least 1 of their offspring in the military or server themselves...just an idea.

Posted by: Aaron C | Feb 12, 2007 4:38:22 PM

Yep, when I went to purchasing classes for the US Government they told us all there was a jail cell waiting for each of us, because the temptation of enriching your life or your friends' lives are too real. In government ethics training, which we were required to attend annually, we were told we couldn't even get a free lunch from a vendor we may have worked with for years, because that may imply to someone else an unfair practice. But those at the top of the food chain think that they are immune from all the rules. Hang 'em all I say... Republicans, Democrates, Independents... if the rules are broken send 'em to jail. Oh yeah and fine them too!

Posted by: skidog | Feb 12, 2007 4:45:56 PM

I suppose the Clinton administration was a pure as the driven snow. Travelgate was only a figment of one's imagination. Monica Lewinski? Why, everybody's doing it, right? Everybody lies to a grand jury.

Posted by: jfm | Feb 12, 2007 5:22:17 PM

Can't wait for the Dems. to get into office so we can compare notes.

Posted by: Robert | Feb 12, 2007 6:03:38 PM

Robert said ... 'Can't wait for the Dems. to get into office so we can compare notes.' It won't happen because the main stream liberal media will not let it be known. What scares me the most is how the terrorist know the Dems are weak on ‘war on terror’ and know we will cut and run from Iraq. They are just waiting for the Dems to take control. Me, I’ll learn how to shot a rifle to defend myself because I sure don’t see the Dems protecting me!

Posted by: Christine | Feb 12, 2007 10:34:10 PM

The panama canal and china? I always wondered what republican paranoid schizophrenics did with their time. The Panama canal belongs to Panama not the U.S. Panama is a sovereign nation, not that you republicans call for any nation's sovereignty to be respected except for America's. Who cares who is operating it as long as ships pass through. That is all that matters and there hasn't been any problems there. The US will never go to war with China until a future President Bush contrives a reason to do so.

Posted by: Sean | Feb 13, 2007 9:26:05 PM

Ms. Doan was reported late last year trying to justify her decision to cut funding of GSA's own watchdog.

What was despicable, more than the wrongful act of this political appointee trying to attack good audit practice, was the fact that in her contempt for the truth and the intelligence of her peers Ms Doan managed to put forward her version of the facts and events with total impunity.

Just like this time.

Posted by: verbatim | Feb 16, 2007 3:39:19 PM

Post a comment