GSA Chief Faces Congressional Watchdog’s Bark The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has called on GSA Administrator Lurita Doan to answer allegations of improprieties in contracting and illegal use of agency personnel to support Republican candidates. Chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, invited Doan to testify about the allegations at a hearing on March 20. GSA issued a statement saying the agency “will cooperate fully” but would have no further comment before the hearing. Waxman said he had received information that Doan intervened on behalf of Sun Microsystems during a lengthy dispute over renewal of Sun’s contract with GSA. “As a result of Doan’s intervention, federal taxpayers could pay millions more for the IT services provided by Sun Microsystems,” he said in a statement. In a letter to Doan, he said he understood that she participated in a Jan. 26 teleconference with GSA officials and asked them “how the agency could help ‘our candidates’ in the next election.” Waxman said that matter has been referred to the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates violations of the Hatch Act, the law prohibiting partisan political activity by executive branch officials on government time. Waxman also raised new allegations about Doan’s attempts to award a contract to a longtime associate, public relations executive Edie Fraser. The Washington Post reported in January that Doan signed a $20,000 sole-source contract with Fraser’s firm, Public Affairs Group Inc., in July 2006 to publicize GSA’s use of minority- and woman-owned businesses. Doan told the Post the contract had been canceled after GSA’s then-general counsel raised objections. She said, “I made a mistake.” But Waxman said the former counsel, Alan Swendiman, has told the committee staff that Doan resisted canceling the contract and he ultimately ordered its cancellation without her approval. Swendiman told the committee staff he had never seen a GSA administrator personally award a contract and “had serious concerns about its propriety and legality,” the letter said. Waxman said Doan’s e-mails show she continued to push for a contract award to Fraser’s firm, even suggesting that Fraser be allowed to write the statement of work. Waxman said Fraser had rounded up support for Doan’s confirmation as GSA administrator last year and had suggested public relations strategies “with an expectation that she would receive payments from GSA.” He quoted an e-mail from Fraser to Doan in which Fraser wrote, “Lurita, I will do anything for you and will do for the rest of my life…But I have spent so much time at GSA from the report planning to these sessions with ZERO $$ How do we solve?” Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley first raised questions about the Sun Microsystems contract. Waxman said GSA’s inspector general found that Sun was not giving the federal government “most favored customer” prices, as required by its contract. Two GSA contracting officers decided not to extend Sun’s contract. Waxman said Doan urged that the contract be extended and suggested that the procurement contracting officer be replaced. The C.O. was replaced and the new C.O. signed off on an extension. Shortly afterward the new C.O. received a transfer that he had requested, Waxman said. Doan, who founded an IT company, took over as GSA administrator in May. She has said the agency was a “quintessential turnaround” that had been losing business because of allegations of contracting irregularities. In a January speech she said she inherited “a culture of complacence” at GSA and was trying to turn it into “a culture of action.” But she has met resistance within the agency, culminating in a series of news leaks to the Washington Post that led Rep. Waxman to launch his inquiry.