Turmoil Continues at GSA: Lee Leaving, Will Tackle FEMA Procurement The Federal Emergency Management Agency has tapped one of the government’s most experienced procurement leaders, Deidre Lee, to help straighten out its widely criticized disaster response and recovery efforts. Lee was named acting deputy director of operations, effective next month. She currently serves as assistant commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, overseeing IT and professional services procurement. She was formerly the Defense Department’s director of procurement and acquisition policy and served as administrator of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Lee’s departure from GSA after only seven months is the latest in an exodus of top managers as the agency struggles to reverse a slowdown in sales growth. GSA’s administrator, the heads of the Federal Supply Service and the Federal Technology Service, and the acting commissioner of the new Federal Acquisition Service have all left in recent months. GSA has announced it will eliminate up to 400 jobs because some of its procurement vehicles are losing money. (SAA, 3/10) On the same day Lee’s appointment to FEMA was announced, March 16, the Government Accountability Office reported that federal agencies have wasted tens of millions of dollars on contracts for disaster relief after Katrina. After examining contracts awarded by FEMA, GSA and the Army Corps of Engineers, GAO cited inadequate planning and preparation; poor communications among federal, state and local agencies; and inadequate deployment of personnel to oversee contracts. In announcing Lee’s appointment, Acting FEMA Director David Paulison said, “She arrives at an important time for FEMA as we are working to bolster procurement efforts in support of continued rebuilding in the Gulf Coast and future disaster response operations.” The agency said Lee “will work closely with FEMA’s chief procurement and financial officers, as well as response and recovery division heads, to develop and oversee FEMA’s acquisition programs in support of efforts to reinvigorate disaster response and recovery operations. She will also provide input and counsel to the DHS Chief Procurement Officer and Under Secretary for Management, communicating FEMA’s mission, priorities, and business needs for the future.” Congressional oversight committees have criticized FEMA for not having contracts in place before the 2005 hurricanes to provide basic relief supplies, and GAO concurred: “The government’s response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita depended heavily on contractors to deliver ice, water and food supplies; patch rooftops; and provide housing to displaced residents... “FEMA did not adequately anticipate needs.” FEMA is already moving to remedy that. The agency has issued pre-solicitation notices for contracts to provide base camps and to operate a disaster-assistance call center. (Details, page 4.) Hundreds of millions of dollars were awarded in sole-source contracts after the hurricanes. Inspectors general are examining those contracts; GAO did not address whether they were properly awarded. GAO said FEMA delegated some contracting authority to the Army Corps and GSA, but the three agencies were often unclear about who was supposed to monitor contractor performance. The investigators found some agency officials did not understand the requirements of the Stafford Act, which gives procurement preferences to local companies in a disaster area. Committees of both the House and Senate have issued scathing assessments of the Katrina response, and even the White House oined the criticism. Its report, issued Feb. 23, contained a list of 125 recommendations to improve response in future disasters. But the Bush administration has resisted calls to remove FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security and make it an independent agency, as it was before the creation of DHS. The GAO report is GAO-06-461R.