Lurita Doan

 

Lurita Alexis Doan (born January 4, 1958), became the Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration on May 31, 2006, the first woman to hold that position.

Education

Doan began her education at Ursuline Academy, a Catholic school for girls in New Orleans.^[1]. Doan was one of the first African Americans to integrate into the private school system in New Orleans in the early 1960’s.^[2] She graduated from Ursuline in 1975. Doan next attended Vassar College in New York where she graduated with honors in English.^[3] After receiving her undergraduate degree, Doan attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where she received a master’s degree in Renaissance Literature in 1983.^[1]

Career

Doan began work in 1984 teaching as an adjunct professor at several colleges in Louisiana, Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia. From 1986 she worked 4 years with Unisys as a technician deploying Unix systems, leading edge technology at the time.^[4] Doan launched her company, New Technology Management Inc. in 1990. Doan integrated Unix systems working alone until 1993 when she secured a $250,000 Navy contract to install Unix on ships. In 2005, Doan sold her firm for an undisclosed sum to a group of investors and retired.^[5]

On April 6, 2006, Doan was nominated by President George W. Bush to head the General Services Administration. She was confirmed by unanimous consent in the U.S. Senate on May 26, 2006 and was sworn in as the 18th administrator of GSA on May 31, 2006.^{[6] [7]}

Doan quickly began applying her private sector experience to the GSA. Within three months of taking office, she took measures to reduce the cost of government travel and saved taxpayers $3.6 billion in the process^[8]; initiated more aggressive outreach and contracting opportunities for service-disabled veteran small businesses^[9]; and launched a study on how GSA can better serve taxpayers.^[10] By the end of 2006, Doan's efforts had already resulted in a higher customer satisfaction rating as measured by the federal government's E-Government Satisfaction index.^[11]

Politics

Doan is a long-time supporter of the Republican Party. She was cited by Vice President Dick Cheney in his speech at the Small Business Administration in 2003.^[12] She has also met with President George W. Bush as a woman small business owner in 2004.^[13] And in 2004, she was one of the speakers at the Republican National Convention.^[14]

On April 6, 2006, Doan was nominated by President George W. Bush to lead the GSA. The U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination on May 26. On May 31, Doan took the oath of office, becoming the 18th Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration. Doan is the first woman to hold the position.^[15]

Between 1999 and 2006, she and her husband, Douglas, a former military intelligence officer and business liaison official at the Department of Homeland Security, donated nearly $226,000 to Republican campaigns and causes, documents show.^[5]

Community involvement

Doan has been involved in the business community through participation in many trade associations, membership in business organizations, and involvement on charitable community activities. In addition, Doan provides support to the American Red Cross, National Women’s Business Center, D.C. Rape Crisis Center, United Negro College Fund, American Women’s Business Centers, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Whitman Walker Clinic, and many others. Doan has also served on a number of boards and committees including the Vassar College Board of Trustees, the Shakespeare Theatre of Washington, D.C. Board of Trustees, the Committee of 200, Council on Competitiveness, National Association of Women Business Owners, National Association of Female Executives, Women in Technology International, Minority Business Network, and the Northern Virginia Technology Council.

Controversies

In January 2007, the Washington Post had reported two controversies:

• "Last September, Doan intervened in an effort to determine whether five major contractors should be suspended from doing business with the federal government after they had been accused of making fraudulent claims."

"#wp-_note-GSA_Chief_Scrutinized_For_Deal_With_Friend">[5]

• "Doan also generated consternation within her agency and on Capitol Hill with her proposals to curb the agency's contract audits and to cut the inspector general's budget by $5 million. The audits, which aim to ensure that the government is getting the best prices for goods and services, have saved taxpayers more than $1 billion over the past two years, the inspector general's office reported."^[16]

The article generated controversy but little if any aspersions were borne out during the course of a Congressional inquiry, according to the March 28, 2007 report on the proceedings.

"The massive expenditure of Committee resources throughout this inquiry -- 14,086 pages of documents from the General Services Administration (GSA) and 14 so-called vountary transcribed "interviews" of government employees from as far away as Boston and Denver -- has failed to establish that the Administrator of General Services engaged in any form of misconduct.^[17]

Regarding allegations of intervening in federal contracts, a Staff Report from the House Oversight Committee cited Congressional testimony in determining:

"There is no evidence that the Administrator intervened in the suspension and debarment process. The GSA debarment official had initiated preliminary proceedings against the major accounting firms (KPMG, PriceWaterhouseCooper, Bearing Point, Ernst & Young, and Booz Allen Hamilton). The Administrator merely contacted her Chief of Staff and asked that the matter be suspended until she could be briefed. In a written statement prepared by the debarment official and produced to the Committee, he stated, "At no time did I receive any direct or indirect instruction or comment from the Office of the Administrator." Further, he stated, "I processed and concluded the matter as directed by the factual record in accordance with the prescribed process."^[17]

On March 26, 2007 the Washington Post reported, in a front page story yet another controversy:

Witnesses have told congressional investigators that the chief of the General Services Administration and a deputy in Karl Rove's political affairs office at the White House joined in a videoconference earlier this year with top GSA political appointees, who discussed ways to help Republican candidates. With GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan and up to 40 regional administrators on hand, J. Scott Jennings, the White House's deputy director of political affairs, gave a PowerPoint presentation on Jan. 26 [2007] of polling data about the 2006 elections.

Upon Congressional inquiry, it was determined that the meetings were not set-up by Doan as Rep. Waxman earlier asserted. Rather, they were set-up by John Horton, the GSA White House Liaison appointed by the White House and not Doan

"The facts of the brown bag lunches are largely not in dispute. Starting in September 2006, the White House liaison for GSA, John "J.B." Horton, convened a monthly brown bag lunch meeting for agency political appointees. Horton arranges for speakers to make presentations monthly. Since September 2006, there have been six brown bag luncheons. At four of the six, members of the White House staff presented to the GSA group on the workings of their respective offices. Chairman Waxman's letter to the Administrator alleges that the Administrator convened these meetings. There is, however, no evidence in support of this allegation. Six witnesses called by the Majority have testified unambiguously that Horton organized these luncheons."^[17]

The Office of Special Counsel was involved in looking into Hatch Act questions at GSA, but the activities of Special Counsel Scott Bloch came under scrutiny by October 2007 when a group of government watchdog groups voiced their opposition to his requests for more tax money to fund investigations.^[18]

The watchdog groups, including the Government Accountability Project, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Project on Government Oversight, sent their concerns the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and ranking member Susan Collins (R-Maine), as well as the heads of key oversight committees, saying:

"Mr. Bloch cannot be trusted with any investigation, much less a sensitive investigation of alleged Hatch Act violations by high-level political appointees."^[18]

As for why Bloch was pursuing his Hatch Act inquiries with such vigor, an article in Government Executive magazine on Oct. 10, 2007 noted the watchdog groups, "argue the Hatch Act probe, which has made Bloch an adversary of the White House, is a ploy to win support for congressional Democrats."^[18]

As for Bloch's inquiry into Hatch Act questions at GSA, the genesis for the OSC inquiry came from GSA Inspecter General G Brian Miller, who's credibility had been called into question.^[17]

A no-bid contract for an analysis of how GSA could improve on its record of awarding business to minority and women-owned business with Edie Fraser, was proposed. Fraser is a woman with whom Doan, and her prior company, New Technology Management, had an "extensive personal and business relationship." Waxman alleged that Doan "attempted to go forward with issuing a $20,000 no-bid contract to Fraser even after GSA General Counsel Alan Swendiman repeatedly advised that the contract be terminated due to its questionable legality."^[19]

However, once Doan became aware she did not have authority to award such a contract on a no-bid basis, the arrangement was immediately called off.

"The Majority has failed to establish that the Administrator engaged in any kind of elaborate scheme to enrich an acquaintance in her efforts to acquire a study regarding GSA's use of small businesses, particularly those owned by minorities and women. The evidence supports the conclusion that the Administrator was embarrassed and concerned that GSA received an "F" from the Small Business Administration regarding its use of disadvantaged small businesses, and the Administrator sought to engage the services of the well-known diversity consultant, Diversity Best Practices. The Administrator erroneously believed she had the authority to acquire these services on an expedited sole-source basis. When she discovered she did not have that authority, the arrangement was called off. No contract was awarded. No work was ever performed. No money changed hands."^[17]

There were also accusations of interfering with the extension of a contract involving Sun Microsystems, but a Congressional inquiry determined there was no basis for the accusations, concluding:

"There is no evidence the Administrator acted improperly with respect to the Sun Microsystems contract option negotiations. At no time during the negotiation process did the Administrator speak to any of the contracting officers, nor did she pressure any of the contracting officers to exercise the Sun option."^[17]

Sun Microsystems announced the end of its long-standing contract with the federal government in mid-September 2007. However, the week before Sun announced its decision, Doan alerted Congress to factors that may provide disincentives for companies to do work with the federal government. Doan expressed her concerns in a Sept. 7, 2007 letter to Sen. Charles Grassley about the credibility of the GSA Inspector General's office and how that credibility gap can adversely effect relations with vendors, stating:

"Over the past several months, I have heard complaints questioning the ability of the GSA's IG to conduct independent reviews in an unbiased manner. Contributing to this perception has been a troubling inability within the office of the IG to safeguard testimony and hold in strict confidence information provided. Companies involved in audits, as well as whistleblowers across the agency, must have the confidence that the IG will safeguard information provided. Sadly, there have been several instances where confidential information provided to the GSA IG was immediately leaked to media outlets, and I am concerned that these occurrences have fostered the impression that the IG's credibility is compromised."^[20]

After Sun announced its decision to stop selling directly through the GSA, consultant and columnist Neal Fox characterized the episode as, "[a] setback for good government at the hands of overzealous inspectors general, as their attempt to usurp authority from the legitimate leadership in federal agencies continues unabated."^[21]

Writing for Government Computer News on October 9, 2007, Fox noted that GSA Inspector General Brian D. Miller was, "enabled and encouraged," by Congress to engage in what he called, "abuse of Sun" and described the entire effort as, "the government's equivalent of the gang that couldn't shoot straight."^[21]

Not only did Fox commentary validate the earlier observations and warnings issued by Doan, it also highlighted an "ironic" aspect of congressional attempts to compel Doan to take actions she knew were inappropriate:

"Before Sun exited the schedules program by choice, a senator (Sen. Grassley) demanded that the GSA administrator (Lurita Doan) cancel the Sun contract. That is ironic given that Congress was previously scolding her for interfering with contracting decisions, and specifically on the Sun issue. It was quite entertaining to see her respond that she would refuse to interfere in contracting decisions rightfully held by warranted contracting officers."^[21]

Doan repeated her concerns about credibility problems within the IG's office in her Sept. 7, 2007 request to the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency for an independent review of operations within the IG's Office. In her letter to the integrity Committee Chairman Kenneth Kaiser, Doan wrote:

"I am concerned that the lack of cooperation that has been reported is not an isolated case but is reflective of a systematic issue for GSA OIG throughout industry as well as with GSA employees."^[22]

References

External links

• "A High-Tech Honcho Who Says No to Hypergrowth For Lurita Doan, life and business got a lot better after she constrained her company's expansion", Business Week, 2000. 
• From Shakespeare to IT.
• Lurita Doan Takes Oath of Office. GSA (2006).
• FYI: The Million-Dollar Post-it Note Confessions of a compulsive bootstrapper.
• Lurita Doan, Moderator for the Technology Breakfast session at this year’s Diversity and Women Leadership Summit & Gala.
• Senior Bush Official May Have Violated Law Trying To Block Pelosi From Appearing At Event.
• GSA Chief Scrutinized For Deal With Friend No-Bid Contract A Mistake, She Says. Washington Post (1/18/2007).
• GSA Administrator Lurita Doan To Employees: ‘You Are The Wind Beneath My Wings’.
• Statement Of GSA Administrator Lurita Doan To House Committee On Oversight And Government Reform, 3/28/07.
• Documents Reveal New Allegations Against GSA Administrator. Oversight House (2007).
• OIG Reports. GSA (2007).
• Doan's list of campaign contributions at Newsmeat.com.
• Doan being questioned by Rep. Braley.

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