GSA Chief Seeks to Cut Budget For Audits

[spindrifter]

By Scott Higham and Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 2, 2006; Page A01

The new chief of the U.S. General Services Administration is trying to limit the ability of the agency's inspector general to audit contracts for fraud or waste and has said oversight efforts are intimidating the workforce, according to government documents and interviews.

GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan, a Bush political appointee and former government contractor, has proposed cutting $5 million in spending on audits and shifting some responsibility for contract reviews to small, private audit contractors.

Doan also has chided Inspector General Brian D. Miller for not going along with her attempts to streamline the agency's contracting efforts. In a private staff meeting Aug. 18, Doan said Miller's effort to examine contracts had "gone too far and is eroding the health of the organization," according to notes of the meeting written by an unidentified participant from the Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The GSA is responsible for managing about $56 billion worth of contracts each year for the departments of Defense and Homeland Security and other agencies.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101645.html

[keopeli]

1. Let's ask our new Congress to subpoena her to explain why she doesn't like oversight. n/t

[Donnachaidh]

2. and while we're at it let's look over her cell phone records

and her business lunches. And her vacations. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts we'll find connections to some of those contractors she doesn't want audited.

Let's use a warrantless wiretap on her. Ahhhh, I love the smell of repuke fear in the morning! :sarcasm: