GSA Chief Scrutinized For Deal With Friend

Steven L. Schooner, a procurement specialist at George Washington University's law school, called Doan's involvement in the contract "highly irregular."

"One of the things you're trying to avoid is political favoritism," he said. "You don't want the process polluted or corrupted by political influence."

Doan has taken other steps that have raised questions inside the agency, according to internal memos and e-mails obtained by The Post and interviews with GSA officials.

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. The firms -- KPMG, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Booz Allen Hamilton and BearingPoint Inc. -- had paid the Justice Department more than $66 million to settle allegations that they kept travel rebates from airlines and hotels that should have gone to the GSA, according to agency officials.

The GSA's debarment office initiated "suspension actions" against the companies and issued "show-cause" letters, asking the firms to explain why they should not be suspended or debarred, according to a Sept. 7 e-mail obtained by The Post. Companies found to be engaged in fraud can be suspended or banned from doing business with the federal government.

"I would expect that the companies will respond to me by saying that they have acknowledged their sins, paid restitution and have put in place measures to prevent a recurrence of this activity," GSA debarment official George N. Barclay wrote in the e-mail. "Suspension determinations could be avoided upon such a showing."

Three days later, Doan wrote to several senior GSA officials: "I do not recall this issue EVER coming up in a single management meeting or any meeting for that matter." She asked that the show-cause process be "stopped until cooler heads can prevail."

But the show-cause letters had already been sent, and the companies later avoided suspension or debarment by agreeing to return travel rebates in the future.

Goodger, the former government contracting official, said Doan's involvement was unusual and "creates an appearance of impropriety."

Doan acknowledged that her intervention was unusual but said she did not do anything improper.

"As the head of this agency, I have an obligation to weigh in and say, 'What is this matter, do you know what this matter is?' " she said.

"I don't want to be a rubber-stamp kind of figurehead administrator of this agency. I do not want to participate in the old go-along-to-get-along kind of Washington two-step-type activity. This is not what I'm here for. So, yes, I am going to be involved."