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Waxman Seeks GSA Chief's Testimony
In an earlier interview with The Post, Doan described her authorization of the no-bid job with the companies run by Fraser as a simple mistake. The GSA last month sent a letter to Waxman's committee strongly defending Doan and saying that her actions were not improper.
Doan has been embroiled for months in disputes over her leadership of the agency. Soon after taking office last May, she clashed with the inspector general's office over its budget.
  Lurita A. Doan, head of the General Services Administration, at an Environmental Protection Agency event in Denver with EPA chief Stephen L. Johnson, left, and Mayor John Hickenlooper. (By David Zalubowski -- Associated Press) |
Last summer, the inspector general began examining the no-bid arrangement between Doan and the companies run by Fraser, Diversity Best Practices and Business Women's Network.
Doan said the allegations against her stem from her budget dispute with the inspector general's office. She maintained in the interview that she signed paperwork approving the no-bid job and "handed this off and then that was the last that I worried about it."
But Waxman's investigators found that Doan "persisted in efforts to award the contract to Ms. Fraser after questions were raised about its validity." Swendiman, then the GSA's general counsel, told committee investigators that as soon as he saw the paperwork, "he immediately and repeatedly advised that the contract be terminated, but he was unable to convince" Doan to do so, Waxman's letter said.
Swendiman told committee investigators that he gave Doan a letter terminating the arrangement, but that Doan did not sign it. "Ultimately, Mr. Swendiman said he had to take matters into his own hands . . . he directed the appropriate contracting officer to sign the termination letter without waiting for your approval," Waxman's letter to Doan said.
The letter said committee investigators had found e-mails providing evidence that Doan continued to "encourage" her staff to "devise a mechanism for awarding a contract" to companies run by Fraser after the arrangement was terminated on Aug. 4.
That same day, Doan requested a "point person to move this forward," in discussions with her chief of staff, John F. Phelps, according to an e-mail cited by the committee.
"Contrary to your public assertions that no further action was taken on this matter, you joked to Mr. Phelps about your staff's continuing efforts to advance Ms. Fraser's interests: 'I think we have quite a few cooks now stirring this broth,' " Waxman said in his letter.
Doan's relationship with Fraser began when Doan was the president of New Technology Management Inc., a Reston-based company that sold surveillance gear and had government contracts worth more than $200 million. In 2003, Doan retained Fraser to promote her and her company.
From 2003 to 2005, Doan paid "at least $417,500 to companies affiliated with Ms. Fraser before you became GSA Administrator, including approximately $320,000 in management consulting fees and $97,500 in corporate and personal sponsorship of events produced by Ms. Fraser's firm," Waxman's letter said.
Fraser continued working closely with Doan before and after Doan assumed office last May, records cited by the committee show. Two weeks after her confirmation, Fraser wrote Doan an e-mail with the subject line: "Checklist for GSA and Lurita," according to a document obtained by the committee and The Post.
