General Services Administration
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Established: | July 1, 1949 |
| Administrator: | Lurita A. Doan |
| Deputy Administrator: | David L. Bibb |
| Chief of Staff: | John F. Phelps |
| Employees: | 13,000 |
| Mission: | "GSA helps federal agencies better serve the public by offering, at best value, superior workplaces, expert solutions, acquisition services, and management policies." |
The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. government offices, provides transportation and office space to federal employees, and develops governmentwide cost-minimizing policies, among other management tasks. Its stated mission is to "help federal agencies better serve the public by offering, at best value, superior workplaces, expert solutions, acquisition services and management policies."
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[edit] History
Former President Herbert Hoover was asked in 1947 by President Harry Truman to lead a commission to make recommendations to the President and Congress on how to improve the administrative activities of the federal government. One of the recommendations of the commission was the establishment of an "Office of the General Services." This proposed office would combine the responsibilities of the Treasury Department's Bureau of Federal Supply and Office of Contract Settlement, the National Archives Establishment, the Federal Work Agency, and the War Assets Administration. GSA became an independent agency on July 1, 1949, following the passage of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act. General Jess Larson, Administrator of the War Assets Administration, was named as GSA's first Administrator.
[edit] GSA Today
GSA employs around 13,000 federal workers and has an annual operating budget around $16 billion, of which approximately 1% is appropriated from tax-payer dollars. GSA oversees $66 billion of procurement annually and contributes to the management of about $500 billion in U.S. Federal property, mostly divided among 8,000 owned and leased buildings and a 130,000 vehicle motor pool. Among the real estate assets the GSA manages is the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, the largest U.S. Federal building after The Pentagon.
GSA's business lines include the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) and the Public Buildings Service (PBS). Other divisions include the Office of Governmentwide Policy, and various Staff Offices, including the Office of Small Business Utilization, the Office of Civil Rights, and the Office of Citizen Services and Communications. The official U.S. government web portal, USA.gov, and the Spanish-language web portal to U.S. government services, GobiernoUSA.gov, are members of the Office of Citizen Services and Communication’s family of websites, which also includes pueblo.gsa.gov (the Federal Citizen Information Center), Kids.gov, ConsumerAction.gov, and WebContent.gov.
The National Archives and Records Administration was also part of GSA until it was made an independent agency in 1985.
Currently GSA is considering early-outs and buy-outs for 395 associates, due to a severe decline in revenue and is in the midst of a reorganization which merges the Federal Supply Service (FSS) and Federal Technology Service (FTS) business lines into FAS. Bush Administration political appointee Stephen A. Perry resigned as GSA Administrator on October 31, 2005. On May 31, 2006, Lurita Doan took the oath of office to become the 18th GSA Administrator as the first woman to hold the position.
[edit] Regions
GSA conducts its business activities through 11 offices (known as GSA Regions) throughout the United States, located in: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Ft. Worth, Kansas City, Missouri, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle (Auburn), and Washington, D.C.
| Region # | Region Name | Complex | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New England | Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Federal Building | Boston, MA |
| 2 | Northeast and Caribbean | 26 Federal Plaza | New York, NY |
| 3 | Mid-Atlantic | The Strawbridge Building | Philadelphia, PA |
| 4 | Southeast Sunbelt | 77 Forsyth Street | Atlanta, GA |
| 5 | Great Lakes | 230 South Dearborn Street | Chicago, IL |
| 6 | Heartland | Bannister Federal Complex | Kansas City, MO |
| 7 | Greater Southwest | 819 Taylor Street | Fort Worth, TX |
| 8 | Rocky Mountain | Denver Federal Center | Denver, CO |
| 9 | Pacific Rim | 450 Golden Gate Avenue | San Francisco, CA |
| 10 | Northwest/Arctic | 400 15th St. SW | Auburn, WA |
| 11 | National Capital | 301 7th St. SW | Washington, DC |
[edit] Scandal/Controversy
On December 2006, Lurita Doan proposed cutting $5 million from the budget of GSA’s Office of the Inspector General for reviewing government contracts for fraud and waste (previous IG audits have allowed the agency to recover billions of dollars of fraudulant contracts). Doan rationalized slashing oversight of contract fraud and waste as a cost-saving measure. Doan cited the IG’s work as “intimidating to the workforce.”
Doan has also criticized GSA Inspector General Brian D. Miller for not supporting her plan to streamline the agency’s contracting efforts, stating, “There are two kinds of terrorism in the US: the external kind; and internally, the IGs have terrorized the Regional Administrators.”
The GSA has been implicated in White House efforts to politicize non-partisan government agencies. Recent House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearings chaired by Henry Waxman (D-CA) questioned current GSA head, Lurita Doan regarding meetings and presentations by GSA officials. These meetings used presentation slides authored by The White House Political Office headed by Karl Rove which detailed GOP strategies and tactics for the 2008 Federal Elections. Providing facilities, personnel or support for partisan vote-getting efforts is a violation of the Hatch Act.
