Lurita Doan

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Official portrait of Lurita Doan

Lurita Alexis Doan (born January 4, 1958), was the Administrator of the United States General Services Administration from May 31, 2006, to April 29, 2008. She was the first woman to hold the position. On April 29, 2008 Doan submitted her resignation in accordance with a request from the White House after her use of the General Services Administration to help the Republican party became known.^[1]

1 Education
2 Career
3 Politics
4 Community involvement
5 Controversies
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Education

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

[edit] Career

In 1984, Doan began teaching as an adjunct professor at colleges in Louisiana, Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia. From 1986 she worked 4 years with Unisys as a technician deploying Unix systems.^[4] Doan launched her company, New Technology Management Inc. in 1990. In 1993, Doan secured a $250,000 Navy contract to install Unix on ships. By 2002, revenues had grown to $29 milliion.^[5] In 2005, Doan sold her firm for an undisclosed sum to a group of investors and retired.^[6]

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 and was sworn in as the 18th administrator of GSA on May 31.^[7]^[8]^[9]

[edit] Politics

Between 1999 and 2006, Doan 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.^[6]

Doan, a Republican Party member, was cited by Vice President Dick Cheney in a speech at the Small Business Administration in 2003.^[10] She met with President George W. Bush as a woman small business owner in 2004.^[11] In 2004, she addressed the Republican National Convention.^[12]

[edit] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Controversies

In 2007, the Washington Post reported on several controversies involving Doan. In one, Doan intervened in an effort to determine whether five major contractors should be suspended from doing business with the federal government for failing to turn over rebates on travel on government contracts. In another, Doan proposed to curb the agency's contract audits and to cut the inspector general's budget by $5 million. The inspector general had reported that the audits, which aim to ensure that the government is getting the best prices for goods and services, had saved taxpayers more than $1 billion over the past two years, while Doan contended that the budget cuts were part of an attempt to rein in spending at the GSA.^[6]^[13]

In March 2007, a Congressional investigation by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform produced findings critical of Doan. ^[14] Ranking Member Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) published a separate set of findings defending her conduct.^[15]

On March 26, 2007, in a front page story the Washington Post reported 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. Investigators state that the Hatch Act may have been broken when the question "How can we help our candidates?" was asked by Lurita Doan, according to witnesses at the meeting. The Hatch Act states that federal resources may not be used for partisan politics. The Office of Special Counsel investigated Hatch Act questions at GSA.

Once again, Doan appeared in front of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on June 13, 2007 whereupon Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) suggested she resign.^[16]

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."^[17] Doan did not have authority to award such a contract on a no-bid basis, and the proposal was called off.

Doan faced accusations of interfering with the extension of a contract involving Sun Microsystems. 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 (R-IA) about the credibility of the GSA Inspector General's office and how that credibility gap can adversely affect 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."^[18]

Sun announced its decision to stop selling directly through the GSA.

In the face of recommendations by the United States Office of Special Counsel that Doan be "disciplined to the fullest extent"^[19]and an ongoing congressional investigation,^[20] on April 29, 2008 Doan submitted her resignation in accordance with a request from the White House.^[1] Doan stated that "It has been a great privilege to serve our nation and a great President."^[21]