Senators voice confidence in GSA nominee’s confirmation

Senators at the Monday confirmation hearing of Lurita Doan, nominated to head the General Services Administration, welcomed her small business experience and perspective as a former customer of the contracting agency, and underlined the challenges she would face if confirmed as its next administrator.

Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, set the tone with expressions of confidence in the ultimate approval of Doan's nomination, and ranking member Mark Pryor, D-Ark., repeatedly referred to GSA as "your agency" during his questioning of the nominee.

Senators praised Doan's entrepreneurial record, which includes the 1990 founding of New Technology Management Inc., a Reston, Va.-based technology company that won $212 million in government contracts, in part through listing with GSA, before Doan sold it in 2005.

The nominee also served as a member of the GSA Small Business Advisory Council, and received awards from the agency for excellence and outstanding achievements as a businesswoman, among other honors.

Senators asked almost no questions on Doan's background or qualifications during the hearing, and instead highlighted areas where they expect the next administrator to focus attention.

Doan repeatedly cited a need for customer service improvements. She said agency officials need to sit down for face-to-face conversations with federal clients to learn how to better meet their needs, and said she would collect data on GSA's ability to secure contracts quickly and at the best price.

"A good deal of groveling will be involved, and I'm prepared to do that," Doan said in response to a question on the "fence-mending" needed with some clients. The acquisition agency last year made enemies at the Pentagon and elsewhere when it abruptly reversed a policy of allowing agencies to park funds in GSA accounts at the end of the fiscal year.

Defense had placed between $1 billion and $2 billion in its account over five years, most of which had to be returned unspent to the Treasury Department after GSA's policy change.

Collins asked Doan about recent rent increases that the judicial branch has seen in space leased from GSA, which she said had generated complaints in her home state. Pryor concurred, describing how he had recently negotiated a new lease for his offices in Little Rock and would be leaving the GSA-managed federal building there, because the rates were not competitive with local markets.

Collins called on Doan, if confirmed, to investigate the purchase of hybrid gas-electric vehicles for the 200,000-vehicle fleet it manages, citing the need for leadership on fuel efficiency and environmental practices. She also urged the nominee to expedite the establishment of a museum honoring women's history at the GSA-managed Old Post Office facility on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who is not on the committee, joined the hearing to extend a welcome to Doan. She said she has known the nominee since they were both teenagers, when they attended school together in New Orleans.

If confirmed by the full Senate, Doan will take over for David Bibb, who has been acting in that position since former Administrator Stephen Perry retired last October.