GSA sees exodus of top officials

A high number of senior officials have left the General Services Administration since the beginning of the year, leaving a leadership void at the top of the government's procurement and property management arm.

According to numbers provided by GSA, 11 members of the Senior Executive Service have left the agency in the two and a half months since Jan. 1. A total of 18 left the agency all last year, and an average of 16 have left GSA annually from 2000 to 2006.

Gail Lovelace, chief human capital officer at GSA, said it is normal for a high number of employees in the Civil Service Retirement System to leave the agency at the beginning of the year. She said those who left so far this year did so for a variety of reasons, including retirement, private sector employment and other government jobs.

GSA is allocated 114 SES positions by Congress. As of March 14, 82 were filled, Lovelace said. "GSA is actively recruiting and those numbers are changing on a regular basis.… we're being very effective in our ability to attract talent," Lovelace said.

The leadership style of GSA Administrator Lurita Doan, who took the oath of office on May 31, 2006, is driving some of the departures, industry and former government officials said.

"Below the surface, there is unsettledness at GSA," one industry source familiar with the agency said on the condition of anonymity.

According to a former GSA official who also spoke on condition on anonymity, some officials within GSA became disillusioned with Doan after she attempted to issue a $20,000 no-bid contract to personal friend Edie Fraser of Public Affairs Group Inc., even after GSA General Counsel Alan Swendiman had questioned its legality.

Some officials said they left for reasons that had nothing to do with Doan.

Marty Wagner, longtime head of GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy and most recently deputy commissioner of GSA's Federal Acquisition Service, said he retired because he had been with the government for 31 years and it was time to make a change.

Wagner said he had planned to leave after 30 years, but since he was involved in establishing the Federal Acquisition Service, which was created by merging the Federal Technology Service and Federal Supply Service, he elected to defer for a year.

Warren Suss, president of Suss Consulting Inc. in Jenkintown, Pa., said the departures are part of a cumulative effect of years of turmoil at GSA. He said that he has heard grumblings about micromanagement "coming from the highest levels" of the agency that has left some officials unhappy.

"Budget pressures get translated into travel restrictions and frustrations about people being able to do their jobs right," Suss said. "Whenever that happens, everybody within the agency takes a look and says 'is this the time to go? I'm ready to take the package.' "

Other SES members who have left this year include David Bethel, GSA's associate administrator in the agency's Office of Citizen Services and Communications, who announced his retirement in late January, just seven months after being named to his position by Doan. A few weeks earlier, former GSA Budget Director Debi Schilling announced that she was leaving for the same job at the Homeland Security Department. GSA Chief Acquisition Officer Emily Murphy also left the agency in January, for a private law firm.

John Sindelar, who served as the acting head of GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy after Wagner moved to FAS, announced in November 2006 his plans to retire in January. This announcement came after Doan named political appointee Kevin Messner to head the Office of Governmentwide Policy. Messner also continued his role as associate administrator of the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Number of Senior Executive Service Members Leaving GSA

* 2007 numbers compiled from Jan. 1-March 19.