GovernmentExecutive.com

General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan has fired back in unusually strong terms at Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who on Wednesday accused Doan of improperly meddling in GSA contract negotiations and fabricating allegations against the agency's inspector general.

"Senator Grassley has his facts about Sun Microsystems wrong," a GSA spokeswoman said in a statement Thursday. "He uses false innuendo to impugn the motives of GSA management, and based on his statement regarding his investigation of the Sun matter, this investigation appears to be a conspiracy looking for a theory."

GSA issued its statement in response to a speech in which Grassley said an investigation by his staff showed Doan last year pressured GSA contract officers to renew an information technology contract with Sun under terms that wasted millions of dollars. Grassley also asserted Doan may have made up charges that employees under GSA Inspector General Brian Miller used aggressive tactics to intimidate contract officers and vendors.

Grassley said his charges are detailed in reports sent to the White House, GSA and oversight committees, but that proprietary issues prevented public release of the reports.

GSA said the contract was a good deal. "The Sun Microsystems contract ... is not the example of contracting irregularities that some may have hoped," the agency statement said.

Sun also issued a statement questioning Grassley's claims. The senator's office had no immediate response.

COMMENTS

• I'm glad Mr. Grassley is trying to keep the Government accountable. It is truely amazing that Congress can give away billions of our dollars on bailouts to private investment companies such as AIG and Freddy and Fannie. And here is the result of Congress bailout efforts: WASHINGTON - Less than a week after the federal government had to bail out American International Group Inc., the company sent executives on a $440,000 retreat to a posh California resort, lawmakers investigating the company's meltdown said Tuesday. The tab included $23,380 worth of spa treatments for AIG employees at the coastal St. Regis resort south of Los Angeles even as the company tapped into an $85 billion loan from the government it needed to stave off bankruptcy. tom evens Posted October 8, 2008 11:38 AM
• Having dealt with the IG, I figure the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Regarding Tom's comments about the "Democrats" looking for dirt, he needs to realize that the "R" before Grassley's name indicates that he is a Republican; not a Democrat. Bob Esper Posted October 29, 2007 2:47 PM
• From personal experience I can tell you that some GSA-OIG agents use excessive hard tactics to elicit "confessions" from otherwise innocent employees. In my case the agency I worked for orders its employees to cooperate with the IGs. Some of the rogue IGs use that to their advantage going so far as to charge cooperative employees with not cooperating therby futhering the grilling. It's also a double edged sword: the OIG refer their findings to the U. S. Attorney and even if the U. S. Attorney declines to prosecute for lack of or insufficient evidence the findings are then forwarded to the heads of the employee(s) agencies to deal with the employee(s). In a separate case that involved the same OIG agents as those that "interviewed" me one of those agents was found to have twisted the findings 180 degrees to make two innocent employee become "guilty". That agent was eventually sued in Federal court and lost and was subsequently fired. Advice: if you are to be interviewed by the OIGs ask that the interviews be video/audio recorded with copies be given to you. Request that you have an attorney present at the outset. It's not an indicator of guilt, it's to make sure you are not made to be guilty or innocent and become guilty. In my case after retaining an attorney (a former U. S. Attorney no less) and having the Federal union behind me I was found to be innocent. My vindication was that the OIG agent that prevaricated was sued and fired. And I got to testify against him on court. This is not a blanket accusation that most or all IGs are rogues. Most other IGs I have dealt with were professional, thorough, and fair. Scott Posted October 24, 2007 1:50 PM