Norton Hopes GSA Administrator Will Reconsider IG Cuts - December 4, 2006

Washington, DC—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ranking Member of the General Services Administration (GSA) oversight subcommittee (Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management), today called on Administrator Lurita Doan, to reconsider her reported decision to cut $5 million in funding from the agency’s Inspector General (IG) work allowing GSA to perform pre-award audits and to instead shift this inherently governmental function of auditing contractors to private audit contractors. “I have worked closely with Administrator Doan on GSA matters and have admired her can do approach. Consequently, I was as shocked as I was concerned about her reported open hostility to the work of a highly respected Inspector General performing his statutory responsibilities. I hope that the threat to cut IG audit funding simply reflects the fact that Ms. Doan only recently came to GSA,” Norton said.

Norton said she believed that if appropriately briefed about the full responsibilities and statutory independence of IGs and of the underlying facts showing that over the years these audits (done prior to signing costly contracts) have saved the taxpayers billions of dollars, the administration would reconsider. If not, the Congresswoman said that she would seek a remedy in the 2007 GSA appropriation to be followed by hearings in the 110^th Congress.

The pre-award GSA audits are done upon request so that employees working on contracts are assured they are getting the best deal for the government. Norton said that, “the effectiveness and importance of these audits is beyond question.” She said she was concerned not only because of her GSA oversight responsibilities but also because of her work as a member of the Homeland Security Committee. GSA manages $56 billion in contracts for the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense and other agencies. Abuses in Homeland Security contracts, in particular, have been widely reported. Norton said that she agrees with Senate Finance Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-IA), who recently wrote Doan that the IG’s independence must not be ‘impaired or hindered by the agency in any way, shape or form.’