General Services Administration
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2008-06-16T22:39:12Z
Pyromanioc
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Mention of Lurita Doan leaving GSA.
{{Infobox Govt Agency
| agency_name = General Services Administration
| logo = US-GeneralServicesAdministration-Logo.svg
| logo_width = 140px
| logo_caption =
| seal = US-GeneralServicesAdministration-Seal-Alt.svg
| seal_width = 140px
| seal_caption =
| formed = [[July 1]], [[1949]]
| preceding1 =
| preceding2 =
| headquarters = [[Washington, D.C.]]
| employees = 11,875 (2006)
| budget =
| chief1_name = [[David Bibb|David L. Bibb]]
| chief1_position = Acting Administrator
| website = [http://www.gsa.gov www.gsa.gov]
| footnotes =
}}
The '''General Services Administration''' ('''GSA''') is an [[independent agency of the United States government]], established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. government offices, provides transportation and office space to federal employees, and develops government wide cost-minimizing policies, among other management tasks. Its stated mission is to "help federal agencies better serve the public by offering, at best value, superior workplaces, expert solutions, acquisition services and management policies."
==History==
Former President [[Herbert Hoover]] was asked in [[1947]] by President [[Harry Truman]] to lead a commission to make recommendations to the President and Congress on how to improve the administrative activities of the federal government. One of the recommendations of the commission was the establishment of an "Office of the General Services." This proposed office would combine the responsibilities of the Treasury Department's Bureau of Federal Supply and Office of Contract Settlement, the National Archives Establishment, the Federal Work Agency, and the War Assets Administration. GSA became an independent agency on July 1, 1949, following the passage of the [[Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949|Federal Property and Administrative Services Act]]. [[General Jess Larson]], Administrator of the War Assets Administration, was named as GSA's first Administrator.
==GSA today==
{{Unreferenced|date=March 2008}}
GSA employs about 12,000 federal workers and has an annual operating budget of roughly $16 billion, approximately 1% of which is appropriated from taxpayer dollars. GSA oversees $66 billion of procurement annually. It contributes to the management of about $500 billion in U.S. Federal property, divided chiefly among 8,300 owned and leased buildings and a 170,000 vehicle [[motor pool]]. Among the real estate assets managed by the GSA is the [[Ronald Reagan Building|Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center]] in Washington, DC, the largest U.S. Federal building after [[The Pentagon]].
GSA's business lines include the [[Federal Acquisition Service]] (FAS) and the [[Public Buildings Service]] (PBS). Other divisions include the [[Office of Governmentwide Policy]], and various Staff Offices, including the [[Office of Small Business Utilization]], the [[Office of Civil Rights]], and the [[Office of Citizen Services and Communications]]. The official U.S. government web portal, [[USA.gov]], and the Spanish-language web portal to U.S. government services, [[GobiernoUSA.gov]], are members of the Office of Citizen Services and Communication’s family of websites, which also includes [http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov pueblo.gsa.gov] (the [[Federal Citizen Information Center]]), [http://www.kids.gov Kids.gov], [http://www.consumeraction.gov ConsumerAction.gov], and [http://www.webcontent.gov WebContent.gov].
The [[National Archives and Records Administration]] was also part of GSA until it was made an independent agency in 1985.
GSA recently completed early-outs and buy-outs to reduce staff. It reorganized to merge the [[Federal Supply Service]] (FSS) and [[Federal Technology Service]] (FTS) business lines into Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). Bush Administration political appointee [[Stephen A. Perry]] resigned as GSA Administrator on [[October 31]], [[2005]]. On [[May 31]], [[2006]], [[Lurita Doan]], also a Bush Administration political appointee, took the oath of office to become the 18th GSA Administrator and the first woman to hold the position. [[Lurita Doan]] resigned from office on [[April 30]], [[2008]].<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043001271.html Doan Ends Her Stormy Tenure as GSA Chief], ''Washington Post'', 1 May 2008</ref> [[David Bibb]] is currently acting as administrator.
==GSA Schedule==
GSA often assists with procurement work for other government agencies. As part of this effort, it maintains the large [http://www.gsa.gov/schedules GSA Schedule], which other agencies can use to buy goods and services. Think of the GSA schedule as hundreds of pre-negotiated contracts. Procurement managers from government agencies can view these agreements and make purchases from the GSA schedule, knowing that all legal obligations, have been taken care of by GSA.
==Regions==
GSA conducts its business activities through 11 offices (known as GSA Regions) throughout the United States, located in: [[Atlanta]], [[Boston]], [[Chicago]], [[Denver]], [[Ft. Worth]], [[Kansas City, Missouri]], [[New York City]], [[Philadelphia]], [[San Francisco]], [[Seattle]] (Auburn), and [[Washington, D.C.]]
{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="background:white;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Region #
! Region Name
! Complex
! Location
|-
||1
||New England
||[[Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Federal Building]]
||Boston, MA
|-
||2
||Northeast and Caribbean
||[[Jacob K. Javits Federal Building]]
||New York, NY
|-
||3
||Mid-Atlantic
||[[The Strawbridge Building]]
||Philadelphia, PA
|-
||4
||Southeast Sunbelt
||77 Forsyth Street
||Atlanta, GA
|-
||5
||Great Lakes
||230 South Dearborn Street
||Chicago, IL
|-
||6
||Heartland
||[[Bannister Federal Complex]]
||Kansas City, MO
|-
||7
||Greater Southwest
||Fritz G. Lanham Federal Building
||Fort Worth, TX
|-
||8
||Rocky Mountain
||[[Denver Federal Center]]
||Denver, CO
|-
||9
||Pacific Rim
||450 Golden Gate Avenue
||San Francisco, CA
|-
||10
||Northwest/Arctic
||400 15th St. SW
||Auburn, WA
|-
||11
||National Capital
||301 7th St. SW
||Washington, DC
|-
|}
==Controversy==
*It should be noted that GSA's senior management are political appointees, not professional career civil servants.
*On June 20, 2006, Former GSA Chief of Staff [[David Safavian]] was found guilty by a jury in federal court on four of five felony charges. The charges were related to some of his work at the GSA as part of the [[Jack Abramoff lobbying and corruption scandal]]. He was found guilty of lying to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, lying to a GSA ethics official, lying to the GSA's Office of Inspector General, and obstructing the work of the GSA inspector general. Safavian was cleared of obstructing the committee's investigation. On October 27, 2006, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
*On December 2006, [[Lurita Doan]] proposed cutting the budget of GSA’s Office of the Inspector General for reviewing government contracts for [[Political corruption|fraud]] and waste (previous IG audits have allowed the agency to recover billions of dollars of fraudulent contracts). Doan has criticized GSA Inspector General Brian D. Miller for not supporting her effort to implement simpler procedures for contractors. Some IG budget officials, however, viewed IG "streamlining efforts" as problematic. John C. Lebo, formerly with the GSA IG staff, described the changes as troubling and unprecedented. "The Administrator's Office wants to change the IG's overall approach from independently rooting out crime, fraud and abuse, to one in which the OIG is a team player working with GSA."<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/01/AR2006120101645_pf.html GSA Chief Seeks to Cut Budget For Audits], ''Washington Post'', 2 December 2006</ref>
* Allegations have been made that the GSA was involved in White House efforts to politicize non-partisan government agencies.<ref>[http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/27385 GSA chief grilled over potential Hatch Act violations], ''CREW (citizens for responsibility and ethics in Washington)'', 28 March 2007</ref> Recent [[House oversight committee|House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform]] hearings chaired by Rep. [[Henry Waxman]] (D-CA) questioned current GSA head, [[Lurita Doan]], regarding meetings and presentations by GSA officials and she was asked to step down. These meetings used presentation slides which mentioned GOP strategies and tactics for the 2008 Federal Elections. The GSA is prevented from engaging in political activities by the [[Hatch Act of 1939|Hatch Act]]. Republican committee members denounced the investigation as a "witch hunt" intending to smear the Bush administration and the GSA with the appearance of wrongdoing. An independent investigation by the [[United States Office of Special Counsel]], however, concluded that Doan had conducted "the most pernicious of political activity" and recommended that she "be disciplined to the fullest extent for her serious violation of the Hatch Act and insensitivity to cooperating fully and honestly in the course of our investigation."<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-06-11-gsa-political_N.htm Report: Contracting head illegally political - USATODAY.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Doan testified that she had no knowledge of the origin of the presentation slides, and no charges were filed to substantiate the allegations.<ref>[http://www.prweek.com/us/news/article/647515/GSA-reputation-takes-hit-amid-contracting-impropriety-charges/ GSA reputation takes a hit amid contracting impropriety charges], ''PRWeek'', 30 March 2007. "Doan was also grilled about partisan activities. She was questioned about a January 26 lunchtime meeting at GSA headquarters involving White House Deputy Director of Political Affairs Scott Jennings, 40-plus Bush administration political appointees at the GSA, attending in person or via teleconference, and her (the Administrator). Democratic committee members and the IG characterized the meeting as a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities while on duty."</ref> Her actions remain under scrutiny in a continuing congressional probe.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/24/AR2007102402757.html?sid=ST2007102402846 White House Feels Waxman's Oversight Gaze - washingtonpost.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{commonscat|United States General Services Administration}}
* [http://www.gsa.gov/ GSA Official Site]
[[Category:General Services Administration| ]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1949]]
[[de:General Services Administration]]