Ya Gotta Love The GSO

This government group is always surprising.

The General Services Administration is responsible for managing nearly $60 billion worth of federal contracts every year for agencies such as the Pentagon the Department of Homeland Security, both of which have had some problems of late about wasteful and possibly fraudulent spending.

Surely, given recent history, the Bush administration would want the closest, most aggressive, oversight possible to ensure against abuse, right? Wrong.

The new chief of the U.S. General Services Administration is trying to limit the ability of the agency’s inspector general to audit contracts for fraud or waste and has said oversight efforts are intimidating the workforce, according to government documents and interviews.

GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan, a Bush political appointee and former government contractor, has proposed cutting $5 million in spending on audits and shifting some responsibility for contract reviews to small, private audit contractors.

Doan also has chided Inspector General Brian D. Miller for not going along with her attempts to streamline the agency’s contracting efforts…. Doan compared Miller and his staff to terrorists, according to a copy of the notes obtained by The Washington Post. “There are two kinds of terrorism in the US: the external kind; and, internally, the IGs have terrorized the Regional Administrators,” Doan said, according to the notes.

Fucking politics. Its always about the politics isn't it? Just asking.

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