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S. Hrg. 113–124 

NOMINATION OF DANIEL M. TANGHERLINI 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

NOMINATION OF DANIEL M. TANGHERLINI, TO BE ADMINISTRATOR U.S. 

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 

JUNE 18, 2013 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov/ 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

( 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

MARK BEGICH, Alaska 

TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin 

HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire 

RICHARD J. KESSLER, Staff Director 

JOHN P. KILVINGTON, Deputy Staff Director 

TROY H. CRIBB, Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs 

DEIRDRE G. ARMSTRONG, Professional Staff Member 

KEITH B. ASHDOWN, Minority Staff Director 

CHRISTOPHER J. BARKLEY, Minority Deputy Staff Director 

SARA BETH GROSHART, Minority Counsel 

TRINA D. SHIFFMAN, Chief Clerk 

LAURA W. KILBRIDE, Hearing Clerk 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Opening statements: Page 

Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 1 

Senator Coburn ................................................................................................. 3 

Senator Ayotte .................................................................................................. 10 

Senator McCaskill ............................................................................................ 14 

Prepared statements: 

Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 27 

Senator Coburn ................................................................................................. 30 

WITNESSES 

TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2013 

Daniel M. Tangherlini, to be Administrator, U.S. General Services Administration 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 5 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 32 

Biographical and financial information .......................................................... 36 

Letter from the Office of Government Ethics ................................................. 55 

Responses to pre-hearing questions ................................................................ 58 

Responses to post-hearing questions .............................................................. 94 

Prepared Statement of Paul Strauss, U.S. Shadow Senator, District of Columbia .......................................................................................................................... 112 

(1) 

NOMINATION OF DANIEL M. TANGHERLINI, 

TO BE ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. GENERAL 

SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 

JUNE 18, 2013 

U.S. SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:33 a.m., in room 

SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Thomas R. Carper, 

Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Carper, McCaskill, Heitkamp, Coburn, and 

Ayotte. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN CARPER 

Chairman CARPER. The hearing will come to order. Daniel, welcome to you and your family and our other guests. We are happy 

that you are willing to assume these responsibilities if confirmed. 

For decades, it has been said that there are two letters, a couple 

of Chinese words, one for danger and one for opportunity. I am told 

that the symbol for those is pretty much the same. Some metrics 

on the Chinese language, I would point out that this is an overly 

simplistic interpretation of the word, but I think that out of popularity, the axiom that crisis brings opportunity persists because 

there is a large dose of truth. I oftentimes quote Albert Einstein 

who says, in adversity lies opportunity. I do not know if it was Chinese, but you get the drift. 

Last spring a crisis unfolded at the General Services Administration (GSA) when a report of GSA Inspector General (IG) detailed 

a reckless, wasteful, and in some instances, illegal spending of 

some employees of GSA’s Public Building Service at a lavish conference. These employees used public resources to reward themselves with catered parties, team-building exercises that involved 

building bicycles, and conference souvenirs. 

Unfortunately, this particular conference was not an isolated instance of bad judgment. In looking into GSA’s spending practices, 

Congress learned of other wasteful spending, extravagant travel, 

misuse of government charge cards, questionable employee awards 

programs, and another conference where taxpayers paid for GSA 

employees to beat on drums. These are just a few examples. 

These scandals all shook the trust of Congress in GSA—the 

agency whose primary purpose is to make our Federal Government 

more efficient and more frugal in spending taxpayer dollars. 
2 

Taking over as the Acting Director of GSA last April, Dan 

Tangherlini understood that this moment of crisis afforded an opportunity to make GSA a better agency. And to his credit, he did 

not approach the job with a view to do the minimal amount necessary to sweep the scandal under the rug. Rather, he undertook 

what he called a top-to-bottom review of the whole agency. 

Mr. Tangherlini has put in stronger controls over spending within GSA. He has consolidated activities related to financial management, human resources, information technology (IT), acquisition, 

and other administrative functions. These changes should make 

GSA a leaner agency that is better focused on its core functions of 

helping other agencies make smarter choices in managing their 

property in acquiring goods and services. 

Longstanding challenges with both of these areas, property management and procurement, combined with the current fiscal crisis, 

increase the urgency of making sure that GSA is a go-to place for 

agencies to be able to do more with less. GSA can and should be 

at the center of our government’s efforts to resolve our major management challenges. 

The management of real property has been on the Government 

Accountability Office’s (GAOs) high-risk list of troubled problems 

for about a decade. Our government has tens of thousands of properties that are either no longer needed or only partially used. But 

we also lack accurate, comprehensive data that would enable better 

decisions about how agencies use their property. Our government 

also relies too much on costly leases, when the cheaper option over 

the long run would be to own the property. Additionally, the Federal Government has a backlog of a billions of dollars in needed repairs and maintenance which, if unaddressed, will increase the cost 

of maintaining the property in the long run. 

In the area of acquisition, GSA plays an important role with about 10 percent, roughly $50 billion—of total Federal spending 

flowing through GSA’s contracts and other services. But there is 

much room for improvement. For example, GAO has done several 

studies showing that there is enormous potential for the government to save billions of dollars each year through strategically 

sourcing commonly used goods and services through governmentwide contracts that fully leverage the buying power of the Federal 

Government, much like large companies do for themselves. 

GSA deserves a leader who understands the complexity of these 

management challenges and who could work well with the heads 

of other agencies to help them meet their needs, and I think they 

will have such a leader now in Dan Tangherlini, if he is confirmed 

by the Senate. 

Mr. Tangherlini’s service as Acting Administrator of GSA, in and 

of itself, shows he is the logical choice to be confirmed as Administrator, but he also brings a wealth of other experience in public sector administration. He served, as you may know, for 6 years at the 

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) early in his career, has 

a strong understanding of the budget process, as well as program 

planning and financial management. He then served a year in the 

Policy Office of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). He 

went on to a string of impressive jobs at the local level: Chief Financial Officer of the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police De-
3 

partment, Interim General Manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Director of the District of Columbia’s 

Department of Transportation, and finally, City Administrator and 

Deputy Mayor of the District of Columbia. 

In 2009, President Obama nominated and the Senate confirmed, 

Mr. Tangherlini as the Assistant Secretary for Management at the 

Treasury Department, where he served until he was named Acting 

Administrator of GSA. 

Mr. Tangherlini’s confirmation will also bring badly needed stability to the helm of GSA. As my colleagues know, I am a firm believer in the power of leadership. Leadership is an important and 

often undervalued asset that can determine whether or not an organization of any size or scale can effectively accomplish its mission. Leadership is particularly important to turning around struggling organizations and steering through a crisis. 

One of GSA’s main problems over the last decade has been a lack 

of stable leadership, which is, unfortunately, a problem throughout 

the Executive Branch. GSA has had eight different leaders over the 

last 8 years, all but two of them in an acting capacity. The last two 

confirmed leaders of GSA, unfortunately, each resigned following 

scandals. 

Mr. Tangherlini has a well-deserved reputation of being someone 

who knows how to get a job done and who never stops looking for 

ways to do the job better, and that is exactly what we need at GSA. 

I look forward to your testimony. I have read it. Look forward to 

hearing it today, the opportunity to discuss with you and all of us 

your priorities for GSA. 

Thank you for your willingness to do this, and to your family, especially your wife, your children. Thank you for your willingness to 

share your husband and your father. And to your dad, who is sitting out there, a spry man of 89. He just told us, Dr. Coburn and 

I, he ran the Rock-and-Roll Marathon at the age of 89. Whatever 

you are eating and drinking, we want to have some of it, so great 

to see you. 

Dr. COBURN. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR COBURN 

Senator COBURN. Well, welcome. I am going to put my statement 

in the record. Enjoyed our visit in my office. Eight years ago next 

month, Tom Carper and I had a hearing on GSA and I would tell 

you nothing has essentially happened in 8 years. We had a frank 

discussion in my office about the problems. I believe you have the 

capability to actually turn this around. And I am going to have a 

lot of questions for the record. I am not going to be able to stay 

through the full hearing. 

But one of the things is the recent IG report, which has to be 

the most demoralizing thing for your contracting officers. Where we 

have contracting officers doing the right thing and their management, through complaints of the well-connected, override good decisions, and the result of that is undermining the capability of the 

very people we depend on to make your agency viable and effective. 

So I know you were not pleased with that report. I guess the 

thing that I would ask for Senator Carper and myself is for you to 

have good communications on your progress as you try to turn this 
4 

around, how you are solving the problems. I do not want you to 

have to come up here all the time and give us a report. But we can 

make that happen if, in fact, we do not get great communication. 

So I hope you would view us as a partner in enabling you to 

carry out what you need to do to make sure—the Federal Government is the largest buyer of everything in the world and there 

should not be one instance that we do not get the best price and 

the best value for everything that we do, whether it is buildings, 

whether it is pencils and erasers, whether it is computers, whether 

it is stuff. I do not care what it is. There should not be one thing. 

And that ought to be GSA’s goal. 

I would just tell you, when we look at sequester, the gentleman 

sitting before us today could save us a third of that every year if 

GSA was highly effective. And so, some of the pains being experienced by other Federal employees today would not necessarily have 

to be there if we had really made some progress from 8 years ago 

when we sat in this Committee and went through all the problems 

at GSA. 

And unfortunately, they are still there. And what that means, as 

Senator Carper alluded to the fact that the average length of tenure is less than 2 years for confirmed managers of GSA. Leadership really makes a difference. I think you have the qualities, the 

background, the history, and the experience to do that, and my 

hope is that you will take the charge, not just to run the GSA, but 

be responsible for us, with us, in terms of eliminating the excesses, 

the waste, and the poor pricing that we get on so many things. 

So I thank you for being here. I welcome your family. These are 

family commitments. This job is going to own Dan for a long time, 

hopefully, and so, what that means is you all will make a sacrifice 

as he does the very important work that he is called on to do. So 

I welcome you. I am going to vote for your confirmation. Hopefully, 

we do not have to have a vote. Hopefully, we can unanimous consent (UC) it and we can get you in there with the full power of 

being not the Acting Director, but the Director. Thank you for 

being here. 

Chairman CARPER. Thank you, Dr. Coburn. I am going to just do 

a brief introduction of Dan and then we will ask him questions, ask 

him to give any oaths and let him go at it. Dan Tangherlini has 

filed responses to a biographical and financial questionnaire. He 

has answered pre-hearing questions submitted by the Committee, 

and had his financial statements reviewed by the Office of Government Ethics. Without objection, this information will be made part 

of the hearing record with the exception of the financial data which 

are on file, available for public inspection, in the Committee office. 

The Committee rules require that all witnesses at confirmation 

hearings give their testimony under oath. Mr. Tangherlini, I am 

going to ask you to stand and raise your right hand. 

Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give the Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 

truth, so help you, God? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. I do. 

Chairman CARPER. Please be seated. You are welcome to proceed 

with your statement. Feel free to introduce your family, others in 
5 

the audience that you would like to, and again, we are delighted 

that you are all here. Thank you. 

TESTIMONY OF HON. DANIEL M. TANGHERLINI, TO BE 

ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Thank you very much. Good morning, Chairman Carper, Dr. Coburn, and Members and staff of the Committee. 

I want to thank you for inviting me to appear before you today. I 

am honored to have been asked by the President to serve as the 

Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration. 

I am pleased to be joined here today by my wife, Theresa, a pediatric nurse practitioner; my oldest daughter, Cassandra, a hardworking student; my parents-in-law, Angelo and Connie Picillo; and 

my father, Frank, my inspiration for public service, a veteran of 

the Second World War who served in the 101st Airborne at the 

Battle of the Bulge. 

All of the challenges that we face as a Nation and, I hope, should 

I be confirmed, to face as a leader of GSA, pale in comparison to 

what my father and his generation faced when they defended the 

world against hatred and tyranny. He challenged me and my brothers to volunteer, to serve, and to work every day to leave the world 

a better place than the one we were given. Thanks, Dad. 

My younger daughter, Francesca, is unable to be here today because she is with a friend and her family in Disney World. My 

mother, Jane Kjems, a small business owner, also could not attend 

today. 

Just over one year ago, President Obama appointed me as the 

Acting Administrator of GSA during a very challenging time for the 

agency. From my first day at the office, I have worked with the 

women and men of GSA to restore the trust of the American people 

and to ensure that the agency provides them and the government 

with the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services. 

I am very proud of what we have been able to accomplish at GSA 

over the past year. Since April 2012, we have worked closely with 

our Inspector General, Brian Miller, to ensure that our entire agency is living up to the highest standards of public service. 

To that end, GSA has engaged in a comprehensive, top-to-bottom 

review of the agency, gathering input from individuals at every 

level of the organization, as well as from our partners in the Federal Government and the private sector. This process has helped us 

cultivate a culture of continuous evaluation and improvement 

throughout GSA. 

More importantly, this has led to concrete results, transforming 

GSA into an improved organization, one that offers common sense, 

business-like solutions to our Federal partners. During the past 

Fiscal Year, we reduced our spending on travel, IT devices and 

printing, to end the year 43 percent lower than our Fiscal Year 

2010 baseline for those items. 

In travel alone, we saved $28 million by revising our internal 

travel and conference policies. Last year, we reduced bonuses 

throughout GSA by 64 percent, including the elimination of all bonuses within the Administrator’s office. This change was accom-
6 

panied by a targeted hiring freeze designed to ensure that any new 

hires were aligned with the outcomes of our ongoing review. 

In addition, we created more than $5 million in savings as a result of implementing suggestions offered by GSA employees during 

our Great Ideas Hunt. We have also begun the process of consolidating key administrative service functions to eliminate unnecessary redundancy and better align internal operations. We expect 

this effort not only to help us become a more efficient and effective 

agency, but also to save $200 million over the next 10 years. 

I am proud of the work that we have done together since April 

2012, and I am excited at the prospect of helping to shape GSA’s 

future. Everyone at GSA is working to ensure that we provide even 

more savings to our partner agencies. I believe that one of our most 

critical strategies in this effort is the expansion of our market 

share of Federal spending. By assuming more of the government’s 

acquisition market share, we will not increase savings, but enable 

better, more consistent management of our resources. 

Simultaneously, we are developing common sense solutions to 

help agencies across the government shrink the Federal footprint 

and find ways to dispose of unneeded or unused Federal properties, 

which can, in turn, contribute to local economies. We are working 

with the real estate industry through public-private partnerships to 

explore the possibility of exchanging outdated Federal properties 

for the construction of new facilities that meet the needs of these 

agencies today. 

GSA is also developing new, more efficient ways to utilize Federal office space. Our own historic headquarters is a test bed for 

this approach. We are transforming what was traditional office 

space into a collaborative, flexible work environment designed to 

facilitate cooperation, mobility, and improve productivity. Those 

changes will make it possible for us to eliminate more than $24 

million in annual lease payments. 

We are hoping to take the lessons we have learned from the 

transformation of our workplace and make them available to the 

entire Federal Government. At the same time, President Obama’s 

Fiscal Year 2014 Budget will enable us to make a significant investment in America’s Federal building infrastructure. This budget 

restores GSA’s authority to fully use incoming rent funds to make 

a significant $1.3 billion reinvestment in the repair and maintenance of GSA’s inventory. 

All of us at GSA understand that every taxpayer dollar counts 

and that its stewardship is our most significant responsibility. We 

know that by providing services that offer both savings and results 

we help agencies focus on their own important missions. That is 

why we are evaluating and re-evaluating our internal processes 

and making necessary changes to ensure measurable outcomes. 

I am honored to have served with this agency over the last 14 

months, and with your approval, I hope to have the opportunity to 

continue working with the women and men of GSA to accomplish 

our important mission. Thank you very much. 

Chairman CARPER. Thanks for that. Let me just say, Dr. Coburn 

has another engagement. Do you want to just take a minute and 

just ask a question or two? 
7 

Senator COBURN. No. I actually have a very well-thought out list 

of questions that I am going to give Dan the time to think about 

and answer. And then I will visit with him by phone afterwards. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Great, thank you. 

Chairman CARPER. Thank you. One of the first things I remember doing with a newly elected Senator, Tom Coburn, was actually 

going out to Chicago and visiting an old Postal building which had 

been vacant for years, and talking about that building and other 

buildings like that around the country. That building was owned 

by, I guess, the Federal Government, by the Postal Service. But as 

you know, we have a lot of buildings—I alluded to them in my 

statement—that are underutilized and, in some cases, not utilized. 

But he and I have worked on this for over a half-a-dozen years, 

and I think the Administration has tried in recent years to do 

something about it, with some success, but we still have, as you 

know, too many properties that we are not utilizing or we do not 

need. We maintain, we provide utilities, we provide security. It is 

just foolhardy. 

One of my great frustrations in the 12 years I have been here 

is our inability to develop a comprehensive approach to dealing 

with this issue. The Administration suggested that we create a 

Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC)-like process to 

identify buildings and they would send us a list and if we did not 

vote them down, then those would be closed or auctioned off or 

sold. 

We have worked to change the current process, and now as you 

know, now when Federal properties are unutilized, underutilized, 

they need to be made available, under law and the McKinneyVento Act, they need to be made available to homeless groups. And 

if you will look at the number of properties over the last 20 years 

that ended up being turned over to homeless groups, it is a meager 

list and it grows more meager by the year. I think maybe in the 

last year there was one property. 

What we suggested or what some of us put together in the legislation—I think it was Dr. Coburn’s part of it, I think, Senator 

Portman and myself—was an approach that said, why do we not, 

rather than just turning over these properties to the homeless 

groups, why do we not allow them to be sold and some percentage 

of the sales, the money from the sales proceeds, would be turned 

over to the homeless groups? And the homeless groups were afraid 

if that happened, then their appropriations would be cut back dollar-for-dollar for the allocation that would come out of the sales 

proceeds. But we are just not getting where we need to go. 

The other problem, maybe just as big a problem, is we have the 

incentives from this line with respect to agencies either leasing 

space or buying space. We had a great example presented the other 

day, I think from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), for 

whom a new building was built, large building was built, making 

three buildings. 

And the idea was we are going to build all these new nuclear 

power plants, we are going to build like dozens of new nuclear 

power plants, and the hundred or so that we have, a bunch of them 

are coming up for license renewal, so there is a lot going on at the 

NRC and they needed space for that. 
8 

Now we find out that we are not going to have dozens of new nuclear power plants, not anytime soon. We are going to have four 

under construction right now, but the level of activity is down, the 

need for the NRC staff is down, and how do we meet the need? But 

I remember looking at the cost per square foot for the new building 

and a couple of the existing buildings. 

Of the buildings that were listed, the one that was the cheapest 

was the one they owned. It was like half price in terms of the overall cost, the life cycle cost for the NRC. So these are two. I just 

want to lay this on the table. Let us have a good discussion. This 

is going to be my only question in the first round here. But just 

think out loud for us. 

What can we do together with the Administration, with GSA, 

working with GAO, others, what can we do? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. I appreciate the question, Chairman Carper. 

We have had—— 

Chairman CARPER. Before you do that. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Oh, I am very sorry. 

Chairman CARPER. I am supposed to ask you three standard 

questions. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Oh, yes, sir. 

Chairman CARPER. These are like easy questions, like a warmup. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. OK. 

Chairman CARPER. So I will go ahead and ask those. You have 

heard these questions before. Is there anything you are aware of 

in your background that might present a conflict of interest with 

the duties of the office to which you have been nominated? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. No, sir, I am not. 

Chairman CARPER. OK. Do you know of anything, personal or 

otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from fully and honorable discharging the responsibility of the office to which you have 

been nominated? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. No, I do not. 

Chairman CARPER. OK. Do you agree, without reservation, to respond to any reasonable summons to appear and testify before any 

duly constituted committee of Congress, if you are confirmed? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Yes, I do. 

Chairman CARPER. Good, thank you. All right. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Thank you. 

Chairman CARPER. The easy one is out of the way. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Now the hard one. 

Chairman CARPER. Yes, please. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. I appreciate your continued interest in the 

subject. We have had a number of conversations, even including 

with Secretary Donovan from the Department of Housing and 

Urban Development (HUD), as well as important policy officials 

from OMB. And as I have said before on this issue, I think the 

three ingredients you need to cook anything up in Washington are 

there. You have a proposal from the Administration, you have a 

version of a bill from the House, and you have your own version 

of a bill here in the Senate. 

So the question is, can we work together going forward to coalesce around some basic principles. I think we all share the view 
9 

that we need to more efficiently and effectively use these Federal 

assets. We need to not only ensure that we are fully utilizing the 

assets we have under our control, but that we are realizing the 

most value from them and disposing of them quickly when we do 

not need them anymore. 

The disposal process is complicated, in part, because you want to 

make sure, before you get rid of an asset and you lose it forever, 

in essence, to the Federal Government, that you have made sure 

you have checked with everyone who may have an interest or a 

need for that asset. In addition, there are strong public policy concerns associated with the legislation that you referred to, McKinney-Vento, that suggest that we need to make sure that we are also 

providing opportunity for the homeless to potentially use it. 

However, as you also point out, the number of times that it is 

actually used for that is very low. So I know our past discussions 

have been, how can you create a mechanism by which you address 

the needs and interests and issues associated with—the homeless 

advocacy groups? At the same time, how do you move the process 

forward quickly? 

And I think that is why the legislation is continued, we continue 

to work on it. In the meantime, I think that there is an awful lot 

of work that GSA can do under current authorities to move more 

quickly and more thoughtfully in terms of disposing the assets, at 

least the ones that we have under our control. 

So we have been working very closely with agencies to try to help 

them use authorities that we have, such as out-leasing or even an 

exchange authority that we are exploring that would allow us to 

quickly move the asset out and have the agency get something 

back in return. So, for example, we just issued a Request for Proposal for interested parties in cooperation with NASA to have an 

out-lease of something called Hangar One on the Moffett Federal 

Airfield that would exchange—— 

Chairman CARPER. Did you say the Moffett? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Moffett Federal Airfield out in—— 

Chairman CARPER. Hangar One where I was trained to be a 

Naval flight officer. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Oh. 

Chairman CARPER. It is a small world, is it not? Small world. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Exactly right. 

Chairman CARPER. I go back to Moffett Field to Hangar Two, 

which is we had the Navy P3 world, what we used, the P3 aircraft, 

in the Hunt for Red October. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Right. 

Chairman CARPER. It was either Hangar Two or Hangar Three. 

They are huge flight hangars that you find all the memories on the 

walls of the squadrons there, which are now empty, of a patrol 

squadron, the Marlin Men. That was my squad. If you actually look 

through there, my name used to appear on that wall. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. I think the California Air National Guard 

still—— 

Chairman CARPER. Yes, they were there. They are holding it 

down. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. But Hangar One, which is this historic property that needed to have some environmental remediation that re-
10 

quired unskinning it or deskinning it, we have asked to see if there 

is anyone out there who will trade the use and occupancy of the 

airfield in exchange for the historic renovation of Hangar One. 

So here we are taking an asset that we cannot afford to do the 

next bit of maintenance on that is not fully utilized, and we are 

asking the private sector if they could partner with us to get the 

historic preservation investment made, and in exchange, then, to 

have access, limited access to the use of their airfield. 

Similarly, we suggested in our request for information (RFI) for 

the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) headquarters, the idea 

of partnering with private sector entities to explore the possibility 

of exchanging the existing FBI headquarters, which no longer 

meets the need of the FBI, for a new FBI headquarters, or some 

part of a new FBI headquarters nearby, that does actually meet 

the needs and would be more efficient and effective and sustainable 

in terms of both financially and environmentally of managing the 

property for the FBI. 

So we think that we have a number of authorities that if we 

work closely with Congress and we are creative, that maybe we can 

move on the margins more of these properties out, create better incentives for the agencies to participate, and at the same time, then, 

give us room to have the conversations we need to have between 

the two branches, the Congress and the Administration, to push 

forward some kind of legislation to make our asset disposal process 

more efficient. 

Chairman CARPER. Before I turn it over to Senator Ayotte, let me 

say that if you are confirmed, and I am encouraged that you will 

be, a month after you are confirmed, I just want you to come over, 

sit down with Dr. Coburn and myself, Senator Portman and others 

who are interested in this, and let us just figure out what we can 

do. I appreciate what you are trying to do under your own authority, but what we need to do to enhance your abilities, to facilitate 

what you are trying to do. 

I do not want to be here 6 years from now and saying, We still 

have X thousands of unused properties, surplus properties that we 

ought to sell, we ought to get rid of. What are we going to do about 

it? I want it to be for us to have dealt with this issue in a smart 

way. Thank you. Senator Ayotte. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AYOTTE 

Senator AYOTTE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you 

for being here today and for your willingness to serve as head of 

the agency, and thank your family for being here as well. I wanted 

to ask about the recent June IG report, which Senator Coburn referenced in his opening statement, that is very troubling. Their conclusion that the management improperly intervened in the award 

and extension of multiple award schedule (MAS) contracts and resulted in the contracts being inflated, pricing, unfavorable contracting terms and extensions. 

If you look at it, to have the GSA contracting officers tell the Office of Inspector General (OIG) that they feared for their jobs because they were trying to do the right thing and protect taxpayer 

interests; yet, companies were able to go above their head, either 

get rid of them to get a more favorable contracting officer or put 
11 

pressure on them to change a decision that was in the best interest 

of the taxpayers. 

This is really troubling in terms of culture. And we want the contracting officers, obviously, to feel empowered. We want everyone 

in the GSA to be focused on saving taxpayer dollars. So what are 

you going to do to change this culture? And what will you do to 

hold the people accountable that improperly overrode the decisions 

of the contracting officers so that management understands that 

this is unacceptable within the agency? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. I appreciate that, Senator. I share your concern. In fact, let me just start by saying we have already taken 

some personnel action directly related to an individual named in 

that report. We are going to continue to pursue and explore any 

other action we need to take directly related to the evidence or the 

issues raised in the report. 

But like you, I am more concerned, or I am equally concerned, 

about the broader issues suggested in the report, that our contracting officers are not given the control and the authority, and 

frankly, the support by the organization that they need. 

So what I have done over the last 14 months to try to change 

the view within the organization about who has the authority and 

how can people relate with each other? I started in the first week 

by sending out a joint letter with our Inspector General, Brian Miller, telling everyone within the organization, if they see something 

that they are uncomfortable with, they think is wrong, suggestive 

of waste, fraud and abuse, it is imperative that they raise their 

concern with their co-workers, their supervisors, and equally importantly, with the Inspector General. 

The Inspector General and I share a common desire to have the 

best, most honest process that we possibly can have for running the 

organization. When this report came out, our new head of the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS)—and I have appointed in the last 

couple of months, a new head of the Federal Acquisition Service, 

a person who has not only experience in the public sector working 

in several agencies, but also quite substantial experience in the acquisition environment in the private sector as well. He sent out a 

memo to his entire staff including the IG report stating that the 

behavior described in this report is unacceptable. He wants every 

contracting officer to feel empowered to raise their concerns to him 

and/or the IG, whoever they feel more comfortable with, in the 

minute they feel any sense of any of the kind of behavior that was 

described in the report. 

I followed Tom’s memo to the FAS staff with another memo to 

the entire contracting officer staff of GSA and said, If this exists 

anywhere else in GSA, we want to know about it. We want to support you in reporting it. And so, hopefully what we can do is begin 

to build a sense within the entire organization that the entire organization has each other’s back for getting the highest quality outcome, the best results, and the lowest cost, because if we want to 

grow the market share of GSA, if we really do want to achieve 

what we were set up to achieve, then people have to just really 

have trust and faith that they are getting the best outcome when 

they take the GSA route. 
12 

Senator AYOTTE. Let me just say, I know you cannot talk about 

personnel actions here, but probably one of the most effective 

things you can do is to hold the people who have done this accountable so that other managers in this situation see that, If I go down 

this road, it is going to have a consequence to my job. I think 

that—I appreciate—I know you cannot talk about that here, but 

that will set a culture, along with the culture that you are trying 

to set from the top, so that is part of how people are judged. 

And so, I appreciate that. And I think this is a very serious issue 

for the challenges that you face in this organization. And with respect to those challenges, I think we all know that you have talked 

about this issue at length, but it really struck the American people 

when they heard about the conference, the spending of the 

$822,000 at the conference to celebrate, share, and showcase the diverse professional personal talents that obviously sent a shockwave 

through your organization. 

You have testified that last year GSA eliminated 50 conferences 

and saved more than $28 million. I commend you for that. But the 

American people are still very suspicious and they are feeling that 

this conference and the abuses we saw there with their money really sent a shockwave as to what the GSA was doing with taxpayer 

dollars. 

And so, I wanted to just ask you, the fact that you could eliminate 50 conferences and save $28 million, and the fact that this 

hugely egregious conference occurred, what is it that was within 

the organization, the culture, that thought that was an appropriate 

use of spending of money, and how do you see yourself changing 

that culture? 

And I think it goes hand-in-hand with the other issue I just 

asked you of empowering people that their job is to save taxpayer 

dollars, not to find ways to spend them in irresponsible ways as 

that conference was? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. I think you described in the question my challenge for the last 14 months, almost from the first day I was there. 

I can tell you one of the things that very much reassured me that 

there was hope for us, actually, making a substantial difference in 

the organization; that some of the angriest people I have encountered about what took place at that conference were GSA employees, people who have committed decades of their life and their public service careers to an organization that is really built around the 

idea that if we leverage the scale and the scope of the Federal Government, if we do it once and we do it well, we can drive down 

costs and push up results. 

What happened there was the exact opposite of everything that 

folks had committed to doing in their public service careers. So 

what we have tried to do is reinforce the core principles of what 

the agency is and is about, and it starts with some kind of management 101 stuff. We rewrote the mission statement so you actually 

know what the agency does. 

We want to provide the best value in real estate acquisition and 

technology services to Federal agencies and the American people. 

Before, you did not exactly know what the agency was doing, so it 

is kind of hard to then focus on great outcomes. 
13 

We then established six priorities and those priorities, chief 

among them, is to provide the best value, and that means get the 

best price, reduce the long-term costs, find ways to help agencies 

deliver their services more efficiently. And then we have done 

something to try to empower everyone within the organization to 

participate. 

The Great Ideas Hunt, which I referred to in my testimony, was 

leveraging some social media technology we have within GSA to 

ask everyone in GSA, what are their great ideas for reducing costs? 

We got over 600 ideas, but more importantly, we got over 20,000 

comments. People across GSA were engaged in a conversation that 

was not just within their stovepipe, but across the enterprise and 

came up with great ideas, ideas that have saved us, just in the last 

year, over $5 million. 

We want to keep that dialogue going and we really want to build 

a sense of accomplishment that comes from driving down the costs 

and driving up the value, and not some sense of accomplishment 

that comes from a celebration. 

Senator AYOTTE. Well, I thank you for what you are doing. Your 

job and this job is very important. You have already taken over in 

very difficult times and are asked to serve, to change a culture 

which is not easy in an organization, but you are the taxpayer 

watchdog. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Right. 

Senator AYOTTE. And we are here to support you with that. And 

so, whether it is the Federal property issue or other issues that you 

are trying to address, we want to work with you. It is a tough job, 

but the organization needs strong leadership and consistent leadership on this issue so that they view their role as the taxpayer 

watchdog, and I appreciate you being here. Thank you. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Thank you, Senator. 

Chairman CARPER. I would just say as a follow-on to Senator 

Ayotte’s excellent line of questioning. One of the things we have 

tried to do here in this Committee is to provide some leadership, 

just like the kind of leadership that I think Dan is trying to provide 

at GSA, leadership to change the culture within the Federal Government. We cannot do it by ourselves. He cannot do it by himself. 

GSA cannot do it by themselves. OMB cannot do it by themselves. 

GAO cannot do it by themselves. All the Inspector Generals cannot 

do it by themselves. 

But if we somehow can figure out how to pull together and pull 

in the same direction, we could have a huge impact. I am encouraged with what you are doing at GSA and what else you might be 

able to do if we actually got you confirmed. Although we have a 

bad experience. The only two confirmed Administrators, Senator 

McCaskill will know, in 2 years ended up having to step down. So 

maybe—— 

Senator MCCASKILL. Third time is the charm. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Thank you. 

Chairman CARPER. We hope so. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. I took a look into that history before I got 

here. 

Chairman CARPER. All right. Senator McCaskill. 
14 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MCCASKILL 

Senator MCCASKILL. Thank you. I am not surprised that no one 

has gotten into the weeds on this subject, so bear with me while 

I get into the weeds on one of my favorite subjects. And maybe my 

focus on this will give you more ability to move mountains in this 

regard at GSA. 

In 2009, there were no fewer than five different agencies, eight 

different contractors, and dozens of databases containing information that was relevant to good business practices around government contracting. 

The Subcommittee that I worked on at the time did some work 

around this issue, these Federal databases and how worthless, 

frankly, they were at getting at the idea that there should be a single portal where somebody who is contracting something to buy for 

the Federal Government can get the information necessary about 

problem contractors, about cost, price, scope, all of the things that 

we duplicate over and over and over again many different ways, 

many different times across the Federal Government. 

At the time, I expressed great concerns about how well this 

would go, that it was a massive undertaking, and that there were 

all kinds of land mines along the way. This is one of those times 

I hate to say that I was right, but it appears that I was in that 

GAO has now recommended reassessing is the system for award 

management (SAM) and either terminating the SAM development 

entirely, maintaining the current acquisition approach, which is 

not good, or pursuing a whole different acquisition strategy for this 

system for award management. 

I want to ask you about that. In your questionnaire response, 

you said that the Federal Acquisition Service and the chief information officer are conducting an in-depth analysis of SAM. First, 

let me ask you, when do you expect that analysis to be complete? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. I think we will actually have some results that 

we can work through the entire acquisition community this summer. 

Senator MCCASKILL. OK, good. We will anxiously await that and 

hopefully you will share that with us so that we can, together, figure out the best way to move this ball. It also appears, cost containment, cost growth and resource constraints have happened at 

the same time. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Right. 

Senator MCCASKILL. So you sought $53 million for SAM, but only 

received $7 million. Right now, the timeline has slipped. According 

to GAO’s 2012 report, under the current schedule, the final phase 

we had hoped for early 2014. Now it has slipped to 2015. As we 

slip this timeline, it is robbing Peter to pay Paul because the underlying legacy systems have to be maintained and that is just 

wasted money down the drain. 

So let me ask you, how realistic do you think the current 

timeline for implementation of SAM is, the 2015 timeline? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Well, and I think that the timeline is directly 

related to those options that we are working closely with OMB and 

the acquisition community to develop. So the bigger point really 

has to be, what lessons did we learn from SAM? And I think you 

were right in both instances. I think you were right that we needed 
15 

to reform the acquisition systems and create a new, modern, integrated acquisition environment. 

I think you were also right that it was very challenging and it 

was going to be very hard for us to pull off. We demonstrated the 

latter part, frankly, in our first version that came out of SAM last 

summer. I will say, though, at the same time, we have made certain progress because of the integration of those systems. We have 

gone from the number of vendors with actual representations and 

certifications, filed representations and certifications from less than 

a third to more than two-thirds. 

So even with the problems we have had with the system, we 

have been able to improve the quality of the data that resides in 

the system. I think we have also learned some incredibly valuable 

lessons within GSA, how we should manage information technology 

development programs, and giving it to our policy shop, the Office 

of Governmentwide Policy was a big mistake. 

Senator MCCASKILL. Yes. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. We have moved it over to be jointly managed 

by the Federal Acquisition Service because this is an acquisition 

system after all. These are the folks who are actually going to have 

to use it. 

Senator MCCASKILL. And the tech guys. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. And the tech guys, right, working with the IT 

folks. So I think what we owe you is a better set of answers of how 

we are going to move forward, how we are going to ensure that we 

are making progress consistently along the way, some kind of continual reporting of what that timeline really is. 

And I think we should be realistic about the timeline because 

this is a very complicated area. However, if we can really get a 

handle on creating an integrated acquisition environment, I think 

that is a big key to us figuring out a way to reduce the cost of contracting, the amount of duplication within contracting, and even 

helping us get better value and lower prices. 

Senator MCCASKILL. Well, and the oversight. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Exactly, right. 

Senator MCCASKILL. I mean, the biggest problem—frankly, we 

have been able to enter government contracts without a lot of problems. The issue is how well have we monitored those contracts for 

performance and have we gotten value out of those contracts. There 

has been an awful lot of siloed responsibility around contracting 

and contract management, and people who wash their hands of it 

once the ink was dry, and it was not easy from that point forward, 

doing the monitoring that was necessary. 

We have seen this across government, not just in the Department of Defense, which is the biggest offender, has traditionally 

been the biggest offender, but certainly across government. So I 

really care about this. I would love your time at GSA. 

I think the whip cream and cherry on top of the sundae for your 

time at GSA would be for you to leave there with an integrated, 

close to single portal system for contract acquisition and management and oversight, and I think it is possible, in the next 2 or 3 

years, to get that done. We will depend on you to come to this Committee for whatever support you need. 
16 

I also wanted to briefly bring up with you the GSA IG report 

that happened just a few weeks ago detailing improper management intervention resulting in inflated pricing and unfavorable 

terms for certain IT multiple award schedule contracts. 

And it cited that there were people who had undermined the authority of contracting officers. The IG identified numerous instances where the Federal Acquisition Service management 

overrode contracting officer determinations without proper justification, pressured contracting officers to extend or award contracts, and reassigned contracts to different contracting officers, 

giving the appearance they were not getting what they wanted out 

of one contract office, so they were going to move it somewhere else 

to get what they wanted. 

I would like to know, and if you are not prepared to do it today, 

in writing, what steps you have been taking to hold the individuals 

and management accountable for this obvious overstep that was 

cited by the IG in this recent report. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. No, I agree with you. What the IG report detailed in terms of activity was completely unacceptable. And as I 

mentioned to Senator Ayotte, we actually took immediate personnel 

action against one person named in that report. We also have undertaken a broader top-to-bottom review of contracting within the 

organization. 

I have put my new head of the Federal Acquisition Service, Tom 

Sharpe, in partnership with our new Chief Acquisition Officer, 

Anne Rung, and asked them to go look at the entire structure of 

how we engage in contracting within GSA, top-to-bottom, to make 

sure that we have the appropriate oversight, that people have the 

ability to raise concerns, and that we are doing what we are expected to do there, because if I am going to go to agencies and say, 

use GSA, they need to be able to count on that they are going to 

get the best and the highest quality of contracting activities with 

the highest integrity. 

Right after the report came out, Tom sent to all his contracting 

officers a copy of the report. Said, Read the report. What happened 

in there was unacceptable. You should not be put under the kind 

of pressure that contracting officer was, or at least was suggested 

in the report. If you have concerns, raise it through the supervisory 

chain to me and/or call the IG. 

I then distributed an equivalent note to all contracting officers 

within GSA and said, Just because it happened in FAS does not 

mean it cannot happen to you, too. We want you to know that we 

have your back and you have our support to do the right thing on 

behalf of the taxpayers. 

Senator MCCASKILL. That is terrific. I also want to compliment 

you for the steps you have taken on Senior Executive Service (SES) 

bonuses. My first encounter with GSA on the bonus front was when 

we were looking into improper contracting practices in Kansas 

City. This was several years ago. And one of the supervisors in 

GSA basically came in front of our Committee and, to be most gracious, committed sins of omission. I will not say that she was not 

truthful, although I can probably say that, but she certainly committed sins of omission. 
17 

Then imagine my surprise when we checked later that she had 

gotten her performance bonus for that year, which clearly was misnamed. And when I looked into it, they said, Well, everybody gets 

it. It is just a matter of entitlement. Everyone gets these bonuses 

at GSA. There was no assessment. 

And I know you have taken bold and probably controversial and 

unpopular steps to end bonuses as a right, an entitlement, and 

turned them into something that they would be in the private sector, and that is only acknowledgment for work well done, and certainly not in this sequester environment. 

So I know that you have, I think, the figure is 85 percent that 

you have diminished the bonus-giving at GSA, and I just want to 

compliment you for swimming upstream on that, because I know 

it probably does not make you the most popular guy around where 

you work. And I just want to make sure that—you are going to 

come in front of this Committee and we are going to holler at you 

a lot—I want to make sure that we also tell you that we know that 

some of the work you are doing is hard to do, but you are changing 

a culture and we appreciate it very much. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator MCCASKILL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman CARPER. Let me just followup on something that Senator McCaskill said. We talked about the IG report. You raised it, 

Senator Ayotte raised it as well. And the Senator asked a question, 

the word ‘‘pressure’’ was used. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Right. 

Chairman CARPER. Pressure on contracting officers, pressure 

brought by management in some cases. Senator McCaskill did the 

same thing. You have mentioned it. Pressure from whom? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. In this instance, there was a sense that there 

was pressure from the vendor, theoretical pressure potentially from 

Congress. 

Chairman CARPER. Let us talk about that. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. OK. 

Chairman CARPER. Let us talk about it. Sometimes people in our 

jobs are looking out for our constituents, our companies in our 

States are not disinclined to go to bat for them. And sometimes it 

can be appropriate, sometimes it is not. Can you just talk a little 

bit more about what might be appropriate or not? Because it 

sounds like here, what we are doing, we are just saying, are pressures being brought in part by people who do the job, the jobs that 

we have, and they walk away from this? 

In other cases, the contracting officers and the managers get, in 

some cases, disciplined or they lose their job. I want to make sure 

that, to the extent that our colleagues, whether in the House or the 

Senate, are doing things that are inappropriate. We know about 

that as well. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Well, I think what was really inappropriate 

was the suggestion that there was this pressure coming from the 

Congress that would then suggest that we would take an action 

that was not in the best interest of the American people, because 

we have a fiduciary responsibility, Congress has a fiduciary responsibility under the Constitution, essentially the ultimate one. 
18 

So what I have told my folks is, we have an Office of Congressional Affairs. That is where the correspondence should be managed, that is how it should be handled, that is how it should be 

tracked so that we can make sure that we followup with Congress 

immediately, we address issues, but that we do not allow there to 

be kind of some sub-hierarchal or organizational nebulous, undefined pressure that is being applied to get some outcome. 

We need to be able to explain, justify, support, and defend any 

outcome, because what I have said is the standard is the one that 

I am operating under right here, and that is the standard of being 

able to explain it under oath in a congressional committee. 

And so, what we want to do is make sure that our people at the 

front lines know that yes, they have a responsibility to make sure 

we can provide information, respond to Congress, but that we do 

have formal processes for doing that. So that we do not have what 

feels like undue pressure decisions. 

Now, I think the real pressure was, as described in the IG report, 

from the supervisor to the contracting officer. Both of those folks 

know what their job is and that supervisor should recognize that 

their job is not to pressure the contracting officer to do something 

that they do not think is in the best interest of the American people. 

Chairman CARPER. I am going to yield back to Senator 

McCaskill. Let me just mention this. I think it is appropriate for 

a Member of Congress to go to bat for a constituent firm who is 

able to provide a better service at a better price than maybe another option. I do not see anything wrong with that. 

But the idea that somebody, a Member of Congress going to bat 

on behalf of a constituent who provides a good or a service that is 

not more cost effective, that is another kettle of fish. Senator 

McCaskill. 

Senator MCCASKILL. Well, I was just going to say, maybe this is 

something we ought to talk about, Mr. Chairman, but it seems to 

me that sunshine solves a whole lot of problems. Maybe we should 

talk about it. Maybe this is something you would not want to do 

unilaterally, which I would understand, but maybe we should talk 

about a requirement that any letters from Congress advocating on 

behalf of certain vendors, that they immediately be posted on a 

public website and that calls be logged and posted on a public 

website. 

It takes a lot of nerve, frankly. I do not disagree with the Chairman’s characterization. It is one thing to write a letter saying, This 

company exists, this company, I believe, does good work, give them 

every lawful consideration with obviously best price being determinative. I mean, that is one thing. 

It is another thing to make phone calls and say, Hey, did you 

know I am on your appropriations committee and, or write the kind 

of letter that would make people believe that there was going to 

be a negative consequence of not doing what this Congress person, 

woman or man, House or Senator, would do. 

So, I assume every letter I have written is going to be on the 

front page of the paper. And so, our letters that we have ever written are carefully crafted so that we would never give anyone the 
19 

impression that we were trying to influence how something was 

going to turn out. 

Maybe that is something we ought to talk about, because, it 

would not surprise me if some of the people writing inappropriate 

letters and making the inappropriate phone calls are the same ones 

having press conferences about the conference in Las Vegas. That 

would not be a shock to me. 

Chairman CARPER. Nor to me. All right. I want to followup and 

talk about a first cousin to some of the contracting issues Senator 

McCaskill was raising, and she has been like a dog with a bone on 

this issue and we have been happy to be there to urge her on and 

to support her with this. But I want to talk a little bit about strategic sourcing. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Right. 

Chairman CARPER. There is, as you know, widespread agreement 

among procurement experts that the Federal Government could 

save a ton of money through strategic sourcing, which is really a 

fancy way of saying that the government should do a better job of 

buying in bulk. You also have expressed strong support for this 

concept. 

GAO has done two reports for this Committee over the last year 

on strategic sourcing. I think the report last fall showed that leading companies in the private sector manage about 90 percent of 

their spread through strategic sourcing. But the agencies that GAO 

reviewed, Federal agencies that GAO reviewed, managed only 

about 5 percent through strategic sourcing. 

In the report released, I think this April, GAO estimated that in 

Fiscal Year 2012, the Federal Government could have saved about 

$12 billion dollars—had it followed the strategic sourcing practices 

of several large companies that GAO examined. 

I realize that major companies, they do not buy the same stuff 

that the Federal Government buys. They are not buying submarines. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Right. 

Chairman CARPER. They are not buying advanced radar systems, 

they are not buying F–35 fighters, so they buy different kinds of 

things. But there is a fair amount of overlap here, there is a fair 

amount of overlap, and we can certainly learn from what they are 

doing in many instances. But what specific steps do you have 

planned to increase the opportunities for agencies to participate in 

strategic sourcing, please? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. I appreciate the question. And actually we 

went out and talked to a number of large companies to ask them, 

How do you handle acquisitions? And what we found over and over 

is the large high-quality companies are really focused on trying to 

leverage their scale and scope and try to buy it once in a while. 

They really are trying to find strategic sourcing opportunities. 

In one particular case, a company we visited in Silicon Valley, 

their equivalent to GSA was doing 90 percent of the buying of the 

organization, and since they were so focused on doing so much of 

the sourcing for the organization, they were able to change the nature of the discussion they had every year with their sub-components from, How much are you going to buy next year, to, How 

much do you need to save next year? 
20 

And I think that if we can find ways that we can begin to leverage the scale of the organization and build stronger relationships 

with our vendors, give some visibility into what we are buying, 

when we are buying it, how much we have paid and are willing to 

pay, I think that we have the ability to drive down prices while 

also pushing up value and reducing the cost, actually, of making 

the acquisition. 

We think since 2010, and working closely in partnership with 

OMB and other agencies, we have saved over $300 million in strategic sourcing across the Federal Government. But as you pointed 

out, we think that is just the tip of the iceberg. 

We have five new strategic sourcing initiatives we are entering 

into this year. We just announced the wireless strategic sourcing 

contract. Now, the ironic thing about this is the Tangherlini family 

has done a better job buying our wireless service than the Federal 

Government has. We have one plan and one price. We share minutes. 

Chairman CARPER. And that includes your wife? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Yes, it does. 

Chairman CARPER. And it includes your two daughters? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Yes. 

Chairman CARPER. And yourself? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Cassie, at one point, got expensive but we resolved that. But the Federal Government, though—— 

Chairman CARPER. You changed the culture a little bit in your 

family. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Well, we tweaked the plan. But the Federal 

Government had over 4,000 contracts, that we know of, and over 

800 different plans. So what we have been able to do is coalesce 

around one contract, one plan that can be shared across agencies 

and drive down the cost. The Gartner Group, which assesses the 

performance of IT organizations, thinks that we can cut between a 

third and a half of our price by coalescing around strategic 

sourcing. 

So we want to bring good, common sense, business-like solutions 

to agencies, demonstrate the savings to them, and then sign them 

up. We want to come up with new ways, new ideas. We are pursuing a janitorial and sanitation supply strategic sourcing initiative. So the things you buy associated with cleaning products and 

toilet paper, that kind of stuff where you can really get the benefit 

of volume, we should go in and buy that at volume with the Federal Government. 

At the same time, we need to be very attentive to small business 

and make sure we protect the ability for small businesses to compete. In our office supply contract, we were able to drive down 

prices as much as 13 percent across the market basket, but we 

have also been able to expand small business participation in office 

supplies from about 65 percent to more than 75 percent. 

Why? Because the small businesses are able to move more quickly, they are able to compete more aggressively, they have lower 

overhead, they are closer to the end users. So we are actually able 

to leverage small businesses through strategic sourcing to not only 

expand opportunity, but drive down costs. That is a win-win and 
21 

we need to figure out ways that we can pursue that more aggressively across the entire acquisition landscape. 

Chairman CARPER. Good. Well, those are some encouraging 

words. I am going to continue to followup on this just a little bit. 

But when you look at agencies that are not anxious to—Senator 

McCaskill, thanks for all your good work here. But when you look 

at the agencies that are not buying goods and services through the 

Federal strategic sourcing initiatives, what are some of the main 

obstacles to their actually doing that? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Well, it is a great question. I think a lot of it 

is just understanding that those vehicles are available, understanding what the value proposition is. That is why Joe Jordan, the 

Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, chairs 

a strategic sourcing leadership council, brings together acquisition 

professionals across all the agencies, as well as GSA. 

We have tried to divide up the water front of what we are going 

to pursue in terms of strategic source initiatives. And we try then 

to use that as an opportunity to share best practices and market 

the solutions across the agencies. 

So I think it is my job to be, in part, the educator and sales person in G-funds strategic sourcing. I have been going from agency 

to agency talking with secretaries or deputy secretaries, trying to 

give them some ways that we think we can help them save money, 

and among them is their percentage of participation in existing 

strategic sourced vehicles such as office supplies. 

Where that percentage is low, we show them and encourage 

them to push it up. What I think is what is measured is managed, 

and so by bringing that data to agencies, that can create some 

leadership pressure to actually make people move on it. 

Chairman CARPER. Well, every Cabinet Secretary has a problem 

with trying to comply with sequestration—— 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Right. 

Chairman CARPER [continuing]. Looking for ways to save money, 

and bingo, you have a solution to help them. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Right. 

Chairman CARPER. So this is a great opportunity. I mentioned 

Einstein earlier. In adversity lies opportunity. There is plenty of 

adversity through sequestration, but as it turns out, there is some 

opportunity as well. 

Let me see if—there may be another question or two here. Sort 

of another question on acquisition, and I am told that about 10 percent of all Federal spending on contracts—that is about $50 billion—goes through GSA. One reason that we see so much duplication in contracts across the government is that agencies do not 

have good data on the prices that they can get under governmentwide contracts such as GSA contracts. 

We hear that having better priced data would enable agencies to 

demand the lowest price possible. Just tell me again, you have spoken to this in part, but what steps, further steps, is GSA planning 

to take to help agencies just get access to the pricing data? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. So we are working very closely with OMB to 

develop something called the Prices Paid Portal that will allow 

agencies to input the prices that they have paid for various items 

into a common and shared environment that other agency con-
22 

tracting officials can see to test whether they are getting a good 

price or not. 

The other thing we are doing is bringing to agencies’ attention 

the cost associated, in terms of time, effort, energy; and therefore, 

resources in not using, as a jumping off point, the already competed GSA schedules. So within the GSA schedule environment, 

you are able to take vendors that are on the schedule and compete 

them against each other for your particular need. 

By jumping to that step, using agency acquisition timeline data, 

we think we can save between a third and a half of the time that 

contracting officers have to put into going and getting an open market outcome. We think that time can then be used at getting better 

prices or doing better contract administration or just, frankly, reducing the cost of acquisition across government. 

So what we are trying to do is get around to the agencies, as I 

go from meeting to meeting, and demonstrate for them the value 

they are leaving on the table by starting from scratch. When we 

do get the agencies kind of coalescing around common vehicles such 

as the office supply strategic source initiative, we get a wealth of 

data that we are then able to use to negotiate even better deals 

with the vendors. 

And so, I think there is a virtuous cycle we can start here, but 

the trick will be getting the systems by which we can share that 

information and just doing a better job of getting out there and 

teaching the agencies what they are leaving on the table in terms 

of cost and price. 

Chairman CARPER. All right. Good. And the last thing I want to 

do is just to go back to the issue of real property and space that 

we occupy. I mentioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a new 

building that is being built. I think they are going to lease it for 

a multi-year period of time. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Right. 

Chairman CARPER. And the cheapest of the three buildings is the 

one that they own. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Right. 

Chairman CARPER. I mentioned earlier that we have mis-aligned 

the incentives for agencies. If they enter into a long-term lease, the 

Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scores every year on that agency’s budget however much the lease costs. If, however, they buy 

something, and it may be the same building, they buy it for a particular cost, and it might be cheaper, way cheaper, over time, but 

CBO scores it so that we have to allocate the money for that agency in the first year. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Right. 

Chairman CARPER. How do we change that? Do we need to pass 

a law? How do we change that so that CBO—what we are doing 

is just so cost ineffective. 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. It gets to a number of issues, as we have discussed, with the way the Federal Buildings Fund is structured and 

the way the scoring rules interact with it. The structure of the fund 

is pretty sound. The idea is you charge market-based rents for use 

and occupancy of Federal space, and we then also fund the marketbased rents that we pay from facilities that we lease. So agencies 
23 

pay roughly the same amount based on market analysis for occupying other leased or owned property. 

The problem happens on the other side when it comes time to 

start paying for things. On the leases, we pay the leases directly 

because it is a contract. On the buildings that we own, that money 

is reflected as revenue to the Appropriations Committee and is either spent to the buildings or counts as credit to the Appropriations Committee for other expenditures. 

So for the last 3 years, that money has been used to pay for 

things outside of maintaining our Federal assets. This year in the 

President’s budget, Fiscal Year budget, he has proposed full funding, so when all the rent money comes in, it either goes to pay 

lease rent or it goes to maintain, operate, and improve our buildings. 

But then we get to this issue if we do want to go and buy a building so we can replace a long-term lease commitment, which we 

would pay as an operating expense every year, we have to have the 

full up-front cost of that building in the first year, which makes it 

very hard to then go and buy or build buildings. 

I think what we have to do is really explore the way the scoring 

conventions work. I think we have to work with CBO and OMB 

and try to understand what the first principles are, what we are 

trying to protect in terms of the flexibility of the President and the 

Congress to make spending decisions, but also take a good hard 

look at long-term costs so that we know what impact we are having 

in later budget years, as well as make sure that we are reinvesting 

in our assets so that we are not pushing subsequent investments 

off on other generations for them to pay for. 

Chairman CARPER. All right. Thank you. One last question. If 

confirmed, what policies would you implement to assist agencies in 

assessing utilization levels and identifying opportunities to save on 

leasing costs by consolidating office space? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Well, already we are working very closely with 

OMB and interested agency partners to try to help them understand what their portfolio space looks like, what the opportunities 

for savings are. We think the immediate opportunities happen with 

every lease expiration for agencies to begin to reconsider what their 

space needs are. 

But I have been challenging the staff of the Public Building Service to look at lease expirations that are not happening in the next 

year, but look at them happening in the next 5 or 7 years, begin 

to challenge the agencies what their actual space needs are, and 

see if we can begin to build some intermediate term plan that will 

allow us to substantially reduce our footprint. 

Because as we have demonstrated in our own headquarters 

building, you can get nearly twice as many people into a standard 

Federal office building by implementing more modern mobile office 

approaches. So reducing the number of single occupancy, individual 

offices, using more collaborative space. 

We are using ‘‘hoteling,’’ which means that 80 percent of the people within the building do not even have an assigned desk. They 

book one in advance. They make a reservation. And we have substantially reduced the footprint. We are down to about 140 square 
24 

feet per person, but because the space is open and wide and light, 

it does not feel like you are in a tiny, little space. 

Chairman CARPER. Good. All right. We gave you the opportunity 

to give an opening statement and you have been good to respond 

to our questions. We will want to followup. There are going to be 

some questions in writing, as you know. Anything you want to say, 

just kind of sum up here as we prepare to wrap it up? 

Mr. TANGHERLINI. Well, I can say that I really appreciate the opportunity to come before you today. I appreciate the opportunity to 

sit before this Committee in nomination for this important job. I 

particularly appreciate the tremendous support I have gotten from 

the women and men in GSA over the last 14 months, helping us 

make possible some of the improvements that I was able to present 

to you today that are suggestive of the kind of work we can do to 

make GSA a fantastic agency, an even better agency than it already is, and use it to support Federal agencies in driving down 

their costs of delivering their incredibly important services to the 

American people. So thank you very much. 

Chairman CARPER. You are quite welcome. I want to close with 

some thank you’s as well, to Cassandra, who I understand is 15, 

older sister to, who is it, Francesca, age 13. The work that your dad 

is doing, the leadership he is providing, is one of many things that 

we need. It is a very important thing, but we need to do it in this 

country to make sure we do not shoulder you and your sister and 

your friend with an enormous burden of debt, to carry for the rest 

of your life. 

We have to figure out how to get better results for less money, 

and that is a big part of what your dad will do if confirmed to lead 

the General Services Administration. And I want to say especially 

to your mom for your willingness to share with us this man. You 

have been sharing him for quite a while in a variety of capacities, 

but we probably do not say thank you enough, but I want to say 

thank you. 

And I would say to your dad, the young 89-year-old marathoner 

sitting right behind you, that—I run half marathons. I do not run 

marathons, I run half marathons. I used to say Delaware is too 

small for a marathon. But actually we now have a marathon, so 

I cannot say that anymore. 

But I usually say, I just do not want to lose to the 8-year-old 

kids. I do not want to have any 8-year-old kids beat me across the 

finish line in a half marathon. And now I am going to have to think 

about those 89-year-old men. I do not want to lose to anybody as 

young as 8 years old or 89. But you obviously are doing something 

right in your life, and you obviously did something right in raising 

this guy. So we thank you for that, too. 

And to Theresa’s parents, I think you all work a little around 

here somewhere, do you not, in Maryland? Not too far away. We 

are happy that you are here and able to join us as well. 

Now, I am told by Trina over here in the corner that the hearing 

record will remain open until noon tomorrow—that is June 19— 

until 12 p.m. for the submission of statements and questions for 

the record. We would ask our colleagues to try to meet that deadline. I know it is a short deadline, but we ask them to try to meet 

that. And if you do have questions, we would ask that you just re-
25 

spond to them very promptly and we will see how quickly we can 

try to move this nomination along. 

With that having been said, we thank you and this hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:49 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 

(27) 

A P P E N D I X 

Opening Statement of Chairman Thomas R. Carper 

Nomination of the Honorable Daniel M. Tangherlini to be the Administrator of the 

U.S. General Services Administration 

June 18, 2013 

As prepared/or delivery: 

For decades, it has been commonly said that the Chinese word for crisis is made of two 

characters, one meaning danger and the other meaning opportunity. Many experts on the 

Chinese language have pointed out that this is an overly simplistic interpretation of the 

word. I think the popularity of the axiom that crisis brings opportunity persists because 

there is a large dose of truth in it. 

Last spring a crisis unfolded at the General Services Administration (GSA) when a report 

of the GSA Inspector General detailed the reckless, wasteful - and in some instances, 

il\egal- spending of some employees of GSA's Public Building Service at a lavish 

conference. These employees used public resources to reward themselves with catered 

parties, a team-building exercise that involved building bicycles, and conference 

souvenirs. 

Unfortunately, this particular conference was not an isolated instance of bad judgment. 

In looking into GSA's spending practices, Congress learned of other wasteful spendingextravagant travel, misuse of government charge cards, questionable employee awards 

programs, and another conference where taxpayers paid for GSA employees to beat on 

drums. These are just a few examples. 

These scandals all shook the trust of Congress in GSA - the very agency whose primary 

purpose is to make our federal government more efficient and more frugal in spending 

taxpayer dollars. 

In taking over as Acting Director of GSA last April, Dan Tangherlini understood that this 

moment of crisis afforded an opportunity to make GSA a better agency. To his credit, he 

did not approach the job with a view to do the minimal amount necessary to sweep the 

scandal under the rug. Rather, he undertook what he called a 'Top to Bottom' review of 

the whole agency. 

Mr. Tangherlini has put in stronger controls over spending within GSA. He has 

consolidated activities related to financial management, human resources, information 

technology, acquisition, and other administrative functions. These changes should make 

GSA a leaner agency that is better focused on its core functions of helping other agencies 

make smart choices in managing their property and acquiring goods and services. 

Longstanding challenges with both these areas - property management and procurement 

- combined with the current fiscal crisis, increase the urgency of making sure that GSA is 
28 

the go-to place for agencies to be able to do more with less. GSA can and should be at 

the center of our government's efforts to resolve our major management challenges. 

The management of real property has been on the Government Accountability Office's 

High Risk list of troubled programs for a decade. The government has tens of thousands 

of properties that are either no longer needed, or are only partially used. But we also lack 

accurate, comprehensive data that would enable better decisions about how agencies use 

their property. The government also relies too much on costly leases when the cheaper 

option, over the long run, would be to own property. Additionally, the federal 

government has a backlog of billions of dollars in needed repairs and maintenancewhich, if unaddressed, will increase the cost of maintaining the property in the long run. 

In the area of acquisition, GSA plays an important role, with about 10 percent -- roughly 

$50 billion - of total federal contract spending flowing through GSA's contracts and 

other services. But there is much room for improvement. For example, the Government 

Accountability Office has done several studies showing that there is enormous potential 

for the government to save billions of dollars each year through 'strategically sourcing' 

commonly-used goods and services through governmentwide contracts that fully leverage 

the buying power of the federal government. 

GSA deserves a leader who understands the complexity of these management challenges 

and who can work well with the heads of other agencies to help them meet their needs. I 

think they have such a leader now in Dan Tangherlini and that he deserves confirmation 

by the Senate. 

Mr. Tangherlini's service as Acting Administrator of GSA, in and of itself, shows he is 

the logical choice to be confirmed as Administrator. But he also brings a wealth of other 

experience in public sector administration. He served for six years at the Office of 

Management and Budget early in his career and has a strong understanding of the budget 

process as well as program planning and financial management. He then served a year in 

the Policy Office of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and went on to a string of 

impressive jobs at the local level: Chief Financial Officer of the District of Columbia 

Metropolitan Police Department, Interim General Manager of the Washington 

Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Director of the District of Columbia Department of 

Transportation, and finally, City Administrator and Deputy Mayor of the District of 

Columbia. 

In 2009, President Obama nominated, and the Senate confirmed, Mr. Tangherlini as the 

Assistant Secretary for Management at the Treasury Department, where he served until 

being named as Acting Administrator of GSA. 

Mr. Tangherlini's confirmation will also bring badly needed stability to the helm of GSA. 

As my colleagues know, I am a firm believer in the power of leadership. Leadership is 

an important and often undervalued asset that can determine whether or not an 

organization of any size or scale can effectively accomplish its mission. Leadership is 
29 

particularly important to turning around struggling organizations and steering through a 

crisis. 

One of GSA's main problems over the last decade has been a lack of stable leadership, 

which is unfortunately a problem throughout the executive branch. GSA has had eight 

different leaders over the last eight years - all but two of them in an "Acting" capacity. 

The last two confirmed leaders of GSA, unfortunately, each resigned following scandals. 

Mr. Tangherlini has a well-deserved reputation of being someone who knows how to get 

a job done, and who never stops looking for ways to do the job better. That's precisely 

the fit we need for GSA. 

I look forward to Mr. Tangherlini's testimony today and the opportunity to discuss with 

him his priorities for GSA. 
30 

Opening Statement of Senator Tom Coburn 

Nomination of the Honorable Daniel M. Tangherlini to be the Administrator of the 

U.S. General Services Administration 

June 18,2013 

Thank you, Chainnan Carper. Good morning and welcome, Mr. Tangherlini. 

Nearly eight years ago in July 2005, Chainnan Carper and I held a hearing at the Federal 

Financial Management Subcommittee titled "GSA: Is the Taxpayer Getting the Best Deal?" We 

held that hearing to discuss the many areas of GSA's responsibility in which the taxpayer wasn't 

getting the best deal. My greatest concern today is that we're stuck in the exact same place with 

little progress to show the American people. 

In fact, the General Services Administration was created in order to reorganize and 

increase the efficiency of the day-to-day property and records management functions of the 

federal government. In July 1949, President Truman announced a housecleaning and inventory 

of government property that would consolidate the operations of seven existing agencies under 

the purview of the new GSA. President Truman's goal was for these housekeeping functions to 

be efficient, economical, and consistent with government policies. He stated, "The housekeeping 

activities of the Federal Government are little known, but unless they are properly administered 

the Executive Branch cannot be managed efficiently." Over 60 years later, I fear the GSA has 

not lived up to the task President Truman assigned to the agency. 

The General Services Administration is an important agency, but it will only be 

successful if the American taxpayers are getting the best deal. Through GSA, the federal 

government is the biggest customer in the world, spending billions of dollars on real estate, 

products and services. From purchasing anything from a building to furniture to office supplies, 

to complex infonnation technology services, an agency enlists the services of the GSA. As a 

result, every federal agency, as well as the American taxpayer, relies on GSA to get us the best 

value possible. 

Unfortunately, over the last several months, the GSA Inspector General has released 

reports outlining his concerns in several areas. I am particularly concerned about recent findings 

related to the Multiple Award Schedules program, Where the IG found vendors fail to provide 

current, accurate and complete infonnation to support their prices, and over a quarter of the 

vendors provided labor that did not meet the minimum required by contracts. The bottom line is 

that agencies aren't getting what they paid for. 

Most recently, the IG released findings revealing management improperly intervening in 

contracts worth billions of dollars. When contracting officers at GSA tried to do the right thing 

by negotiating better prices that vendors didn't like, senior managers intervened and reassigned 

the work to others who gave the vendors what they wanted. Once again, agencies and taxpayers 

aren't getting the best deal. 
31 

We also rely on GSA to be the federal government's landlord, and to help agencies make 

good decisions about when to lease or buy new buildings. Too often, we choose leases that are 

more expensive over the long term, and Congress doesn't help. Decisions to lease score better 

than decisions to buy, and so once again, we ended up paying more than we should. 

Finally, GSA is expected to serve as a key partner in implementing federal information 

technology improvement initiatives. Just last week, our committee held a hearing to examine 

duplication in this area. GSA is a key federal partner, along with OMB, in trying to consolidate 

federal data centers. Yet, GSA has not aggressively worked to consolidate its own data centers, 

and GAO has identified weaknesses in GSA's oversight of this effort as well. 

Mr. Tangherlini, you have an extensive background in managing budgets, both for the 

District of Columbia and at the Treasury, and for the last 14 months, you have been the Acting 

Administrator at the GSA. Therefore, unlike most nominees, you have already had the 

opportunity to put your ideas and goals for the agency to the test. You have instituted a new 

mission statement for GSA, which is "to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition and 

technology services to government and the American people," and you conducted a top-tobottom review of the agency to determine where you can achieve savings. I commend you on 

these efforts so far. 

However, I believe that fixing GSA comes down to two problems that we need to 

address. First, every employee at GSA should be focused on getting the best deal, whether it's in 

contracting, real estate or information technology. Second, we need to have consistent, 

accountable leadership at the top of the agency. Since 2005, the average shelf life of a GSA 

Administrator has been about two years or less, which helps explain why we haven't made any 

progress in implementing real change. 

I look forward to talking with you today about how you plan to address my concerns and 

the longstanding challenges at GSA. I look forward to your testimony. 

2 
32 

u.s. General Services 

Administration 

Dan Tangherlini 

Acting Administrator 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

"Nomination of the Honorable Daniel M. Tangherlini to be 

Administrator, U.S. General Services Administration" 

June 18,2013 
33 

Good morning Chairman Carper, Dr. Coburn, and Members of the Committee. 

Over one year ago, President Obama appointed me as the Acting Administrator of the U.S. 

General Services Administration (GSA) during a very challenging time for the agency. From my 

first day on the job, I have worked with the women and men of GSA to restore the trust of the 

American people and to ensure that the agency provides them with the highest quality of public 

service. 

I am very proud of what we have been able to accomplish at GSA over the past year. We have 

made real progress at a time when the mission of our agency has never been more important. 

Today, as budgets tighten, GSA is uniquely positioned to help federal agencies get better 

outcomes from their program dollars by leveraging the scope and scale of the federal government 

to deliver common sense solutions and significant savings. By working through GSA to 

contribute to and benefit from this leverage, agencies can free-up valuable funding to improve 

programs and services. By working together, agencies work smarter, more efficiently, and more 

effectively. GSA provides a platform for this type of interagency collaboration. 

The scope and breadth of the responsibilities of GSA are not only wide-ranging, they are also 

essential to the effective operation of the federal government. With more than 12,500 employees, 

GSA's mission is to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to 

the government and the American people. 

As the landlord and caretaker for federal properties, GSA owns or leases 9,624 assets, maintains 

an inventory of more than 370 million rentable square feet of workspace, and preserves more 

than 481 historic properties. 

The Agency has an annual business volume of more than $60 billion; manages more than 

200,000 fleet vehicles; assists tens of thousands offederal travelers through our electronic travel 

system; and serves as a focal point for data, information, and services offered by the federal 

government to its citizens. 

Through the buying power of the federal government, we are able to negotiate leases that, on 

average, are more than 11 percent below market rates. This buying power has created annual 

savings of $30 million across our leased portfolio in realized cost avoidance. We also work 

aggressively to ensure that the facilities we own are being used to the maximum extent. 

Nationally, GSA's vacancy rate is 3.1 percent, far below the private sector average of 17.4 

percent. If our vacancy rate were as high as the private sector's, it would cost the taxpayers an 

additional $1 billion this year alone. 

2 
34 

In addition to helping customer agencies save on space, GSA's strategic sourcing initiatives 

create significant savings by encouraging agencies to commit to the collective purchase of 

certain commodities at the best value. By buying once and buying well, strategic sourcing has 

saved the American public more than $300 million since 20 I O. For example, GSA has been able 

to negotiate prices for office supplies that are 13 percent below what we have previously paid. 

This has already saved federal agencies more than $127 million. At the same time that GSA has 

helped agencies realize these savings, we also directed more than 76 percent ofthe dollars spent 

on office supplies to small businesses. This is just part of our agency's ongoing commitment to 

supporting these entrepreneurs while also accessing the value and services they offer for the 

entire federal government. We are very proud of the A+ ranking GSA received from the Small 

Business Administration for the past two years. As we move forward, we are committed to 

working with all agencies across government to improve their grades as well. 

Since last year, we have focused on strategies to make our operations more efficient and more 

accountable to taxpayers while working closely with our Inspector General, Brian Miller, to 

ensure that our entire agency is living up to the highest standards of public service. 

To that end, GSA has engaged in a comprehensive top to bottom review of the agency, gathering 

input from individuals at every level of the organization, as well as from our partners in the 

federal government. We have also spoken with leaders in the private sector, including members 

of the President's Management Advisory Board, Hewlett Packard, and Cummins, Inc., among 

others, to incorporate best practices from the business world. This process has helped us 

cultivate a culture of continuous evaluation and improvement throughout GSA. 

More importantly, this has led to concrete results, transforming GSA into an improved 

organization--one that offers common sense business solutions to our federal partners. During 

the past fiscal year we reduced our spending on travel, IT devices, and printing to end the year 

43% lower than our FYI 0 baseline for those items. In travel alone, we saved $28 million dollars 

by revising our internal travel and conference policies. Last year, we reduced bonuses throughout 

GSA by 64 percent, including the elimination of all bonuses within the administrator's office. 

This change was accompanied by a targeted hiring freeze designed to ensure that any new hires 

were aligned with the outcomes of our ongoing review. In addition, we created more than $5 

million in savings as a result of implementing suggestions offered by GSA employees during our 

"Great Ideas Hunt." 

Another significant finding of the top to bottom review was the existence of a widespread 

duplication of support services throughout the agency. As a result, we are in the process of 

consolidating key administrative service functions to eliminate unnecessary redundancy and 

better align internal operations. We expect this effort will save us $200 million over the next 10 

years. 

3 
35 

I am very proud of the work that we have done over the past year, and I am excited at the 

prospect of helping to shape GSA's future. As r said earlier, our mission is more important than 

ever before. Everyone at GSA is working to ensure that we provide even more savings to our 

fellow agencies. I believe that one of our most critical strategies in this effort is the expansion of 

our market share of federal spending. By assuming more of the government's market share and 

managing its purchasing and portfolio, we will not only increase savings, but enable better, more 

consistent management of our resources. 

Simultaneously, we are developing common sense solutions to help agencies across the 

government shrink the federal footprint and find ways to dispose of unneeded or unused federal 

properties, which can in tum contribute to local economies. We are working with the real estate 

industry through public-private partnerships to explore the possibility of exchanging outdated 

federal properties for the construction of new facilities that meet the needs of these agencies 

today. 

GSA is also developing new, more efficient ways to utilize federal office space. Our own historic 

headquarters is a test bed for this approach. We are transforming what was traditional office 

space into a collaborative, flexible work environment designed to facilitate cooperation, 

mobility, and improved productivity. As a result, we expect to see the utilization rates in that 

building increase from rates of below 50 percent to rates as high as 80 percent. Those changes 

will make it possible for us to eliminate more than $24 million of annual lease payments 

throughout Washington DC and Northern Virginia. We are hoping to take the lessons we learn 

from the transformation of our workplace and make available to the entire federal government. 

At the same time, President Obama's FY14 Budget will enable us to make a significant 

investment in America's infrastructure. This budget restores GSA's authority to fully use 

incoming rent funds to make a significant $1.3 billion investment in the repair and maintenance 

of GSA's inventory. 

All of us at GSA understand that every taxpayer dollar counts and that its stewardship is our 

most significant responsibility. We know that by providing services that offer both savings and 

results, we help other agencies focus on their own important missions. That is why we are 

creating a culture of continuous evaluation and reevaluation of our internal processes and 

implementing measurable outcomes for success. I am honored to have served in this agency over 

the last 14 months and with your approval, I hope to have the opportunity to continue working 

with the women and men of GSA to accomplish our important mission. 

Thank you. 

4 
36 

HSGAC BIOGRAPHICAL QUESTIONS FOR 

EXECUTIVE NOMINEES 

1. Basic Biograpbical Information 

Please provide tbe following Jnformation, 

Position 10 Which You Have Beefl NOll/illllfed 

., .. """',,., .. 4 .... ---- Date of Nomillation 

~dlllh::'"IOr, Ge"erA) s.~:c:s Admlnlstrlllion (GSA~ Mny ~3~2013 _____ . ____ . _______ _ 

Current Legal JYall/e 

_ .. __ . 

First Nallle Middle Nnme MS! Nallle Suffix 

Daniel Mark Tnnghel'llni 

Add,'esses 

,----- -- Olher Namlls Used 

§~ ~~m£ Used Nume Use!! Tg From (MonthlY enr) First Nnlll£ Mlddl£NAlllg Lnst Name Suffix (MonthlY ear) (Check box if (Check box if 

estimate) estimate) 

1-- Est - -"Eu 

nUll Tnllghel'lfni JlIly~ 1991 x Prest'ut 0 

Est Est 

n"lIiel Mark KJelUs Tallghel'llnl JUl1t, 1985 x June, 1991 x 

1 
37 

1it'l't" YeoI' alt(rPlace 

Year of Birth ~-- .. Plnce of Birth 

_ ... "_~~t Include month and day.} 

1967 COllenhngctl, Denmark 

,"-- ----.~ .. ~ --_ .. __ .-

Check AI! Thnt I)escrlbe You!' Cu!'!'ent Situation: 

Nevel'MRrricd 

o 

,----

Married 

X 

Separated 

(J 

Annulled 

o 

~-~~-~,-~. 

Spouse's Name 

(clI1'I'ellf spouse Qllly) 

l)lvOl'ccd 

D 

Widowed 

o 

Sllo"oe'. First Name SllolI§e's Middle Name Sllollse'. Lnsl Nglll£ SUOllSe!l 

Suf(!x -

Theresa Anll Tanghel'llnl 

-" 

r--" Spotilie'.~ Otltel' Nameli Ulied' 

(cllrl'ell/spoIlSeQlIly) 

: - NUlllt!Isg!! ii El:Ml 'NOllleUsed To .' .. (MoluhIYear) Ilt'~t Nn!ll~ Mlddl~Nn!ll~ LRstNallle Suffix (MOlilhIY ear) (Check box if (Check \lox if 

estimatel eslimate) 

-" Ell E,t 

Theresa Ann Plcillo x April 1964 0 JUIl.199S 0 

Est K,t 

0 0 

Chilll,'ell's Names (ifovel' 18) 

FlI'stName Middle Name L ... I Name --.. ---~ 

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.---

2 
38 

2. Education 

List all post-secondary schools attendcd. 

~----------

DftteEllllglJ T~!l~ of /l£11221 nal~l!fcall 

Nallle of (vocationnlftcchnicnVtmdo school! ~ ~ I!JI.tq cotlegeiullivet>ityllllilitary college, (nlontlllyear) (month/year) (check Degl"ee Il£ll!lli C{)rrespolldcnccldistancc!extensionlonlinc (check box if box if eslimnte) Awarded 

(check uprcsentot box school) estimate) ifstin in school) -:-:- UnIversity of Elf £$1 Pttnnt 

PelltlsylvAnla Ulllvel'sUy "'.y]999 , I\b>'lGOt , 0 I\IDA May 

1-::-, 2001 

University of E" £$, Ptt-Stnt 

Chicago University Stpf.1989 , June 1991 x a MPP June 

1991 

Uuiversity of Ed F~' Punnl 

Chicago UnlversUy 5",t.1985 1 .ManbJ990 , 0 SA Marcil 

1990 

3. Employment 

(A) List nil ofyoul' employmcnt activities, Including unemployment and self-employmcnt. 

If the employment activity was mllltal"y duty, list separate employment activity pel"iods to 

show each change of military duty station. Do not list employmcnt before your 18th 

birthday unless to p."ovic1e a minimum of two yellrs of employment history. 

Type of Employment ~-~-----r------------'---------'---~-~--------~-------' 

(AcliveMilitary DutySlation, ~ 

National Guard/Reserve. EmploYlIlent USPHS Commissioned Corps, lli!!J: Ell!Wl Other Fede",1 employment, Name of Your Most Recgnt l.&Sl!1!l!ll ElIlployment (month/year) 

Stale GovCmmtllt (Non- Employerl Po,IUol! (City and .!l£Im.u (chock bOK if 

Federal Employment), S.II' Assigned Duty St.te (ntolllh/year) estimale) 

employment. Unemployment, Stntlon II.!kLB.!wl!. only) (cbeck box if (check 

Fed.ml Conlractor, Non, estimate) "present" box 

GovCMl1l1Cnt Employment ifstill 

(excluding self "employment), employed) 

Olhc-'------t------------t-;C"'O'Cll'C1P""'""'tCCe::-r--+-:C"'j;'"';llccc-ag=-o=-,+---"E,cc'--I----;.;;",:-

Unlvel'slty of Chicago 

Unlvcl"slty of Chicago 

Microcomputer 

CellterEx Llbrl. Coffee 

SIlOII 

MRssnchusetts State Del,i:-- Depl" of 

Employment 

Services 

Ulllverslty of Chicago Ex Llb .. ls Coffee 

ShOll 

Sales and IL Sepr, 1'985:t J.n.19!6 I 

Service Tech. 

(work study) 

Sales Clerk 

(IVol'k study) 

Intel'lI 

Sales Clerk 

(work study) 

Chicago, 

II. 

Bostoll, 

MA 

Cblcago, 

IL 

Ell 

Jan. 1986 x 

(Sf 

Sfpf. f986 x 

Junt 1986 

l!:st 

x 

Eo' '\\11.1986 x 

Ed 

JURI! 1981 x 
39 

MAssachusetts Stnte Dept, I'ubUe Welfare- Intel'll Boston, Eit Est 

Homel ••• Unlt MA Juncl981 , Aug. 1987 x 

Mobile Gas Slation Mac ISBac'S Full Service Wcstbol' ~st E;( 

Turnllike Mobil Gas a,MA JlIly.I9'81 , Sept.l,a? • 

Altcl1dallt 

University of Chicago Ex Ubrl. Coffee SAlesClerk Chicago, E\, l:,( 

ShOll (work study) lL SfI1t.19.81 , Oec.1981 , 

Foley Industrial Engines lutln,Mal Engine Clel'k, Worces! r.,J Est 

and Machine Sbop ~'orkljft el', MA Jun(' 1983 , Sepf, t988 , 

Opel'otOI' EsI-'- University of Chicago Student Activity Building Chicago, £$1 

Office Manager IL Stvf. J938 x Junt' 1939 , 

t-;-;-;------ (work slndy) ~----, 

Unlvel'Slty of Chicago Facilities Custodial Aid . -Chl;;;go-;- Eu .tl 

MallRgement IL Jun¢ 1989 :t Sept, 1989 , 

Chicago PRrk Elf Jo::u 

Clty Goverument District, Office of I'Janning CIIlcago, Stpt. '959 , Jun(' 1~91 , 

Resea,'ch and AssIstant IL 

Planning, Park 

Dlsldet 

HCRdqURI'!CI'S, 

----"""- -_.- __ CJI!eag~L IL 

Executive Office of Budget r" R~t 

Federnl GoVel'l1l1lClIt the PresIdent, Office Pl'cpal'atlon Washing Julyt991 c July 1991 c 

of Management and SpecialIst, (oll,DC 

Blldget, Blldget 

Washlngtoll, DC EXaminer and 

Special 

Assistant 

U,S, Department of Est E .. 

lIederal Govemlllen! Tl'8nsl'Orlnlloll, ProgrAnt WAshing July)997 0 Nov. 1998 u 

Polley Office, Analyst ton,DC 

Washington, DC 

---" .. _--- Government of ChIef .$1 £$, 

City Government Dlstl'lctor Financial Washing NO\'.1993 c MRy2000 , 

COlumbia, omce .. , tau, DC 

Washington, ne Mch'opoli1an 

Police 

Dellartmen! 

GOVErnment of Acting Est Kit 

City Government Districlof Director, WaShing :\1,,),2000 , NQ\O,20!)1 , 

Columbia, Depal'tm.ll! ton,DC 

Washington, DC of Public 

Works, 

DivIsIon of 

TrallsportRtio 

11 ~ .. ~ 

Governmenl of Director, Est £,c 

City Goverument Dlstliclof DeJl.rlmelll Wnshlng No,",1001 , Feb,2006 u 

ColumbIa, of ton, DC 

Washington, DC TI'RnSllortRtio 

II 

4 
40 

Washington Interim En ... Regional Govcl'I1mcnt Mch'opolltan Arca General Washing "~b.1006 0 Ocl.2006 , 

Transit AuthorIty, lIfallRger lon,DC 

Washington, DC 

- -- - Fenly Transition f:.1 Est 

NOJlwGovcl'nment Incorporated, Co-Chair Washing Ocl. ZO(}6 . Jan. 2001 0 

Washington, DC ton,DC 

Government of City F.st ESI 

Clty Governmen! Dlslrlct of Admln!s!!'.!o Wash!ng J_/l.2007 0 AprU1OO9 , 

Columbia, rlDcpUI)' Ion, DC 

Waslllngtoll, DC Mayor of 

OperatIons 

U,S, Dellartment of Assistant Washing Est £51 

Fcdernl Government Treasury, Secretary lon,DC ,\pt1l2009 0 Aprlll01Z 0 

Washlngtoll, DC Management (NI?mlnaled fn 

April. ConfIrnl('d 

JnJuty.) 

~-----.-

U,S, Department of -CIlki' Washing f.J.t Est 

Fedcral Government Treastn-y, Financial !on,DC April 1009 0 Pril'$tn1 0 

Wnshlngton, DC Office,' (N(lnltru\(tdtn 

April. COnllrfUl'd 

InJuly.) 

Washing £01 Est 

Federal Government Genel'al ServIces Acting ton,DC Apl"1I10lZ " PrUtnf 0 

Administration Admlnlstrato 

r 

,-- ---

(8) List any advisory, consultative, honorary or other pal't-tlme service or positions with 

federal, state, 01' local governments, not listed elsewhere, 

Uate Service Dat£ S£rvice Ended 

rlHm~ or Governmenl Nallle of POS!!lOIl Degsl) (montWyear) (cbeck box 

E.!!.tl!l: (month/ycar) if estimate) (check 

(check box if "present" box ifslill 

esthnat~) ,crviOll) 

President'S Board Mcmber E,I E.t Prncnt 

Commission on Arts Apr,20ll x , 

"lid IltlIllRI.IUes, ExOffIelo l\1elllber 

Natlonal Building Board Member Elf Elf Pr('ttnt 

Museum Board of Apr. lOll , , 

Directors, lex-Officio 

~!£I!l~er 

President's Labol' Surrogate for Treasury Deputy "', Est Prfsfnt 

Management Sce.'etn.'), Jan.Uto , Apr. lOll , 

!'ortn.uhll' COllllcil ___ "--C-~ 

Govel'nment Surrogate for TreRSury Deputy "$I Est Prtnnt 

Accountability Alld Secretnry J811.HIO , Apr,2011 x 

Transpnrcl~~y Bon .. d --_._"- "-

5 
41 

\Vatcr !Iud Sewer Vlce-CIt"h' Est Ed j'rnt'nt 

Authority of Mar.1M1 " Apr. 1009 0 , 

Washington, He 

Board of Dine tors, Member, Chief Admluistratlve Officers .. I tit rrtstnt 

Metropolitan Committee Jat).2007 , Apr. 2009 , 

Washington Councl! 

of Government 

Mayor's Interagency Chnb- E,. £., Pren-nt 

Council Oil Jan. 200' 0 AprU 2009 , 

Homelessness 

Sellior Policy Group, Board Membc" E>. t:sl IlrfSrnt 

Regional Romeland tltb.2006 , Apr, 11)09 • 

Secllrily Task T,'ol'ce 

Bon"d of Directors. Roa,'d Membe .. &st E« Prtnnt 

Amcl'ienll Pnbllc Ptb.2006 , J~Il,200' , 

Transit Associatloll 

Wnshlngtou llollrd Membel' Es, En Prt.1tnt 

Metropolitan Arca Jl"11.2oo$ , F('b,10()6 0 0 

Transit Autbodty 

Northenst Association President £$, £\t PrfJ;('1lI 

ofStnte Jau.l00S , No\'. 1006 , 

Transportation 

OfficiAls 

NOI'lIte.sl Assoelnlioll Vice President £>. [$1 PCfltnt 

orStnte Jltrl.2004 , JRn.lOOS , 

Transportation 

Officials 

Vh'gillin Intel'stntes Board Melllbe,' t:., Es, Pnu-nl 

951395 notion. )I!ty 200S , ~bylOO5 , 

Commission ---- ---- -f.sT·~ Uultlou Station Mayor's B081'd Repl'esentatiYe (;$( 

Redevelopment Nov.1OIU , NGv.%O{)(i I 

CO"pOI'Rtion - t"·-p~ Execullve COJIIlllitlee, Board Member tsl 

American Associatloll Jl1n.lO()4 . N'ov.2006 , 

of State Highway and 

Tl'anspol'tntloll 

Officials _. ----~ 

Executive Committee, Boa I'd of Dlrectol'S FJ' Ell Pnnnr 

Ame1'1call AssoclnHol1 Nov,lOOO . N"tW.2.00ti . of Stnte Highway and 

TI'ansl'ortntloll 

Officials -- District O{COIUlllbiR, =t Board Memb.,' E,' Prtnhl 

Jan. l~Ol x No\', 1006 Laba,' Management . Pal'tllershlp Council 

4. Potential Conflict of Interest 

(A) Describe Illly business I'clatiollshiJ), dealing 01' financial transaction which you have had 

during the last 10 years, whether for yourself, 011 behalf of Il client, or acting as an agent, 

that could ill any way constitute or rcsult in a possible conflict of interest in tile position to 

which you have been nominated. 

6 
42 

In conncction with the nomination process, I havc consulted with the Office of Government 

Ethics and the General Services' Administration (GSA) Desigllated Ethics Official to identify 

potcntial conflicts of interest. Any potential conflicts ofintcrest will be resolved ill accordance 

with the terms of an ethics agrecment that I have entered into with GSA's Designated Agency 

Ethics Official and that has been provided to this Committee. I am not aware of any other 

potential conflicts of interest. 

(8) DescI'jbe any activity dm'lng the past 10 yean in which you have engaged for the 

purpose of directly or indirectly influencing tbe passage, defeat 01' modificatioll of any 

legislation or affecting the admillistt'atioll 01' cxecution oflaw Ot' public policy, othcr than 

while ill a federal government capacity, 

During my time with the District of Columbia Government and the Washington Metropolitan 

Area Transit Authority, I provided infonnation and support fol' Olll' legislative efforts associated 

with the relevant authorization and appropriations bill, 

5. HOItOl'S and Awards 

List all scholarships, fellowships, honorary degl'\~es, civilian service citations, military 

medals, academic 01' professional hOllon, honorary society memberships and any other 

spechlll'ecogllition for outstanding sel'vice 01' achievement. 

Distinguished Fedcral Leadership Award for 2012, Association of Govel11ment Accotllltanls 

Italian American Mon of the Year 2009, Lido Civic Club of Washington 

Boathouse Champion A ward, An6costia Community Boathouse Association, 2008 

Achievement Award, Capitol Hill Community Foundation, 2008 

Livable Communities Leadership Award, Coalition for Smarter Growth, 2007 

International Public Scrvant of the Year Award, l.ambda Alpha Inte1'llotionaI Honor Society, 

2005 

Anllual Award, Georgetown Merchant and Professional Association, 2005 

Golden Best A ward, Golden Triangle Business Improvement District, 2004 

Momentum Award, Downtown DC Business Improvement District, 2004 (Awarded to DDOT) 

Administrator's Team Award, Federal Highway Administration (Awarded to DDOT) 2004 (est) 

Momentum Award, Dowlitown DC Business Improvement District, 2003 

Certificate of Excellence for Support of the Capital City Fellows Program, 2003 

7 
43 

Secretary's AW(lrd fol' Excellence, New York Avcnuc Infill Station, 2002 (Awarded to DDOT) 

Gruss Fellowship, University of Penn sylvan ill, Whmion Executive MBA program, 1999-2001 

Find the Good and Praise it Award, US Dcpal1ment of Transportation, 1998 

Cross Cutting Group Award, US OffieeofManagcment and Budget, 1997 

Noyes Scholarship, Univcrsity of Chicago, Thc College, 1986-1990 

Gannett Scholarship, Milton Academy, 1983-1985 

6. Memberships 

List allmembel'shlps thnt YOIl have held ill pl'ofessional, social, business, fraternAl, 

scholarly, clvlc, 01' charitable organizations III the last 10 years, 

Unless relevant to youI' nomination, YOII do NOT need to Include memberships ill 

chlll'ltable organizations available to the pl1bllc as a result of a tax deductible donation of 

$1,000 01' less, Parent-Teacher Associations 01' other organizations connected to schools 

attended by youI' children, athletlc clubs 01' teams, automobile support organizations (such 

as AAA), discounts clubs (such as GI'OllpOII 01' Sam's Club), or affUlity 

memberships/consumer clubs (snch as frequent flycI' memberships), 

Name Qf Organization IlHtes of Yo III' M~lllbcr~hlll P!lsilloll(sl Hel!! (yOIl may approximate,) 1---- ,._-

Noue 

National Associntion o[Publlc 2009 - PJ'esen t 

Admlnistrntloll (hIRctlv.) 

Leadership Great.I' Wnshhtgton 200S.2009- None 

(inactive) 

Leadel'shlp Washington, Class of 200S None 

200S 

f--:------

Lambda Alpha Lond "nd 2004 - 2007 (est,) None 

Economic Soc!ety (tnRctlve) 

f-.:--- - Stanton Park NeIghborhood 1994 -1998 (est.) NOlle 

Assoeiatloll (hIHctlve) 

Capitol Hill Restoration Society 1991-1998 (est.) Former Board Member (in"clive) 

Left 1997 - 1998 (est.) 

--- St. Peter's 011 Capitol Hlll AllI'n 2005 ' Presellt NOlle 

-

--- --_._- 1994 - 2005 None 

Sf. Joseph's on Capitol Hill 

--------_. 

8 
44 

7. Political Activity 

(A) Have you ever been II candidate fol' 01' been elected OJ' appointed to a political office? 

No, 

Year!!) EI££ti211 

Nallle orOfflee Elected/Appointed! Held 01' Tl:rm of Service 

Call!!I!!!lI~ Qlllx APIlQiOIIl!£nl (If applicable) 

1------ MRde 

-_._" 

(B) List allY officcs beld in 01' services rendered to a political PII1'ty or election committee 

dul'ing the llist ten yeal's that you have 1I0t listed elsewhere. 

-----

N810C of I'arlx/Electlon Offlc£lScrvl£cs R~llder£d 

~ommlU.e Re~ugn~I!21l11i~ ~ 

-~ 

ObamH for I'resldent Campaign caUs and Leafleting Volnnteel', get out the vote 2012 

--!----- .. 

Oballla for I'l'esident CampaIgn Leafleting Volllnteer, get out the votc 2008 

Kerry for President Campaign Leafleting Volunteel', get Ollt the vole 2004 

(C) Itemize all Individual political contributions of $200 01' more that you have made ill the 

past five yClll'S to ally individual, campaign organization, political P"l'ty, polltlcnilictioll 

committee, 01' similar entity. Please Ust eacit Individual cOlltdblltion and not the total 

amollnt contributed to the persoll Of entity during the year, 

NaillC of Re£llllell! Amount Yenr of COlltrlbution 

Obflma fol' Amel'!ea $250 2008 

8. Publications and Speeches 

9 
45 

(A) List the titles, publishers and dates of books, al'tides, l'cports or other published 

materials that you havc WI'lttCll, including articles published 011 tile Intemet, Please IlI'ovide 

the Commlttce with copies of all listed publications. III liell of hard copies, electronic copies 

can be provided via e-mail 01' other digital format. 

I have done my best to identify titles, publishers, and dates of books, articles, reports 01' other 

published materials, including a thorough review of my personal flies and searches ofpubHcally 

available electronic databases, Despite my searches, there may be othel' materials I have been 

unable to identify, lInd, or remember, I have located the following: 

Tille .l!!.!!I.!Ww: Dnte(s} of Publlsstlon -_ .. _- ._--- - Use of Design Build Conslruction Design Build DateUne Magazine November 2005 

Methods (JOllI'nal of the Design Build 

Institute of Am_t'lea) .. --~-.-.---.. - Reforming (jovcl'llll1ellt - Better Tl'eosul'Y Noles (Treasury,gov) ,January 16, 11HZ 

Service, Lower Costs 

AI Tl'cnsury, Green Is Our Treasury Notes ('fl'onsm'Y-flov) December ll, 2011 

Favor!te Color - Bill We'll Take 

(LEED) Goldl 

Treasury's Lalls. ill T,'ensury Noles (Treasury,gov) DeeembeJ' 15, 2011 

Alllll'ollrlaliolls Contingency Pian 

Supporting S,nnU Business: Treasury Noles (Trensury,gov) December IS, 20ll 

TreftStl"Y Ben IS Small Busluess 

COlltroctlng Goals - -,- This Old House: Au UJldate ou Treasury Noles (Treasury,gov) September 29, 2011 

Ihe RellAlrs 

-_._, ... 

An Update on Open Government T,'cnsllry Notes (Tr.asln'y,gov) Soptember 20, 2011 

at Treasury 

-------- This Old House Treasury Notes (Trensury,gov) Aug .. st 26, 2011 

.. _---- Inv •• lIng In Groe" Tedmology Treasury Notes (T,'easllI'y,gov) May 10, 201l 

Through Public· Private 

I'.,'tneuhips __ ··~·o 

. --I--=-. Going Greell at the Treasury Trea."ry Notes (Trensury,gov) April 22, 2011 

Depal'fmCn! 

1-=-_.- -_._-... -_._-_.-. 

Trellsllt'Y's Lapse in Treasury Notes (TreaslII'y.gov) AprilS,201l 

AJlpropriatlons Contingency Plan 

The New T,'easul'y,gov Tl'easlll'Y Notes (TI'casury,gov) December 6, 2010 

-

10 
46 

(8) List any formal speeches you have delivered during tbe last five years and pl'ovidc tbe 

Committee with copies of those speeches relevant to the position for whieh you have been 

nominated. Include any testimony to Congl'css 01' any other legislative 01' admlnisu'atlve 

body, These items clln be provided electl'onlcally via c-mail 01' othel' digital format. 

Titlerroilic P!8££lAI,dle'I£~ 12U£C!l !If Slle~clt 

Confirmation lIearlng SCllilte Finance Committee 

Jllly 14, 2009 

GSA Inspe.tol' Gelleral Repol't llons. Oversl~ltt and Government 

Reform COlllmlttee April 16, 2012 

GSA Inspector General Report HOllse Transportation and 

Infrastructure COlllllllttec April 17, 2012 

GSA Inspectol' General Report Sellftte Euvil'ollmellt and Public 

Works Committee AprJll8,2012 

GSA Inspector General Report Sennte Allp,'opl'lations 

and Fiscal Yea .. 2013 Budget Subcommittee on Financial AprU18, 2012 

Reque.t Services and General Goverument 

~"--

Senate Homeland Secllrlly and Moving from Scandal to Strategy 

Governmental Afralrs Committee September 12, 2012 

Remarks Nalional Academy of ScIence 011 

SlIstainability September 27, 2012 

Remarks NOAA Centcr fp .. CUmate alld 

Weather Prediction Ceremony October 15,2012 

Remarks COlllmittee 011 A"ts aud 

Humanities Rema,'ks November 18,2012 

Relllarks National Press Club DCBIA 

December 20, 2012 

Ov .... lght Hea,;lng Hol,s. ApPl'opl'lnt!olls 

Subcolllmittee 011 Financial March 19,2013 

Services and General GoVel"lllllent f-,---

Remarks 2013 Acquisition Excellence 

Confe .. ence March 21, 2013 

(C) List all speeches and testimony you have dellvcl'cd in the past ten years, execpt for 

those the text of which yon m'e pl'ovldlllg to the Committee, 

None, 

11 

"--
47 

[---- "'~--- -j---- Place/Audience -] 

9. Criminal History 

Since (and including) youI' 1Slh birthday, lias any of the following happened? 

Have you bccn issued a summons, citation, or ticket (0 appear ill court in a criminal proceeding against you? 

(Exclude citations involving traffic infractions where the fine was less than $300 and did not include alcohol or 

drugs.) No. 

Have YOII been atTested by allY police ollicer, sheriff, marshal or any other twe of law enforcement official? 

No, 

Have you been charged, convicted, or sentcnced of a crime in any CO\1l17 No. 

Have you been or nre you currently Oil probation or parole? No. 

Are you currently on trial or awaiting. trial on criminal charges? No. 

To your knowledge, have you ever been the subject or target of. federal, state or loctll criminal investigation? 

No. 

If the answer to any of the questlolls above is yes, please Answer the questiolls below for 

each criminal event (citatioll, arrest, investigation, etc.). If tile evellt was all investigatioll, 

wltc.·c the question below aslcs for informatioll about the offense, please offet· information 

about the offense undel' investigation (If Imown). 

A) Date of offcnse: 

ft. Is this all estimate (YesINo): 

H) Description of the specific nature of the offense: 

C) Did the ollense involve allY of the following? 

I) Domestic violence or a crime of violence (stich as battery or assaull) agaiust your child, dependent, 

cohahitant, spouse, former spouse, or someone with whom you share a child in COOlmon: Yes / No 

2) Firearms or explosives: Yes I No 

3) Alcoholordrugs: Yes I No 

D) Location where the offense occurred (city, county, state, zip code, country): 

E) Were YOll arrested, summoned, cited 01' did you receive a ticket to appear as a result of this offense by any 

police officer, sheriff, marsha! or any other type of law enforcement official: Yes I No 

12 
48 

I) Name of the law enforcement agency that alTestedlciled/sullulloned you: 

2) Location orthe law enforcement agency (city. county. state, zip code, country): 

F) As a result of !his offense were you charged, convicted, currently awailing lrial, andlor ordered to appear in 

court ill a criminal proceeding against YOII: Yes I No 

I) lfyes, provide Ihe UAme oflhe courl and the loeation of the court (city, county, state, zip code, 

country): 

2) If yes, provide aU the charges brought against you for this offense, and the outcome ofeacb charged 

offense (such as found guilty, found not-guilty, cbarge dropped or "nolle pros," etc), If you were found 

guilty of or pleaded guilty to a lesser offense, list separately baUI the original charge and the lessel' 

offense: 

3} If no, provide explanation: 

0) Were you sentenced as a result oflhi, offense: Yes INo 

H) Provide a description of the selltcnce: 

I} Were you sentenced to imprisoJlment for a tenn exceeding one year: Yes / No 

J) Were you incarcerated as a rcsult of that sentence for not less tban one year: Yes / No 

K) If the convictiolll'esllited in imprisonment, provide the dates that you actually were incarcernted: 

L) If convictiolll'esultcd in probation 01' parole, provide the dates of probation or pal'ole: 

M) Are YOll C\lITently 011 trial, awaiting a trial, or awaiting sentencing on criminal charges for this offense: Yes I 

No 

N) Provide explanation: 

10. Civil Litigation and Administrative or Legislative Proceedings 

(A)Sillce (and including) yom'18th birthday, have you bccn a pal'ty to any public I'ccord 

civil court nctloll 01' ndminlstratlve 01' legislative pl'oceedillg of any ldnd tbat resulted in (1) 

a finding of wl'ongdolng ngninst you, 01' (2) a settlement agreement fOl' you, 01' some other 

persoll 01' entity, to make A payment to settle Allegations against you, 01' for you to tal<c, 01' 

refrAin from taldng, some ACtlOU, Do NOT Include slllall claims proceedings, 

fn 2004, in my official capacity 1 was named in a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit 

Authority (WMAT A) class action suit. This lawsuit did not involve any allegations against me 

13 
49 

personally. The allegations pre~ded my employment at WMA T A, and the suit was settled after 

my departure from WMATA, 

Dal£ 

W!!sFilrd 

~ 

Claim/Suit 

0/' 

~ Prlnelp!!1 ~ 

Pnl'lies 

Proceedings Nllme Involved In Nn!!u'!\ of ActlOI!!Proceedlim 

Actlon/Pi'occedlng ~ 

~ctlon/P .. oceedlllg Began 

-

(8) In addition to those listed above, have you or Any business of which you wel'e an officel', 

director 01' owner evet' becnlnvolvcd as a party ofluteI'llst III any administrative agency 

proceeding 01' civil litigAtion? Please identify and pl'ovJde details fol' nny pl'oceecllngs 01' 

civil litigation thnt involve nctions taken or omitted by YOll, or alleged to have been taken or 

omitted by YOII, whHe sel'vlng In yOlll' official capacity, 

As Acting Administrator of GSA, J am routinely named as a party defendant in my "official" 

capacity, None of these actions has resulted in a finding of wrongdoing against me. The fact that 

I am the agency head is the only reason r am named in the caption, In 2012, I am aware of a US 

District Court case pending, Occupy Eugene, Florence E. Semple, Ten'ill E. Purvis v, Wayne C, 

Benjamin. Regional Director, GSA, Kimberly S. Gray, Associate Director, US GSA, Civil 

Action No.6: 12v2286-A, where I have been named in both my official and personal capacities 

ill an amended complaint. 

Similarly, in 2004, in my official capacity as Director of the Washington, DC Depaliment of 

Transportation, r was named ill a number of employment related lawsuits. These lawsuits did not 

involve any allegations against me personally and did not result in any finding of wrongdoing 

against me. 

,------ Nllm£C!} of 

Pl'incillal 

Date 9ill.!:! PllI'ties Involved NAtul'eof Results of 

ClnitntSult ~ ill Action/Proceeding Action/PI'oceedi 

Was Filed Act/onlProccedi 1m 

!!i 

14 

I 
50 

(C) FOI' responses to the previous question, please identify and provide details for any 

pl'oceedings 01' civil litigation that involve actions taken 01' omitted by yon, 01' alleged to 

have been taken 01' omitted by you, while serving in your official capacity. 

Regarding tbe Occupy Eugene case, r have no pel'sonal involvement regarding this case, The 

plaintiff al1eges that 41 CFR 102·74 Subpart D, which regards pennitting for use of public 

spaces upon federal property, is unconstitutional in that it does not provide exce)ltions for 

traditional public fora or individuals or smaller groups, As Acting Administrator, the plaintiffs 

allege I am responsible for the drafting and enforcement of these provisions, 

11. Breach of Professional Ethics 

(A) Have you ever been disciplined 01' cited for a breach of ethics 01' IInpl'ofessionAI conduct 

by, or been the subject of a complaint to, allY court, administrative agency, professional 

association, discipllnal'y committee, 01' other professiollAI group? Exclude cases and 

proceedIngs already listed, 

No, 

~ ... ~ ... l2IWlOlll! Q1alloolDlseil!lInar x A~wa§E2~ll!tl!!]!l !J1aII!!IIJDlSelol!IIBfl! Bmlll! III ~lml!lIn8rl: . AyuoyleoilliW!lnt q!mn!llt~lGr2!11! agi!lItl(;!lllll!llIlnl A£l!OItiCollllW!!nt 

Issuedllilltlated 

(B) Have you ever been fired from a job, quit a job After being told you would be fired, left 

a job by mutual agl'eement following cbarges 01' allegations of misconduct, left a job by 

mutual agreement followIng notice of Imsatisfactory pel'formance, 01' received a written 

warning. been officially repl'!manded, suspended, 01' disciplined fol' mlscollduct ill the 

workplace, such as violation of a security policy? 

No, 

12, Tax Compliance 

(This information wlllllot be pnblished in tile record of the hearing on your nominAtioll, 

but it will be l'etftined in tile Committee's flies ftnd wlll be available for public Illspectlon,) 

REDACTED 
51 

REDACTED 

13. Lobbying 

In the past ten years, have you registered as a lobbyist? If so, please indicate the state, 

fcdcral, 01' local bodies with which you have registered (e.g., House, Senate, Califomia 

Secretary of State). 

No. 

14. Outside Positions 

17 
52 

X Sec OGE Form 278. (If, fo1' your nomination, YOli have completed an OOE Form 278 

Bxecutive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report, you may check the box here to 

complete this scction and then proceed to the next section.) 

For the pl'cccdlng ten calcndRi' years aud the cUI'rcnt calendar yeal', report any positions 

hcld, whethcr compensated or not. Positions Include but arc not limited to those of nn 

OffiCCI', director, trustee, general partner, prolJl'letOl', representative, employee, 01' 

consultant of allY corporation, firm, pnrtnershlp, 01' other business entel'prlse 01' allY nonprofit organization 01' educational institution. ~ positions with religious, social, 

fratel'nlll, 01' political entities Hnd those solely of an l!onol'al'Y nature. 

Il:lw!f 

Ql'llanlzQtiQ1l 

(c~)fpor8tion~ finn. 

l:'!!!:!!!.U!f Addl'££s 2C partllmbip, other fo§IIIQIl Hel,1 ~ 

OrgnlllT.1l!iQl) Ol'gRlliT.!!tlOIl business eUlerpl'isc, fO!iti21l Held From l!!'.I!!.I2 otlie.' nonwprofit (month/year) (mollth/year) 

orgnnization, 

educational 

insfitulion) ----

~-~--

15. Agreements 01' Al'I'angements 

x See OGE Form 278. (If; for your nomination, you have completed an OOE Form 278 

Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report, YOll may check the box here to 

complete this section and then proceed to the next section,) 

As of the date of filing your OGE Form 278, rcpOl't youI' agreements 01' al'l'lIngements for: 

(1) continuing participation in an cmployee benefit plan (e.g. pensioll, 401k, deferred 

compensation); (2) continulltion of payment by II former employer (Including severance 

payments); (3) leaves of absence; alld (4) (utul'e employment. 

Provide information regarding allY agreements 01' arrangements you have concerning (1) 

futDl'c employment; (2) a ICllvc of ahsence during YOIll' pel'1od of Govcmmcnt service; (3) 

continuation of payments by a former employer othel' than the United States Governlllent; 

and (4) continuing participation in all cmployee welfare 01' benefit plan maintained by a 

fOl'lner employer othcr thall United States Govcl'Illllcmt rctil'ement benefits, 

A t A t 1> •• ,,,.. lli!.!s 

[ 

Stntus and Tel'lllS of Any l ] .. greemen or nungemen . ____ ............. ______ -'-____ C_m_o_lI_th_/y_e_Ill_.) ___ -..J 

18 
53 

16. Additional Financial Datu 

All information requested under this headblg must be provided for yourself, your spollse, 

aud your dependents. (This information will not be publisbcd in the t'ccord of the hearing 

on y01l1' nomjnation, but it will be retained in the Committee's files and wlll be available fol' 

public Inspection.) 

19 
SIGNATURE AND DATE 

I hereby state that I have read the foregoing Statement on Biograpbkal and Financiallnformation and that the in

t ' 

This 11 day of June, 2013 

24 
55 

l'nill''' Stat", 

Office of Government Ethics 

!2()! \i,:" York :\Yc'flll(" !'(\\:, Suitt: SIl(l 

\\,l,l1inglOn, DC 211t105 YJ I ~ 

The Honorable Thomas R, Carper 

Chairman 

Committee on I romeland Security 

and Governmental Affairs 

United States Senate 

Washington, DC 20510 

Dear Mr. Chaitman: 

JUN - 0 tell3 

In accordance with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, I enclose a copy of the 

financial disclosure report filed by Daniel M, Tangherlini, who has been nominated by President 

Obama for the position of Administrator, General Services Administration, 

We have reviewed the report and have obtained advice from the agency concerning any 

possible conflict in light of its functions and the nominee's proposed duties. Also enclosed is an 

ethics agreement outlining the actions that the nominee will undertake to avoid conflicts of 

interest. Unless a date for compliance is indicated in the ethics agreement, the nominee must 

fully comply within three months of confirmation with any action specified in the ethics 

agreement. 

Based thereon, we believe that this nominee is in compliance with applicable laws and 

regulations governing coni1icts of interest. 

e2'~ Don W. Fox 

Principal Deputy Director 

Enclosures - REDACTED 
56 

May 9,2013 

Kris E. Durmer 

General Counsel and Designated Agency Ethics Official 

U.S. General Services Administration 

Office of General Counsel 

1275 First Street, NE 

Washington, DC 20417 

Dear Mr. Durmer: 

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the steps that I will take to avoid any actual 

or apparent conflicts of interest in the event that I am confirmed for the position of 

Administrator of the General Services. 

As required by 18 U.S.C. § 208(a), I will not participate personally and substantially in 

any particular matter that has a direct and predictable effect on my financial interests or 

those of any person whose interests are imputed to me, unless I first obtain a written 

waiver, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 208(b)(1), or qualify for a regulatory exemption, 

pursuant to 18 U.S. C. § 208(b)(2). I understand that the interests of the following 

persons are imputed to me: any spouse or minor child of mine; any general partner of a 

partnership in which I am a limited or general partner; any organization in which I serve 

as officer, director, trustee, general partner or employee; and any person or 

organization with which I am negotiating or have an arrangement concerning 

prospective employment. 

If I rely on a de minimis exemption under 5 C.F.R. § 2640.202 with regard to any of my 

financial interests, I will monitor the value of those interests. If the aggregate value of 

interests affected by a particular matter increases and exceeds the de minimis 

threshold, I will not participate in the particular matter, unless I first obtain a written 

waiver under 18 U.S.C. § 208(b)(1). 

I understand that as an appointee I must continue to abide by the Ethics Pledge (Exec. 

Order No. 13490) that I previously signed and that I will be bound by the requirements 

and restrictions therein in addition to the commitments I have made in this and any 

other ethics agreement. 
57 

I have been advised that this ethics agreement will be posted publicly, consistent with 5 

U.S.C. § 552, on the website of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics with other ethics 

agreements of Presidential nominees who file public financial disclosure reports. 

Sincerely. 

~jD{k-' Daniel Tangherlini 

Acting Administrator 

·2· 
58 

U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

Pre-hearing questionnaire for the nomination of 

Daniel M. Tangherlini to be 

Administrator, General Services Administration 

I. Nomination Process and Conflicts of Interest 

1. Why do you believe the President nominated you to serve as Administrator of the 

General Services Administration ("GSA")? 

My more than twenty years of experience in public sector administration with an 

emphasis on organizational reform, crisis management and operations improvement 

combined with my immediate availability as a confirmed member of the Administration 

team at the Treasury Department, made me a logical choice to take over GSA in the 

aftermath of the events oflast spring. 

2. Were any conditions, express or implied, attached to your no'mination? If so, 

please explain. 

None. 

3. What specific background and experience affirmatively qualifies you to be GSA 

Administrator? 

My work most recently at the Treasury Department organizing and improving 

administrative functions, combined with my work immediately preceding that as the City 

administrator of the District of Columbia gave me direct, relevant experience in the work 

of GSA and the administration of large, complex public sector operations. Combine 

those two experiences with my other work as Interim General Manager of the Metro 

system, the Director of the DC Department of Transportation, as well as six years with 

the Office of Management and Budget, I have gained a deep understanding in agency 

finance, program planning, operational reform and crisis management. 

4. Have you made any commitments with respect to the policies and principles you 

will attempt to implement as GSA Administrator? If so, what are they and to 

whom have the commitments been made? 

Before this Committee and several Senate and House Committees, I have committed to 

work tirelessly to improve agency performance, efficiency and transparency. 

1 
59 

5. If confirmed, are there any issues from which you may have to recuse or 

disqualify yourself because of a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict 

of interest? If so, please explain what procedures you will use to carry out such a 

recusal or disqualification. 

Except as possible related to my financial disclosure information, I believe that there are 

no issues for which I need to recuse myself at this time. 

II. Background of the Nominee 

6. What specific background and experience do you bring to the various roles of 

the Administrator? What experiences have you had in ma!1aging a large real 

estate portfolio or in managing large-scale acquisitions, or that are relevant to 

these two major functions of GSA? 

As stated above. my relevant background and experience has been developed over 

twenty years of service to the American people in Federal. regional. state and local 

capacities. My work has always focused on fiscal economy and efficiency and has 

emphasized the power and value of data to assist decision-making and enhance 

outcomes. My work over six years of recreating the District Department of 

Transportation. converting an agency that was seemingly incapable of delivering on its 

basic mission into one that has served as a role model for creative traffic solutions. 

energy efficiency and ideas such as bike share, the Circulator and streetcar, seems 

particularly relevant. The assignment to take over Metro during a crisis in which the 

management was abruptly replaced and using my tenure to shift the focus to possibility 

and opportunity also has provided relevant experience to my work at GSA And, 

perhaps most useful, was my three years as ASM/CFO at Treasury, where I was able to 

get a better understanding of the fundamental management challenges and the clear 

imperative for operational reform and improved efficiency facing Federal agencies at 

this time. 

7. What do you view as your major accomplishments since assuming the role of 

Acting Administrator of GSA? 

The largest accomplishment of the work that I have been part of at GSA over the last 

year has been moving the focus of the agency from - as this Committee described it in 

September of last year - scandal to strategy. Bringing a renewed and intense focus on 

2 
60 

the agency's core, and incredibly important, mission of delivering value to the American 

People by improving agency efficiency and economy through leveraging the scope and 

scale of the Federal Govemment. We have worked hard to remind our employees and 

our agency partners of the common sense, business-like approaches that we can use to 

collaborate and improve outcomes while reducing cost. 

III. Role of the Administrator of GSA 

8. What do you view as the greatest challenges of the Administrator? 

I view as the greatest challenges maintaining organizational focus and intensity; 

developing partnerships across a broad range of constituencies; providing value; 

convincing agencies to realize the value that we provide; serving as a role model; 

motivating a workforce that suffers from reputational slights and challenges; and 

managing the often conflicting political interests that underlie nearly every decision or 

choice. 

9. Identify, at a minimum, your top three priorities and how you plan to address 

them. 

Working collaboratively with frontline staff and organizational leadership through the 

Top to Bottom Review process, as well as with external constituencies (such as 

vendors, agencies, private sector best practice models, associations and other 

institutions) and input from Congress and relevant Administration stakeholders, we 

developed six key priorities for moving GSA forward: 

1. Delivering beUer value and savings 

2. Serving our agency partners 

3. Expanding opportunities for small businesses 

4. Making a more sustainable government 

5. Leading with innovation 

6. Building a stronger GSA 

IV. Policy Questions 

General Management 

10. In your opinion, what is the number one management challenge at GSA right now 

and how do you plan to address it? 

3 
61 

The top management challenge at GSA is the need to build high quality, transparent 

processes and systems that allow us to consistently manage and continually improve 

the services we provide agencies and the American people. Through the continuous 

top-to-bottom reviews of the agency, we have begun the process of addressing this key 

challenge. For example, we are consolidating key administrative service functions, 

reviewing information technology systems, and improving reporting processes. 

11. Soon after assoming the position of Acting Administrator, you initiated a "Top to 

Bottom" review of GSA. 

a. What are the major changes that you have made to the organization and internal 

policies of GSA resulting from this review? 

One of my first actions was to start a top to bottom review of the entire agency that 

examined every aspect of how GSA operates and led to a series of common sense 

internal reforms that have enabled GSA to achieve significant savings over the past 

year. 

Early in 2013, reflecting input and ideas from employees at every level of GSA, we 

developed a new mission statement to refocus our efforts on our core work of 

generating savings across the government. 

"The mission of GSA is to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition, and 

technology services to government and the American people. " 

GSA also developed six new priorities to meet its mission. Below are the 

accomplishments over the past year that reflect these priorities. 

Delivering Better Value and Savings 

• GSA eliminated nearly 50 conferences and implemented comprehensive internal 

travel reforms to ensure that all of the agency's travel and events are limited to 

necessary and essential functions. In travel alone, GSA saved $28 million dollars 

by revising internal travel and conference policies. 

• This past fiscal year the agency reduced spending on travel, IT Devices and 

printing to end the year 43% lower than the FY 2010 baseline for those items. 

• Last year, GSA froze per diem reimbursement rates for the first time in a decade. 

Keeping the federal government's travel reimbursement rates for lodging, meals, 

4 
62 

and incidentals at current levels will help federal agencies save an estimated $20 

million in avoided costs in Fiscal Year 2013. 

Serving our Partners 

• Over the past year, we put in place new leadership in some of GSA's most 

important positions, adding to an already exceptional GSA leadership team and 

making a clear statement about the importance and value of GSA's agency and 

vendor partners. 

• Before and during Superstorm Sandy, GSA secured some 2,100 federal facilities 

in the path of the storm. After the storm, GSA helped agencies secure needed 

supplies and services to aid impacted communities and assist agencies in getting 

back to work. 

• GSA is working with federal agencies to help them shift to more modem 

workplaces and reduce their space needs. This work will create significant 

savings for taxpayers in reduced rent costs. 

Expanding Opportunities for Small Businesses 

• In 2012, the Small Business Administration (SBA) recognized the GSA Office of 

Small Business Utilization with a Leadership Award recognizing their leadership 

in the small business contracting community. 

• During fiscal year 2012, $1.3 billion in GSA contracts went to small businesses 

which provided products and services to help agencies meet their missions, 10% 

over the agency's goal. So far in fiscal year 2013, $458 million in GSA contracts 

have gone to small businesses, 3% over the agency's goal. 

Making a More Sustainable Government 

• GSA is working to develop and install advanced smart building technology in 50 

of the federal government's highest energy-consuming buildings. This 

technology will help us reduce energy consumption and costs. 

Leading with Innovation 

• GSA is exploring creative approaches to disposing of unneeded federal facilities 

by trading vacant or underutilized properties for needed capital investments in 

the federal building portfolio. Our proposed exchanges to date have included: 

Federal Triangle South, the FBI Headquarters, the David W. Dyer Federal 

Building in Miami and the Spring Street Courthouse in Los Angeles. 
63 

• GSA has made significant progress in transforming its headquarters at 1800 F 

Street, NW into a highly-efficient, collaborative space that will improve 

cooperation, mobility, and productivity. The approach will cut costs by reducing 

our leased space and consolidating employees into one owned building .. GSA 

expects to see the utilization rates increase to an aggressive 136 square feet per 

person. 

Building a Stronger GSA 

• The top to bottom review revealed widespread duplication of support services 

throughout the agency. In response, GSA is consolidating these administrative 

functions, including IT, HR, and Finance. 

• GSA generated more than $5 million in savings from employee suggestions as 

part of the "Great Ideas Hunt." This project garnered more than 600 ideas and 

20,000 comments. 

While GSA has made significant progress over the past year, much work remains to be 

done. The agency is committed to a continuous top to bottom review process and the 

implementation of common sense reforms to better meet our responsibilities to the 

govemment and the American people. 

b. Are there additional changes to the structure or management of GSA that you 

recommend, and if so, do any of those changes require Congressional approval 

to enact? 

We are continuing to explore changes to the organization that will make it more efficient 

and effective. In particular, one area is finding ways to make agency processes more 

consistent and efficient. As we pursue these improvements we may identify areas that 

require Congressional action or notification, I am committed to working closely with this 

Committee and other relevant Committees in both houses to identify and implement 

needed changes. 

c. After identifying redundancies and inefficiencies in GSA's structure during your 

Top to Bottom review, you have undertaken a significant consolidation of 

activities related to financial management, human resources, information 

technology, and other acquisition and administrative functions. How should GSA 

measure the success of these consolidations over time? What evidence of 

improved performance will you look for to know whether the consolidations have 

been more than a "moving the boxes" exercise? 

6 
64 

First of all, we are evaluating our success by looking at how much we have saved the 

taxpayers by making these functions more efficient and by reducing overhead. GSA 

expects to save at least $200 million over the next decade on this consolidation. Next, 

we will use performance metrics, such as processing times for common support 

functions and internal customer service scores to measure program effectiveness and 

identify areas for potential additional effort. 

d. How confident are you that the changes you have made at GSA will prevent the 

type of wasteful spending exposed by the GSA Inspector General's report on the 

Western Regions Conference held in Las Vegas in October 2010? 

On April 15, 2012, I implemented a new policy on travel and conferences. Under this 

policy, all travel is suspended unless it meets certain criteria. Only travel for designated 

GSA operational mission related activities is permitted upon approval of the Regional 

Administrator or another approving office. Travel may be incurred for a routine 

management meeting only upon waiver by the Deputy Administrator or Acting 

Administrator. Travel must be justified and approved, prior to the departure date, by the 

Head of Service or Staff Office. In addition, conferences must be approved by the Head 

of Service or Staff Office, Regional Administrator, the Chief Administrative Services 

Officer, and the Chief Financial Officer before any procurement activity takes place or 

cost is incurred by the organization sponsoring the event. We also implemented 

mandatory conference training for all GSA employees. 

In addition, we have consolidated financial oversight and operations from PBS and FAS 

to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to ensure greater accountability and 

transparency for all budgeting and expenditures. 

Taken together these changes have provided clearer accountability and greatly 

enhanced transparency that would make the events of 2010 nearly impossible to 

duplicate. Additionally, GSA staff has become much more aware of and sensitive to the 

impropriety of such actions and their role and responsibility in reporting any such 

behavior to leadership and/or the Inspector General. 

12. What do you believe is the appropriate role of the GSA Regional Administrators? 

Do you think GSA's current regional structure - the National Capital region office 

and ten other regional offices - is the right structure to respond to the needs of 

customer agencies across the nation while ensuring efficient spending of GSA's 

own resources in carrying out its missions? 

As part of our continuous top to bottom review process we are looking at the various 

services provided by the two main components of GSA and how those services can be 

7 
65 

organized to provide outcomes in the most efficient and effective way possible. As part 

of those ongoing discussions we are exploring the role that regions play in ensuring 

local community participation; variations in regional needs, markets and conventions; 

and ways to enhance process efficiency and transparency. Regional Administrators will 

play an important and evolving role as we reexamine an operating structure that dates 

back to the 1950s and largely predates the modern technology and telecommunications 

era. 

13. What steps have you taken to foster a productive working relationship with the 

GSA Inspector General? 

Among the first things I did on my first day as GSA Acting Administrator was to meet 

with the IG, Brian Miller, and his team to restart the GSA Management/IG relationship. 

am proud of the fact that the IG subsequently agreed to co-sign a letter to all GSA 

employees to encourage them to report anything they see that is illegal or unethical. 

Since then, I have worked closely with the IG to ensure that our entire agency is 

working closely with his staff to identify areas of potentially improved efficiency, 

economy, service and integrity. The IG and I have established a monthly meeting to 

ensure that we are continually communicating on major issues. I see the IG as a key 

partner in helping us improve and strengthen GSA. 

14. Under what circumstances do you believe direct communications regarding GSA 

matters between individual GSA employees (including whistleblowers) and 

Congressional offices is appropriate and desirable? Do you know of any 

impediments to such appropriate and desirable communications, and are there 

any steps that GSA has taken or that you believe GSA should take to enable such 

communications? 

I am strongly supportive of whistleblowers using all available avenues, whether the 

Inspector General or Congress, to report fraud, waste, or abuse. One of my first actions 

as Acting Administrator was to send a joint statement with Brian Miller, GSA's Inspector 

General, to every GSA employee stressing the importance of reporting waste and 

providing information on the IG's hotline. 

I believe that open communications between Congress and GSA is critical to effectively 

accomplishing our mission. I would be happy to work with the Committee on any 

concerns or suggestions you may have for improving communication. 

15. In response to questions from Committee members at the Committee's 

September 12, 2012 hearing on GSA, you told the Committee that you were 

8 
66 

reviewing GSA's performance awards program, including the Senior Executive 

Service performance management and recognition program. 

a. What is the status of this review? What actions have you taken or do you plan 

to take to address the results of this review? 

As you know, we took a hard look at bonuses at GSA. In FY 2013, we cut the budget for 

Senior Executive Service bonuses by 85 percent - and to date, we have awarded no 

SES bonus money for FY 2012 performance. Additionally, we have reduced the budget 

for all other performance awards as well as substantially reduced the types of bonus 

programs across the agency. We want to ensure that performance awards are being 

used to reward exemplary public service, and we are developing guidelines to ensure 

cost savings and efficiency goals are integrated into every employee's job 

responsibilities. 

b. In its May 9,2013 response to the recent GSA Inspector General's report 

entitled, "GSA Practices for Executive Performance Recognition and Awards," 

GSA stated it eliminated the Peer 2 Peer awards program. What do you believe 

should be the appropriate functions of programs offering performance or nonperformance monetary award for SES members? With the Peer 2 Peer program 

having been eliminated, to what extent do you believe that the remaining GSA 

awards programs that provide either performance or non-performance monetary 

benefits for SES employees fulfill those functions? Do you believe the remaining 

programs are necessary, or should they be modified or consolidated? 

I want to ensure that performance awards are only being used to reward exemplary 

public service. Last year, in response to legitimate concerns over GSA's previous 

performance awards system, we cut SES performance awards by 85 percent. Going 

forward, we are pursuing changes to decrease the number of performance award 

systems and increasing the transparency of those that remain. We recently submitted 

and received Office of Personnel Management approval for a new SES performance 

management system that we are implementing for the final quarter of FY 2013 and will 

use as a foundation for future year executive performance management. 

16.ln the GSA IG's Semiannual Report to Congress, October 1, 2012 - March 31, 

2013, the OIG highlighted its audit of GSA's FY 2012 Financial Statements. 

Although no material weaknesses related to financial management systems, 

internal controls or financial reporting were found by the independent public 

accounting firm, it did find significant deficiencies in several areas. Those 

include internal control deficiencies in "financial management systems and 

financial reporting processes related to the recording of undelivered orders and 

9 
67 

recoveries of prior years' obligations," as well as "in the processing of unfilled 

customer orders, apportionments and fund controls." Other significant 

deficiencies were found in GSA's failure to record property disposals when they 

occurred and inadequate information technology controls over its financial 

management systems, among other issues. Please provide your assessment of 

the current status of GSA's efforts to remedy each of these deficiencies in its 

financial statements identified by the OIG. 

I am concerned by any deficiency identified by our Inspector General and am committed 

to remedying these issues. Based on actions taken and planned, we believe the 

deficiencies related to Accounting and Reporting of Property and Equipment as well as 

Financial Management and Reporting are on track to be eliminated. We have made 

progress on the remaining deficiencies you identify, but do not believe they will be 

eliminated this year. However, I believe that some of the actions we have taken over the 

past year, particularly the consolidation of financial functions within GSA's Chief 

Financial Office, will help strengthen oversight and accountability necessary to make the 

needed improvements. In addition, I have brought in an experienced new Chief 

Financial Officer who I am confident will speed efforts to address these deficiencies. 

17. GSA is a largely fee-driven agency and therefore it appears most of GSA's 

budget is unaffected by sequestration. 

a. Are you concerned that the budget of the GSA Inspector General (IG) is subject 

to sequestration while most of GSA's budget is not? What challenges does this 

create for oversight of GSA, and would you recommend an adjustment to the 

GSA IG's budget that would better enable the GSA IG office to maintain its 

workload? 

I highly value the work of the GSA Inspector General and have endeavored to develop a 

partnership with the IG to identify and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in GSA. The 

2014 President's budget for GSA requests an increase of $4.553 million in the IG 

budget to fully fund the required personnel and activities to ensure proper oversight of 

agency operations. 

As with all of GSA's programs and offices, sequestration has required a reprioritization 

of planned efforts at a time when GSA's services are even more vital to internal 

customers and its partner agencies. In addition to the Office of Inspector General, GSA 

has several accounts that are subject to sequestration, such as: Government-wide 

Policy, Operating Expenses, Former Presidents, Electronic Government Fund and the 

Federal Citizen Services Fund. 

10 
68 

We would be happy to entertain any specific solutions the Committee might have for 

addressing issues related to IG appropriations. 

b. How often do you believe GSA should review and update its fee schedules? 

What sources would you consult to inform your decision of which fees are 

appropriate to alter? 

We must ensure that our fees strike a balance between collecting sufficient funds to 

provide services and driving down costs for agencies. In response to GAO and OIG 

audits, the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) has developed a set of criteria and 

methodology for performing in-depth program reviews, including business models and 

cost and fee structures. 

These review efforts have generated proposals such as those put forward in the 

President's FY 2014 Budget. For FY 2014, FAS is planning a series of fee decreases. 

For example, FAS plans a reduction in the Assisted Acquisition Services from 3.58% to 

3.12%, generating projected savings of $23 million to partner agencies in FY 2014. The 

General Supplies and Services portfolio is also planning a reduction in the average 

markup charged to supply operations customers from 30% to 23%, resulting in 

projected FY 2014 savings of $55 million for partner agencies. 

Real Property 

18. As the government's landlord, GSA has a broad responsibility for effectively 

managing federal real property. However, GAO has included the management of 

real property on its High Risk list for the last ten years. What skills and strategies 

would you bring to bear on this issue that has frustrated multiple 

administrations? 

Improving the management of real property in the Federal govemment is a major 

priority of mine. Since being appointed Acting Administrator at GSA, I have looked to 

use all of GSA's existing authorities to make improvements in the management of our 

real property, including exploring the use of public-private partnerships to exchange and 

redevelop GSA's inventory. I believe that we can make further improvements in GSA's 

management of its real estate, as well as use our expertise government-wide to assist 

other agencies in making better asset management decisions. In addition, I think we 

have unprecedented unanimity of opinion in both houses of Congress and the within the 

Administration that reform is necessary. I believe this cross-branch, bipartisan interest 

in this subject area provides a rare opportunity for progress. 

11 
69 

19. GAO has reported extensively on the longstanding problem of excess and 

underutilized property across government. In recent years, legislative proposals 

to address the root causes, brought forward by the Administration and Congress, 

have not been enacted. How would you harness GSA's governmentwide 

leadership role in real property issues to reach a consensus among stakeholders 

on a reform framework? Are there specific changes you would recommend to 

facilitate the sale or reuse of excess or underutilized properties? 

GSA is working with agencies across government to help them increase their space 

utilization rates and assist them with portfolio planning efforts. I also see GSA playing a 

greater leadership role through a variety of avenues, including existing working groups 

like the Federal Real Property Council. Finally, I believe that our real property expertise 

can be used to provide useful data and technical assistance to evaluate reform 

proposals and help achieve better policy outcomes. I hope to work with this Committee 

on meaningful real property reform efforts that generate agency savings as well as 

reinvestments in our real property assets. 

20. In most cases of large, long-term need for property, research has shown that 

ownership is more cost effective than leasing. However, GSA's overreliance on 

costly leasing has continued to increase in recent years - GSA now leases more 

property than it owns. 

a. What could GSA leadership do to reverse this trend and provide better value to 

the taxpayer? 

I agree that ownership is often more cost-effective than leasing for long-term Federal 

needs. My experience so far suggests that the biggest hurdle to tackling this issue is 

the disconnect between Federal Buildings Fund rent revenue and asset reinvestment. 

If it were allowed to work as designed, the Federal Buildings Fund is a self-funding 

program that uses market-based rent charges from tenants in Federal Buildings to 

support a program of repair, renovation, replacement, construction and purchase. I 

hope to work with this Committee and other Committees of jurisdiction in Congress to 

tackle this significant challenge of reestablishing the integrity of the Federal Buildings 

Fund program. 

b. What do you believe should guide decision-making for leasing versus ownership 

of property and what strategies would you use to achieve that balance? 

I believe that cost-benefit analyses should guide decision-making for leasing versus 

ownership of property. Unfortunately, in recent years and due to severe budget cuts, 

GSA's Federal Buildings Fund has not had access to the revenue it collects to make 

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needed repairs and construct new buildings that will save taxpayers significant amounts 

of money over time. 

21. GSA's National Broker Contract (NBC) program has been in place for several 

years. What experience have you had with ensuring that large services contracts, 

such as the NBC program, have the necessary safeguards in place to ensure that 

the government's interests are well protected? 

The National Broker Contract (NBC) is a no-cost, commission-based contract program. 

We are looking at the effectiveness of the program and the way we utilize it through a 

broader assessment of the leasing program through our continuous top to bottom 

review. Overall, the leasing program could benefit from enhanced process review and 

streamlining, automation and standardization. By extension the NBC program could be 

more uniformly managed as part of an improved leasing program. 

22. Investing in preventative maintenance in buildings requires strategic vision -

small repairs today prevent catastrophic problems later. However, cyclical and 

routine maintenance are often among one of the first things cuts during periods 

of austerity like we face today. Do you have a plan for how GSA could keep an 

eye on tomorrow while meeting the budget demands of today? What would you 

recommend to Congress regarding changes to existing law or regulations to 

address GSA's repair backlog? 

I agree that preventative maintenance is critical and saves money by avoiding larger 

subsequent repair, replacement or reconstruction costs. A common industry 

benchmark indicates that $1 of preventative maintenance can save $4 to $5 of major 

repair later on. We have heavily prioritized repair projects in our capital planning, and 

hope to have access to the revenue in the Federal Buildings Fund that would allow us to 

make these crucial repairs and alterations. 

23. As Administrator, what steps would you take to promote energy efficiency in 

federal buildings? Are there actions you believe GSA could take in the area of 

energy consumption/green buildings that could serve as a model for other 

agencies? 

Improving the energy efficiency of GSA's buildings is an important step in reducing the 

long-term operating costs of the Federal government and meeting the energy reduction 

goals outlined in statutes and Executive Orders. 

When renovating and repairing our inventory, we look to install new, energy-efficient 

equipment. We also make assessments of the performance of energy-efficient 

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technology, and share these findings with other government agencies so they can also 

make use of this data. 

In addition, GSA has also used public-private partnerships such as Energy Savings 

Performance Contracts (ESPCs) to install new, energy-efficient equipment paid back 

through the energy savings that are achieved. We have committed to pursuing ESPCs 

on 30 buildings comprising 17 million square feet of space in our inventory through our 

Deep Retrofit Challenge. 

24. As you know, GSA and the Department of Homeland Security have, together, 

spent over $1 billion on building a consolidated headquarters for the Department 

of Homeland Security at the St. Elizabeths campus, and the U.S. Coast Guard will 

move into its headquarters on the campus later this year. In addition to 

increasing the operational effectiveness of the Department - which currently is 

scattered at over 50 sites in the National Capital Region - the project would allow 

the Department to reduce its footprint in costly leased facilities. However, delays 

caused by scarcity of funds have increased the projected cost of the project by 

approximately $600 million. Given the constraints of the current fiscal 

environment, what ideas do you have to keep this project on track to prevent 

further cost escalations, and to reduce the Department's reliance on increasingly 

expensive short-duration leases? 

I agree that the consolidation project at St. Elizabeths would increase the operational 

effectiveness of the Department of Homeland Security. It would also consolidate 

millions of square feet of space currently leased to Federally owned space, saving 

money over the long term. I share your concern over the continued delays to the 

project due to budget constraints. 

GSA and DHS are committed to moving forward with this critical project, and in FY 2014 

GSA has requested $261 million to renovate the Center building to move the Secretary 

to the campus. We have also worked together to re-baseline the project to move 

forward in what we hope are more manageable funding segments. 

25. What experience do you have managing revolving funds? Do you think this type 

of fund is an effective tool for GSA to manage its real property investments? 

Why? 

As Acting GSA Administrator since April of last year, I have worked with GSA's 

revolving funds. Additionally. as CFO of Treasury, I gained familiarity and worked on 

issues associated with revolving funds in that agency. I have had several other workrelated experiences with governmental revolving fund mechanisms. Given these 

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experiences, I do believe that a true revolving fund can be an effective tool for 

managing real property investments. The Federal Buildings Fund (FBF) is designed to 

function like a private sector real estate firm's investment fund, with revenues collected 

used to fund the expenses of purchasing, building, operating, repairing, and maintaining 

buildings. The requirement for agencies to pay rent also forces budget discipline that 

can help ensure that agencies look for ways to reduce their real estate costs. By 

ensuring that rents are market based, the FBF also ensures that we are constantly 

trying to strike the right balance between owned and rental property, with neither 

receiving an unfair competitive advantage. 

Unfortunately, the FBF has not been funded in a manner consistent with its revenue 

collections, diluting its effectiveness and delaying smart, common-sense investments in 

the inventory. In this sense, the FBF has not operated as a true revolving fund, forcing 

agencies to pay market rental rates for which they have not received market-level rates 

of reinvestment. I hope to work with this Committee and other Committees in Congress 

to restore funding integrity for this crucial fund. 

Acquisition 

26. What steps do you think could be taken to strengthen the use of competition 

under interagency contracts awarded by GSA? 

I have learned over the last year that there is an uneven level of understanding from 

agency to agency about what GSA contracts are available, how to use them, and how 

to get best value from their use. Competing an agency need between schedule vendors 

is the best way to quickly and efficiently get a good price and value for an agency. We 

have been working through the Chief Acquisition Officer Council, the Federal acquisition 

Institute and on an agency-by-agency basis to improve understanding about how to get 

the best value from GSA Schedules. 

At the same time, I have been working with leaders at other agencies to show that GSA 

services and contracts can help agencies achieve savings, improve the services 

delivered to them, and improve their small business participation. For example: 

• Using GSA schedules is up to 50% faster for an agency than going open market. 

• GSA-leased vehicles are cheaper per mile than agency-owed vehicles, and also 

allow agencies greater visibility into their vehicle program. 

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• GSA's strategically sourced solutions are 10-20% cheaper than how most 

agencies purchase today. 

• GSA's new contract for wireless plans and devices will save $300 million over 

five years and allows an agency to identify and shut down lines with zero usage, 

pool minutes like any family plan, and receive an inventory of their devices. Until 

now, wireless purchasing has been fragmented among multiple buying channels 

resulting in individual bureaus, departments and operating divisions across the 

government managing more than 4,000 wireless agreements and 800 wireless 

plans from various carriers. 

• GSA solutions also help an agency meet their small business goals, as eighty 

percent of GSA schedule holders are small businesses. An example where good 

prices and small business participation intersect is the strategically sourced office 

supply solution for office supplies. This solution has generated a 15% reduction 

in price while 76 percent of dollars went to small businesses. 

27. Across the government, agencies have negotiated duplicative contracts for the 

same or similar services. As a result, the government, as a whole, spends more 

than it should on contract administration costs and loses out on the opportunity 

to leverage the buying power of the federal government. One way agencies could 

increase the efficiencies of their operations - especially in light of sequestration -

would be to make greater use of available governmentwide contracting vehicles, 

including those awarded and managed by GSA. 

a. What steps would you take to ensure that contracts awarded and managed by 

GSA truly represent the best value to federal agencies, so that agencies can 

harness real cost savings? 

GSA is committed to helping agencies make sound resource decisions. For example, 

the Schedules program reduces duplicative contracts and prevents agencies from 

having to sift through redundant offerings. Additionally, GSA's office supplies strategic 

sourcing vehicle requires contractors to report transactional data on all program sales, 

which allows us, for the first time, to have a detailed understanding of agency spending 

behavior. Over the last several months, GSA used this data to show contractors their 

priCing item by item, compared with their competitors. This empowered office supply 

contractors to understand their competitive position, and in many cases go back to their 

suppliers and strike better deals. After GSA shared this data, every one of the 

contractors reduced prices. We believe that by getting more and better data, we can 

use it to drive better pricing and increased value. 

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b. What steps are you taking to market GSA's contract vehicles to other agencies? 

What is GSA's message about the value it can provide other agencies? 

Last year I began a round of meetings with agency Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries or 

Administrators to discuss ways in which we can more affirmatively collaborate. Among 

the topics is an analysis of each agency's use of schedules and opportunities to expand 

and improve cooperation. At the same time we are meeting with agencies across 

govemment at the program and acquisition staff level to listen to their concerns about 

using GSA's services so that we can better understand their needs and teach them 

about the vast array of procurement solutions GSA has to offer. We are now using 

agency feedback to reevaluate our offerings as well as working with them to achieve 

their contracting goals. Using agency data, GSA has shown that our solutions are more 

efficient in both cost and price terms. 

c. What do you think are the main reasons that agencies often choose to negotiate 

their own contracts rather than use contracts negotiated by GSA? 

Often agencies believe their requirements are unique and cannot be procured through 

GSA solutions. However, that is generally not accurate. GSA offers a wide range of 

solutions through its schedules, government-wide acquisitions (GWACs) and strategic 

sourcing solutions. GSA creates these solutions through a team of agency acquisition 

professionals across government to ensure we are meeting their needs. We are 

exploring ways to make agency leadership and acquisition professionals more aware of 

the cost of replicating existing, available vehicles. In addition, we are developing a 

continuous reporting framework to provide agency leadership with feedback on agency 

use of GSA vehicles and the available opportunities to reduce workload and save time 

in both developing contracts and fulfilling the agency need. 

28. Strategic sourcing involves the analytical assessment of needs across the 

government, or across an agency, followed by the negotiation of contracts that 

provide discounted prices based on volume purchases. As a whole, the federal 

government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the country. 

However, last fall, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report 

(GAO-12-919) showing that instead of leveraging the buying power of the whole 

government, agencies act more like many unrelated, medium-sized buSinesses, 

relying on hundreds of separate contracts for commonly used items, paying 

prices that vary widely. A related GAO report issued this year (GAO-13-417) 

highlighted leading procurement practices at seven large U.S. companies. GAO 

found that these companies reported savings of four to fifteen percent over prior 

year spending through aggressive use of strategic sourcing. 

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a. What steps are you taking, in coordination with the Office of Federal 

Procurement Policy, to create new opportunities for strategic sourcing in the 

federal government? 

At a time when every federal agency is feeling the effects of tightening budgets, GSA's 

mission to deliver value to our partners and the American taxpayer is more important 

than ever. This is why, over the next two years, GSA will create ten new governmentwide strategic sourcing contracts for a range of products and services commonly 

purchased by federal agencies - including cleaning products, tools, and wireless 

devices. This effort will save hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars and deliver the 

best value to agency customers. 

b. What should be GSA's role in measuring savings under strategic sourcing 

initiatives? How much do you believe GSA can save? What processes need to be 

in place to ensure that small- and medium-sized businesses have ample 

opportunity to participate in strategic sourcing initiatives? 

In collaboration with OMS, GSA provides data and regular reporting to agencies that 

track the savings from strategic sourcing. For instance, the Office Supplies 2 

strategically sourced solution resulted in direct savings of $88.7 million on spending of 

$607.9 million through April 2013. Moving forward, we will be increasing the 

transparency of prices paid for common goods and services for use by agency officials 

in market research and negotiations. GSA estimates the potential savings from 

strategic sourcing at $1 billion annually when all ten solutions are in place and agencies 

are fully participating. 

Strategic sourcing solutions need to be built to ensure opportunities for small and 

medium size businesses. We believe that we have been able to both make progress in 

improving value to agency partners through strategic sourcing while maintaining small 

business participation. In the case of the office supplies vehicle, over successive 

recompetes, we have been able to drive down prices, reduce price variation, maintain 

small bUSiness participation and increase small business volume to 76% of spending. 

c. What data should drive decisions about strategic sourcing and how should that 

data be collected? 

Data on agencies' spending patterns is critical in order to leverage purchasing power, 

reduce cost and improve overall performance. For each strategic sourcing vehicle we 

are developing, we organize a team of agency representatives and follow a structured 

and collaborative process to collect and analyze relevant data on pricing, volumes and 

specific items purchased. 

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29. In your September 2012 testimony before the Committee, you indicated that you 

would review the level of fees that GSA charges other agencies under its 

"Industrial Funding Fee" for use of contracts under the GSA Multiple Award 

Schedule program. An audit issued last year by the GSA Inspector General found 

that as of September 2009, the revolving fund where the fees are deposited had 

reserves of $687.5 million. 

a. What's the status of this review? If completed, what were the findings? 

I am still reviewing the status of the level of fees associated with the fund. I am 

examining various proposals and look forward to receiving your input on the matter. 

b. Does the Acquisition Support Fund currently hold excess reserves? If so, what 

is the amount of reserve funding available? 

The Acquisition Support Fund (ASF) was designed by Congress to both develop and 

retain funds to ensure funding is available to operate self-funded acquisition services as 

well as make necessary capital and development investments in technology, 

infrastructure, or new service offerings. In addition, reserve funds are used to provide 

working capital for lease replacements, such as fleets, and we are now exploring 

information technology and furniture lease offerings. Similar revolving or franchise 

funds that I have experience with from other agencies are also permitted to retain 

earnings for reinvestment and cash management purposes. We are committed to a 

rolling six-month review of balances, performance of funded capital projects and cash 

demands against the fund in order to set the right level of funding and return any unneeded funds as either reimbursements to the Treasury or reduced pricing for agency 

customers going forward. 

c. For what purposes are these fees used within GSA, beyond the recovery of costs 

directly associated with the Multiple Award Schedules program? What do you 

plan to do with any available reserve funds? 

The ASF is largely used for cost recovery and maintenance of Schedules. The funds 

have also historically been used to fund IT investments and other programs that would 

support greater efficiencies in the program. 

As part of my reforms, I put in place new leadership at FAS, and have asked that they 

review the use of the fund and determine the appropriate levels, as well as identify any 

investments needed to improve the value delivered in acquisitions to partner Federal 

agencies. 

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d. What do you believe is the appropriate process for GSA to set fees for its 

acquisition services that are not unnecessarily high, and are you confident that 

such a process is in place? 

As I noted last September, I believe it is appropriate to look at the fee structure in place 

in GSA's acquisition services and assess whether the levels are appropriate for cost 

recovery and future investment. 

I put in place new leadership at FAS and they have been tasked with continuing to 

explore this issue. Part of this analysis will include a continual assessment of agency 

concerns and levels of satisfaction. In addition, a relentless focus on programmatic cost 

reduction should provide us the ability to reduce our fees and improve pricing overall. 

30. The GSA IG noted in its March 2013 update entitled, "Major Issues from Multiple 

Award Schedule Preaward Audits," that commercial sales practices (CSP) 

disclosures are not current, accurate and/or complete. As a result of this 

deficient information, "over two-thirds of vendors [examined by the IG] provided 

contracting officers with flawed commercial sales practices (CSP) information 

which adversely affected the contracting officers' determination of fair and 

reasonable pricing for those contracts." 

a. What has GSA done to determine the scope ofthis problem beyond the 

contracts that the IG audited to determine the extent to which GSA has paid 

unreasonable prices, which are unnecessary expenses that are ultimately borne 

by the taxpayers? 

There have been several recent audits addressing different challenges across the MAS 

program. I appreciate the dedicated work of GSA's Inspector General, and share his 

focus on ensuring efficiency and cost savings. 

In response to this March 2013 audit, the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) initiated 

over 400 compliance assessments of vendors within 30 days of the release of the 

report. The risk-based assessment spans the range of issues covered in the IG report to 

determine compliance with all contract terms and conditions, including the commercial 

sale practice (CSP). The assessment will be complete by September 30,2013. 

As FAS began its assessment, it issued two instructional letters to the FAS contracting 

workforce to ensure compliance, as well as the appropriate documentation, around the 

procurement actions highlighted in the IG report. I've also mandated training for the FAS 

contracting workforce on contract award and administration, to include CSP procedures. 

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There is still more work to be done, and I look forward to working with GSA's Inspector 

General and this Committee on other improvements that can be made. 

b. In evaluating FY 2011 contracts, the GSA IG noted some improvements over FY 

2010 in the CSP disclosures, but the IG nonetheless found continued problems. 

Since assuming your role as Acting Administrator, what steps have you taken to 

remedy GSA's use of flawed CSP information to set contracting officers' contract 

pricing determinations? 

In addition to the actions listed above, we are writing stronger language into our 

contracts that would require contractors to fully disclose their commercial sales 

practices prior to consideration and failure to do so will result in disqualification from 

consideration for an award 

31. The GSA IG reported in its March 2013 update entitled, "Major Issues from 

Multiple Award Schedule Preaward Audits," that "GSA customers were 

overcharged for professional services" because the employees providing these 

services "did not have the minimum educational and/or experience qualifications 

proposed by the vender and required by their contracts." In fact, the GSA IG 

states this problem grew between FY 2010 and FY 2011. 

a. What has GSA done to determine the scope of this problem beyond the 

contracts examined by the IG? 

As previously described, the 400 compliance assessments of vendors that has been 

initiated will include a review of professional services pricing. 

b. The GSA IG states this problem "has not shown improvement from FY 2010." 

Assuming this is accurate, please explain why there has been no improvement. 

What steps have you taken to ensure that vendors under GSA contracts provide 

labor that meets the qualifications provided for in the contracts?? 

In addition to the additional training and compliance assessments underway, I have put 

in place new leadership at FAS and tasked them with reviewing these and other issues 

with the MAS program. 

32. Do you believe the current Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) system promotes or 

diminishes competition? Why? What steps could be taken to improve 

competition under MAS contracts? 

We believe that MAS presents an opportunity for vendors and agencies to compete. 

GSA's e-Buy site, which allows agencies to request submissions of quotes for goods 

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and services offered through our solutions, promotes competition by automatically 

ensuring compliance with the Competition in Contracting Act. 

When competing, we also want to particularly ensure opportunity for small businesses. 

We have done that successfully through the small business set-aside under the Multiple 

Award Schedules program, which came about as a result of section 1331 of the Small 

Business Jobs Act of 201 O. Since April 1 , 2012, through GSA's e-Buy system, we have 

set aside 15,942 Requests for Quotation (RFQ) (more than 19 percent) for small 

business. For the month of April 2013, we set aside 22.5 percent of all RFQs -- great 

progress as the buying season kicks into high gear. 

Moving forward, GSA is on track to double the number of acquisition employees across 

government trained in how best to use the GSA schedules - from 8,000 to 

approximately 16,000. GSA's training ensures the acquisition workforce knows how to 

use the schedules to promote competition to the greatest extent possible. 

33. Do you believe there are any needed reforms that should be made to the GSA 

Schedule process? If yes, please provide examples of reforms you plan to 

implement, should you be confirmed. If no, please explain why no changes are 

necessary. 

I want to make the schedules easier to use for our agency and vendor customers. The 

current process by which vendors register, information is accessed by our customers, 

and even the way information is displayed through GSA Advantage, can be too 

complicated. Further, the GSA schedules must be more flexible to meet the needs of 

our agency customers. I also want to focus on lower priced consolidated buying, such 

as the recently awarded contracts for wireless devices and plans that allow agencies to 

purchase standardized bundles of voice and data service. This type of buying 

capitalizes on the vast pool of potential buyers across government. 

34. In its FY 2011 memorandum on MAS preaward audits, the GSA IG recommended 

over $240 million in cost avoidances and FAS contracting officers concurred with 

these findings and agreed to use those findings to establish pre-negotiation 

objectives. However, in its March 2013 update, the GSA IG states GSA "only 

achieved savings for 36 percent of this amount." What is GSA doing to address 

the gap in its agreement with 100 percent of recommended cost avoidances and 

its achievement of only 36 percent of this amount? 

This is one of the elements under review as part of GSA's risk-based assessment, and I 

have asked new leadership at FAS to focus on these concerns. As initial steps, we 

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believe we need to put in place stronger pre-award documentation requirements and 

improve information sharing with the IG. 

35. In a recently released report (June 4th) entitled, "Improper Management 

Intervention in Multiple Award Schedule Contracts," the GSA IG found there was 

"improper Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) management intervention in Multiple 

Award Schedule (MAS) contracts [which1 resulted in inflated pricing and/or 

unfavorable contract terms, and undermined the authority of contracting 

officers." This finding and the supporting evidence are very disturbing. In GSA's 

official response to the IG, the Commissioner of FAS outlined several steps he is 

taking to reinforce the important of integrity in the procurement process within 

FAS. He also indicated that he is conducting a review of the contracts at issue to 

determine whether they should be renegotiated and/or cancelled, and he 

indicated personnel action has been taken against a supervisor. What other 

steps are you taking personally to remind GSA employees that contract decisions 

must be made on the basis of what is best for the taxpayer? What additional 

protections are necessary to prevent undue interference with the integrity of 

contract negotiations? 

Since I arrived at GSA, I have made clear that decisions must be made based on what 

is in the best interest of the taxpayer. I am very troubled by the findings in the report 

and commit that we will take whatever actions are necessary to prevent undue 

interference with the integrity of contract negotiations. 

I have asked my new FAS Commissioner to take all appropriate action against any 

officials responsible for this as well as oversee a review on whether any contracts 

should be renegotiated. In addition, I have asked our Chief Acquisition Officer and FAS 

Commissioner to co-lead a review of procurement authority and practices and make 

recommendations on any needed changes in policies or processes. 

36. As you know, the GSA "System for Award Management" is failing to meet the 

program's original promise of a seamless consolidation of the numerous 

databases related to federal contracts. Early last year, GAO reported that the 

cost of the program had already escalated by $85 million, and the roll-out of the 

first phase of the system was characterized by extensive technical problems, 

many relating to the underlying software. It is clear that the original, long-term 

plan for this project is unsustainable. 

a. What role are you playing in getting this project back on track? How do you 

plan to address any uncompleted phases? 

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The actions I have taken so far include moving SAM operations out of a policy focused 

section of GSA to FAS, which has the experience in systems operations and project 

management necessary to manage a system on SAM's scale. Additionally, GSA's cia 

is now an active partner in helping clarify the technical and structural planning 

implications a government-wide solution like this entails. I have charged FAS and the 

cia to conduct an in-depth analysis of SAM from top to bottom and report out options 

for SAM's future state. 

b. What is the status of an analysis of alternatives that would provide a realistic 

path forward for reducing duplication in the federal procurement databases and 

increasing their ease of use for federal officials, the contracting community, and 

the general public? 

I have charged FAS and cia to conduct an in-depth analysis of SAM from top to bottom 

and report out options for SAM's future state. I am currently examining a number of 

alternatives about how best to address the path forward. Our ultimate goal for SAM is a 

system that saves money, increases flexibility, enhances transparency and enables our 

customers to be more productive. 

37. Federal contracting officers would be better prepared to negotiate with 

contractors if they had better information on prices paid across the government 

for the same or similar products or services. What steps do you plan to take to 

increase the transparency of prices paid for common goods and services for use 

by agency officials in market research and negotiations? What kind of pricing 

data should GSA collect about purchases made through GSA contracts, 

particularly at the transactional level? 

Using the purchasing power of the federal government can reduce acquisition time and 

costs for our agency partners, enabling them to focus on their core missions. For 

example, the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI) for office supplies requires 

contractors to report transactional data on all program sales. This level of financial 

information collection provides GSA, for the first time, a deep view into agency spending 

behavior. Over the last several months, GSA has used this data to show contractors 

their pricing item-by-item, compared with their competitors. This empowered FSSI 

Office Supply contractors to understand their competitive position, and in many cases 

go back to their suppliers and strike better deals. After GSA shared this data, every one 

of the OS2 contractors sharply reduced prices, reflecting a savings of over $12 million. 

In addition to FSSI, GSA is participating with other federal agencies to better 

understand the federal spending profile and identify buying strategies that will drive 

efficiency and transparency to improve market research and the government's 

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negotiating position. The value of this type of business intelligence has long been 

recognized by the private sector as a key to reducing ineffiCiency and delivering better 

results. 

38. What should be GSA's role in ensuring that agencies do not pay compensation 

for contractor employees that exceed competitive market rates in the private 

sector, or that agencies do not unnecessarily contract for services that could be 

performed more efficiently in-house? 

GSA's role as the government's acquisition agency for the federal marketplace is to lead 

the way in ensuring that government pays a fair and reasonable price for goods and 

services. GSA's Schedules program is built around providing commercially available 

products and services to federal customers; in doing so, acquisition professionals 

consider multiple sources of information to make a fair and reasonable price 

determination, such as comparing prices for similar products and services available on 

the open market. Moreover, GSA uses its extensive purchasing power to identify 

common requirements for multiple federal agency customers and is able to drive down 

pricing. A key example is GSA's recently established Federal Strategic Sourcing 

Initiative for wireless devices. 

When contracting for services, agencies are required to perform an analysis to 

determine whether or not the function to be contracted out is inherently governmental, 

as well as whether the activity could be more efficiently performed in-house, consistent 

with the requirements of OMB Circular A-76, "Performance of Commercial 

Activities." GSA's role, through the Federal Acquisition Institute, is to provide training in 

these areas as well as in other acquisition requirements, to the Federal acquisition 

workforce. GSA ensures that risk management controls are in place -- such as periodic 

review of scopes of task orders -- for contract vehicles such as the GSA Schedules to 

minimize risk that agencies utilize contracts for inherently governmental services. 

39. In 2007, GSA awarded contracts under its Networx program to provide a new 

suite of telecommunications contracts for federal agencies. Networx replaced a 

set of contracts that expired in June 2010. However, on the eve of that date, less 

than half of federal communications services had been transitioned to the new 

Networx contracts. As a consequence ofthose delays, GSA had to negotiate 

sole-source bridge contracts with existing providers to ensure continuity of 

services at many agencies. Also, during those delays, agencies missed out on 

savings that they could have achieved by switching to lower-cost services under 

Networx. 

a. What steps are you taking to learn lessons from the slow transition to Networx? 

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GSA has investigated what happened with this contract and we now have in-depth 

analyses, including recommendations from a soon-to-be-released GAO report, to help 

us be successful in the next iteration, Network Services 2020 (NS2020). Along with 

other planning activities, we have already begun reaching out to agency stakeholders to 

get their buy-in, which is crucial for a successful, timely transition. The Committee's 

input in preparing for NS2020 is welcomed, and I look forward to working with you. 

b. The next suite of telecommunications contracts that will replace Networx will 

need to be in place in 2020. What is GSA doing now to plan for post-Networx 

contract options for agencies? 

Although Networx's contract was negotiated and began implementation before my time 

at GSA, moving forward, I want to ensure flexible options for agencies to optimize their 

needs in order to save time and money. In looking toward next steps, it is apparent that 

GSA needs to do a better job preparing agencies, big and small, for an appropriate 

transition period. 

40. Last year GAO released a report on the role of Chief Acquisition Officers across 

the government (GAO-12-792). The Chief Acquisition Officer (CAO) is supposed 

to be the senior political appointee responsible for an agency's acquisition 

management and ensuring that the agency complies with procurement 

regulations. GAO reported that since the creation of the CAO position by 

Congress in 2003, GSA has had 10 different CAOs. Furthermore, GAO's findings 

showed that the role of the CAO at GSA is unclear. What steps, if any, have you 

taken to clarify and strengthen the role ofthe CAO in GSA? 

GSA's CAO plays a critical role in both improving GSA's internal procurement 

operations as well as driving greater value to our agency customers and taxpayers 

through cost-effective, high-value contracts. The CAO is helping to drive the expansion 

of GSA strategic sourcing solutions across government, and is leading the effort to 

identify savings opportunities for agencies. 

41. This year GAO removed interagency contracting from its High Risk list of 

government operations that are extremely vulnerable to waste. fraud, abuse or 

mismanagement. GAO noted that Congress, OMB, and agencies have created 

new policies to govern the creation and use of inter-agency contracts and have 

increased management controls over these contract vehicles. However, GAO also 

cautioned that removal of interagency contracting from the High Risk list does 

not mean that use of these contracts is without challenges, and continued 

management attention is needed. Given GSA's central role in interagency 

contracting, what steps do you intend to take to ensure that agencies address the 

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risks associated with interagency contracts, and to ensure that interagency 

contracts are used appropriately to streamline the procurement process and 

leverage the buying power of the government? 

GSA has partnered with the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI) and the Defense 

Acquisition University (DAU) to produce comprehensive training on effective and 

responsible use of interagency contracts for the federal acquisition workforce. The 

training covers the life-cycle of such procurements, from planning through 

administration and close-out. This training reinforces the new rules that GSA, as a 

member of the FAR Council, put in place to address GAO concerns. While we are very 

pleased that the GAO recognized these efforts and removed interagency contracting 

from their High Risk list, we appreciate that continued management attention is needed. 

GSA has guidance online for agencies and will continue to work with FAI and DAU to 

refine and adjust training as needs change. We are working with federal agencies to 

deepen our understanding of the federal spending profile so that we can elevate the 

management of common goods and services bought across the federal government, 

which we expect to produce even greater transparency and accountability. 

42. Do you believe all major GSA operating divisions are currently maintaining the 

appropriate level of overhead costs? Why or why not? 

I believe that we can more aggressively and affirmatively reduce the cost of overhead 

throughout GSA and it programs. Overhead cost reduction and improved accountability 

and transparency motivated my decision to consolidate finance, human resources, IT 

and administrative service functions under their respective Chief (e.g. Chief Financial 

Officer). This is the first step along the road toward streamlining and standardizing 

processes and reducing overhead expense as well as the cost redundant administrative 

activities imposes on programs. 

The efficiencies gained from this reform are projected to save more than $200 million 

over the next ten years, and I am encouraging all divisions to continue to find ways to 

further reduce their operating costs. 

E-Gov and Information Technology 

43. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) provides a 

government-wide standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, 

and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. While several 

companies have been granted an "Authority to Operate" under the FedRAMP 

security requirements, there are currently dozens more that are waiting to be 

approved by the Joint Authorization Board. If confirmed, what steps would you 

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take to ensure that the FedRAMP process is running smoothly and that cloud 

service providers are able to go through the process in a timely manner without 

sacrificing thoroughness and security? 

I appreciate the Committee's recognition of the challenge we face regarding balancing 

speed and thoroughness of the vetting process. FedRAMP's 'do once, leverage many 

times' approach will reduce the time it takes agencies to adopt new, secure cloud IT 

capabilities. We are engaging agency stakeholders and industry to educate them about 

Fed RAMP's process and benefits. We feel we are making progress in helping industry 

understand the level of readiness necessary to go through the vetting process and in 

helping agencies understand their options. 

On June 6th, Fed RAMP issued two new Joint Authorization Board (JAB) provisional 

cloud security authorizations to HP and Lockheed Martin. These Infrastructure as a 

Service offerings join the cloud offerings by Autonomic Resources and CGI Federal 

under JAB provisional authorities to operate (ATO). Additionally, in May 2013, the 

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) granted Amazon and US East I West 

offerings each an agency ATO using Fed RAMP requirements. 

We believe these new offerings will build a critical mass of certified vendor choices for 

agencies as they transition to the cloud. Agencies will be able to review the full 

provisional authorization packages of these options as well as the independent 

assessment conducted by a FedRAMP-accredited Third Party Assessor Organization 

(3PAO) for their own agency specific security authorizations through the FedRAMP 

secure repository. 

The President's FY 2014 budget request includes a request for $20.1 million for GSA's 

Electronic Government Fund, which will include support for the Fed RAMP program. I 

look forward to updating the Committee on the progress of this program moving 

forward. 

44. In accordance with section 8(e) of Executive Order 13636, GSA and the 

Department of Defense, in consultation with the Department of Homeland 

Security and the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council, are required to make 

recommendations on the feasibility, security benefits, and relative merits of 

incorporating cybersecurity standards into acquisition planning and contract 

administration. What steps can be taken to harmonize existing procurement 

requirements related to cybersecurity? 

GSA is leading an interagency Working Group developing recommendations about 

improving cybersecurity and resilience through acquisition. The Working Group includes 

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subject matter experts in acquisition and cybersecurity from GSA, DOD, DHS, OFPP, 

and NIST. The group has also received significant assistance from the intelligence 

community. Within the 120 day timeline, the Working Group has conducted extensive 

outreach with the stakeholder community through numerous engagements with industry 

associations, individual companies (large and small), academia, public conferences and 

symposia, and a published request for information (RFI) from the public. As a result, the 

recommendations reflect a broad perspective relevant to all critical infrastructure 

sectors. A draft report is currently under review by the agencies and industry; this draft 

will be refined using the input from stakeholders and the RFI responses, and submitted 

to the President in June. The report addresses the need to institute baseline 

cybersecurity requirements in acquisitions, improve training in the acquisition workforce, 

develop cybersecurity definitions for federal acquisitions, institute a cyber risk 

management strategy, require purchases from trusted sources as appropriate, and 

increase government accountability for cyber risk management. 

I look forward to updating the Committee on this topic. 

45. Do you support additional training for an IT acquisition cadre? Why or why not? 

The IT acquisition cadre is a critical part of the federal acquisition workforce, which is 

why I am very appreciative of this committee's work to pass the Federal Acquisition 

Institute Improvement Act. In this time of budgetary constraint, we must ensure that 

acquisition training, planning and delivery is done in the most efficient manner. Working 

with OMS and our agency partners, FAI has made significant progress in improving 

collaboration across agencies in the development of training requirements, courses and 

career management. We would be happy to explore what additional training FAI can 

offer to support improved capabilities for acquisition staff that specializes in IT and IT 

services. At the same time, GSA maintains one of the most experienced IT acquisition 

cadres in the teams that both work on the IT schedules as well as those that provide 

Assisted Acquisition Services (AAS) to agencies. Expanded use of these resources by 

agencies could help fill some of the skills and experience gaps that agencies may be 

experiencing. 

46. GSA annually spends more than $425 million on 25 major IT projects. The IT 

Dashboard shows that six of these investments require management attention. 

What does GSA do to manage troubled IT investments? 

Ensuring effective management of IT investments within GSA is a high priority for me. 

The GSA CIO provides me on a bi-weekly basis a status of all critical IT projects and 

investments within GSA, identifying any critical items that may require management 

intervention. 

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The GSA CIO's top to bottom review also highlighted the need to provide better 

oversight and controls over GSA's IT investments through consolidation of all IT 

functions under the purview of GSA's CIO. This consolidation is underway, and all 

major IT offices within GSA now report to the Agency's CIO. This work will provide 

better oversight and decision making over IT investments and projects moving forward, 

and will reduce duplication and redundancy across GSA. 

Additionally, the CIO, Chief Acquisition Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief 

Administrative Officer must approve any IT investment over a certain amount. We also 

developed an "IT spend tracker" to track critical information for all investments over this 

threshold. 

Finally, the GSA CIO's office works closely with the OMB eGov office to conduct 

TechStat sessions for troubled investments, bringing together key management 

stakeholders for affected investments to determine a path forward, including 

consideration for whether further investment in the initiative should be stopped. For 

example, most recently, through a series of TechStat sessions for the troubled SAMIIAE 

investment, GSA established a new management team to oversee the SAM program 

with the appropriate expertise and capabilities to succeed, and has developed a new 

path forward that will provide better services to the SAM system stakeholders and 

reduce projected costs by roughly $100M over ten years. 

47. How do you envision GSA's role in helping agencies transition to the cloud? 

GSA strives to be both a leader and a trusted business-partner in helping federal 

agencies transition to the cloud. In accordance with the Administration's Cloud First 

policy, GSA was among the first agencies to transition major business functions to the 

cloud. Our cloud-based email and collaboration platform provides GSA significant cost 

savings as well as improved security, mobility and performance. GSA's first-hand 

knowledge of transitioning to the cloud has benefited our partner agencies as we are 

able to share our experience and lessons learned. We also help agencies comply with 

requirements and guidelines for moving to the cloud. Our cloud IT services provide 

convenient, on-demand access to a shared pool of computing resources that can be 

quickly and easily configured, provisioned, and released. 

Another way GSA is helping agencies transition to the cloud is through the Federal Risk 

and Authorization Management Program (Fed RAMP). Fed RAMP is a government-wide 

program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, 

and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. This approach uses a "do 

once, use many times" framework that saves cost, time, and staff required to conduct 

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redundant agency security assessments. This program is an innovative policy approach 

for developing trusted relationships between Federal agencies and cloud service 

providers. The goal of the program is to reduce duplicative efforts, inconsistencies and 

cost inefficiencies associated with the current security authorization process. FedRAMP 

establishes a public-private partnership to promote innovation and the advancement of 

more secure information technologies. 

Additionally, GSA is currently investigating options for a next generation cloud 

computing services business model. A published Request for Information (RFI) was an 

inquiry designed to further GSA's understanding of the marketplace and how it can 

maximize the government's efficient use of Cloud Computing Services through the use 

of Cloud Brokerage Services. 

One of the potential benefits of the Cloud Brokerage Services we are researching is that 

these brokers could identify competitive services and provide on-going competition 

among cloud providers to encourage both continual update of the technology and price 

reductions. 

Workforce Issues 

48. GSA has made increasing the use of telework a priority within the agency and, 

both historically and under the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, also plays a 

role in providing guidance and assistance to other federal agencies on 

establishing successful telework programs. 

a. What are your views on telework and what steps will you take to ensure that GSA 

continues to support successful and fully implemented telework programs in 

Federal agencies? 

Telework can help realize greater efficiency within the Federal Real Estate Portfolio. It 

also can enable the Government to work anywhere and anytime. During Hurricane 

Sandy, many GSA employees were able to provide timely and essential services 

outside of their traditional workplace. Telework policies have given employees more 

choices for where and how they work, benefitting families and personal satisfaction by 

reducing commuting burdens, congestion, and pollution. However, it is critical that 

proper controls are put in place for any telework. GSA will continue to work to promote 

agency understanding and use of telework. For example, telework strategies and 

poliCies will be part of our work with agencies on office space efficiency. We will also 

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continue to market access to technologies that support employee mobility and telework 

through the schedules and other GSA acquisition vehicles. 

b. What do you think the Administration could do to get more positive, measurable 

results? 

GSA will continue its existing partnership with the Office of Management and Budget 

and the Office of Personnel Management to promote and support employee mobility 

and telework. We will explore methods of more accurately measuring participation and 

providing assistance to agencies interested in expanding their offerings. In addition, 

focus on agency office space utilization under the "Freeze the Footprint" initiative 

provides an opportunity to expose agencies to the cost savings possibilities of 

expanded mobility and telework. 

49. The adequacy of the government's acquisition workforce, both in size and skill 

mix, has frequently been cited as a serious problem for government procurement. 

a. Do you believe GSA has an adequate acquisition workforce with the right skill 

sets to meet the government's complex acquisition needs? 

GSA's acquisition workforce is fundamentally sound, but much work remains to be done 

to ensure that they are engaged in continuous leaming to stay at the peak of their 

complex and continually evolving profession. Additionally, we need to ensure that our 

acquisition staff also possesses a well-rounded set of experiences to qualify them for 

the diverse and changing acquisition needs of the Federal government. Together, 

continuous learning and experience are the basis for issuing Contracting Warrants, 

which are issued based on mission need. Ensuring that staff are properly certified and 

warranted has been a key challenge. 

We know we need to remain vigilant to ensure we are performing to the highest levels. 

Given this responsibility we have launched a top to bottom review of GSA procurement 

activities, staffing, policies and procedures to be led by our Chief Acquisition Officer and 

the Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service. 

b. As Administrator, what steps would you take to ensure the GSA's workforce is 

capable of meeting the government's acquisition needs and challenges both now 

and in the future? 

GSA's key mission is acquiring goods, services, buildings and more on behalf of our 

Federal customers. As such, a highly skilled and agile acquisition workforce that 

represents the best in Federal Government is essential. I have identified a number of 

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initiatives that will address succession planning, strengthened policy for Acquisition 

Planning, greater management accountability, and a more robust warranting program. 

For example, with 30% of GSA's Contracting Officer population eligible to retire, GSA 

must focus on succession planning and recruitment. Workload pressures can result in 

poor acquisition planning, which may result in reduced competition, higher prices, and 

ineffective solutions. I am also currently overseeing efforts to strengthen GSA's 

acquisition planning regulations. 

c. What role do you believe GSA plays in ensuring that the acquisition workforce 

government-wide is properly staffed and adequately trained? 

Through the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI), GSA plays a central role in developing 

an agile and quality govemment-wide acquisition workforce. Working with OMB and our 

partner agencies, FAI work is focused on four areas: 

• Facilitating human capital planning and development to assist agencies to 

effectively manage their acquisition workforce. 

• Expanding career development opportunities for the federal acquisition 

Workforce. 

• Promoting and coordinating govemment-wide research and studies to improve 

the Federal acquisition process. 

• Collaboratively developing and implementing processes, tools, and metrics to 

support data-driven decision-making and ensure efficient and effective 

operations. 

Data Centers: 

50. In 2010, the federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) launched the Federal Data 

Center Consolidation Initiative (FOCCI). Pursuant to OMB direction, three 

organizations are responsible for FOCCI oversight activities: the Data Center 

Consolidation Task Force; the General Services Administration Program 

Management Office; and OMB. What steps have you taken in your capacity as 

Acting to ensure the success of this program? What challenges do you see 

associated with GSA's role in managing the FOOCI? 

GSA provides OMB-directed program support on the FOCCI to help agencies adopt 

feasible cloud based IT solutions. To ensure the success of OMB's initiative, GSA 

provides the following critical support to OMB: 

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• Provide common templates and submission process via web portal for agencies 

to report to OMB (quarterly) on current data center inventories, data center 

consolidation plans, and progress against established goals (closures and 

associated cost savings). 

• Build and provide updates to a federal Total Cost of Ownership tool designed to 

help agencies with their data center consolidation planning and optimization; it is 

intended to provide a uniform and consistent method to derive potential agency 

cost savings figures and funding needs. As a result, OMB has a common view of 

data centers across the entire federal government -- a first. 

• Plan Federal Data Center Consolidation Task Force meetings in concert with the 

Task Force Chairperson (currently the CIOlinterior). These forums are used to 

answer questions about data collection, review and improve upon the Total Cost 

model, and share data center consolidation experiences and best practices from 

both the public and private sectors. 

The primary challenge that GSA faces in its role in this initiative is responsibility for 

agencies' data quality. Through interactions between OMB and the Data Center 

Consolidation Task Force we have built strong consensus across the agencies on what 

data should be collected. We have created submission templates and common 

processes to steer data collection and submission to OMB. We have built a total cost of 

ownership tool to create a common framework for analyzing and planning data center 

consolidation across the government. However, the departments and agencies 

themselves are responsible for doing the analyses, requisite planning, data 

submissions, and data quality checks in a timely manner. 

51. The Government Accountability Office recently found that GSA has not fully 

carried out its oversight role of the FDCCI, such as conducting analyses of 

agencies data center consolidation inventories and plans. If confirmed, what will 

you do to meaningfully address the weaknesses recently identified by the GAO? 

GSA has been supporting the FDCCI effort since its inception. As a result, the federal 

government now has for the first time a comprehensive data center inventory. 

One of GAO's recommendations in that recent report called for the establishment of a 

"mechanism to ensure that the established responsibilities of deSignated FDCCI 

oversight organizations are fully executed." We agree that this would help clarify 

responsibilities and look forward to working with all stakeholders, including this 

Committee, to further support the FDCCI. 

52. Within GSA specifically, how many and which data centers have been closed or 

consolidated within GSA under your leadership as Acting Administrator and what 

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savings have resulted? How many data centers within GSA will be closed in the 

future, by what date will such closures or consolidations occur and what savings 

are estimated to result? 

At GSA, we are taking an aggressive approach to consolidation and shutting down nonessential data centers, in collaboration with the Federal CIO's office. In fact, Data 

Center closures is one of the top five measures in the GSA CIO's new, annual 

organizational performance plan. By the end of the current fiscal year, GSA will close 

between 29 and 35 data centers located within various GSA regions and offices, and an 

additional 43 planned for FY14. 

Most of the planned closures are targeted for small data centers located within GSA 

office buildings, and will not result in direct savings, however, these closures will 

streamline internal operations, and require less contractor staff to manage and operate 

the GSA IT systems, as we move more activities to be co-located within our three core 

national data centers. 

I have also made it a priority to use federal shared services, in line with the 

Administration's recently published Digital Strategy and the Shared first policy. After all, 

much of what GSA does as an agency is to offer shared services in the areas of 

acquisition, real estate and innovative technologies to the rest of the federal 

government. As a result of this priority, GSA is currently planning to migrate one of our 

large GSA owned/operated data center in Kansas City, into a world class data center 

managed by NASA. This approach will not only reduce costs to the taxpayers, but will 

further strengthen an inter-agency shared services approach to solving our most 

complex problems across the federal government. 

53. If confirmed, do you think the current plan for GSA's internal data center 

closures and consolidations is sufficient, or would you like to see more 

aggressive closure targets? 

As the Acting Administrator of GSA over the past year, I have challenged the GSA CIO 

to accelerate the data center consolidation plan. As a result, GSA's current plans 

already exceed the government-wide directives from the Federal CIO. In fact, our 

current plans to consolidate and migrate a substantial number of GSA internal data 

centers will be completed by the end of FY14. 

In addition, GSA was one of the first agencies in the federal government to move our 

internal email and related systems to the cloud. In the process, we not only saved over 

50% in life-cycle costs, but we shut down over 200 servers, and reduced our carbon 

footprint for operating the email system by over 75%. 

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By leveraging technologies like the cloud, public-private partnerships and inter-agency 

approaches, we feel that the federal government can significantly accelerate our 

progress towards reducing costs and our environmental impact. GSA is leading the 

way in these areas through the establishment of the innovative FedRAMP program 

within the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies (OCSIT), as well as 

the planned Cloud Broker approach being led by the Federal Acquisition service. We 

will continue to explore and champion these innovative approaches to accelerate the 

federal government's adoption of cloud computing and reducing the data center 

footprint. 

V. Relations with Congress 

54. Do you agree without reservation to respond to any reasonable request or 

summons to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of the 

Congress, if confirmed? 

Yes. 

55. Do you agree without reservation to reply to any reasonable request for 

information from any duly constituted committee of the Congress, if confirmed? 

Yes. 

VI. Assistance 

56. Are these answers your own? Have you consulted with GSA or any other 

interested parties? If so, please indicate which entities. 

These answers are my own. I have consulted with knowledgeable members of my 

programmatic team at GSA for technical support in preparing my answers. 

I, Daniel M. Tangherlini , hereby state that I have read the foregoing Pre-hearing 

Questions and that the information provided therein is, to the best of my knowledge, 

current, accurate, and complete. 

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Responses to Questions for the Record 

Nomination of Daniel M. Tangherlini to be Administrator 

U.S. General Services Administration 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

June 18,2013 

From Senator Tom Coburn: 

1. Do you think that the fee-driven nature of GSA's budget provides the right 

incentives to focus the agency on cost savings, rather than on generating 

operating revenue? 

The right incentives come from setting the right goals, both organizationally and 

individually with employees at the agency. In concert with the women and men of GSA, 

we have put forth a new mission statement and objectives focused on delivering the best 

value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services. Employees within the agency 

will be evaluated based on achieving these agency goals, which are focused on cost 

savings, not the generation of operating revenue. 

2. What additional steps do you plan to take to further incentivize cost savings 

behavior at every level in the agency, from senior executives to front-line 

employees? 

We will work on several fronts to incentivize cost savings behavior at every level in the 

agency. 

We have put together a new mission statement and objectives across the agency focused 

on delivering cost savings to partner federal agencies. We have been working on new 

SES perfonnance plans that focus on achievement of these agency goals, particularly on 

quantifiable cost avoidance and savings that can be generated. These perfonnance plans, 

set at the top, will flow down from the SES to front-line employees, so that everyone is 

working to achieve those cost-saving goals. 

Additionally, we will continue to engage our employees on their cost savings ideas. We 

did this last year through the Great Ideas Hunt, and saved $5.5 million through the 

implementation of common-sense ideas from employees across the organization. We 

will continue that dialogue with our employees to continue to make improvements. 

3. You have discussed implementing changes to senior executive performance 

plans. Will the new plans include savings targets, or requirements to 

demonstrate that GSA is negotiating the best pricing possible, particularly for 

senior executives within the Federal Acquisition Service? 
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Yes, these new SES performance plans will include savings targets, among other goals. 

We have been working with all SES employees to develop aggressive goals that align 

with the re-invigorated mission statement and objectives of GSA to deliver best value. 

have made clear that these goals must, to the maximum extent practicable, be 

quantifiable. I am committed to rigorously managing against those goals to ensure 

exemplary performance across the Agency. 

4. Short of legislative reforms to the congressional budget scoring process, what 

concrete steps will you take in the next 12 months to reduce the costs and 

liabilities of the federal leasing program, and to move away from leases to 

federally-owned properties where it makes sense? 

GSA agrees that reducing the costs and liabilities of the federal leasing program is 

critical. Federal construction or purchase is often more cost-effective than leasing, 

particularly for long-term and unique federal requirements. 

Wc plan to take several steps over the next 12 months to address this issue. Most 

importantly, we want to begin reconnecting the Federal Buildings Fund rent revenue and 

assct reinvestment. If it werc allowed to work as designed, the Federal Buildings Fund is 

a self-funding program that uses market-based rent charges from tenants in federal 

buildings to support a program of repair, renovation, replacement, construction and 

purchase. These investments would allow us to repair our assets and in many cases 

reconfigure space to consolidate leases into federally-owned spacc. Additionally, this 

would allow us to make critical capital investments that in many cases would replace 

currently existing leased space. The FY 14 budget request restores zero-net budgct 

authority and would allow us to make this sort of investment. I intend to work with this 

Committee and Committees of jurisdiction to stress the importance of these investments. 

Secondly, we are working to better manage our lease program. We want to proactively 

work with agencies to use lease expirations as the opportunity to reduce space, 

consolidate, or co-locate. Upcoming improvements to our lease management IT systems 

will be instrumental in assisting us to better manage these transactions. 

Third, we will continue to work with agencies to reduce their space requirements, so that 

when a leasc may be necessary, the cost of that lease is driven down. 

Fourth, we will continue to aggressively oversee agency rcquirements to make sure that 

they do not result in costly lease construction projects. 

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Fifth and finally, we will continue to explore innovative new uses of our existing outlease 

and exchange authorities. These may present options for improved utilization of the 

federal inventory and reduce costs. 

5. GAO bas found that tbe Federal Real Property Profile, wbich provides 

information on the existing inventory offederal real property and is managed by 

GSA, is not sufficiently reliable to support sound decision-making, due to a lack 

of guidance from tbe Federal Real Property Council to agencies (GAO-12-645). 

Tn order to succeed in getting rid of excess real property, we need accurate 

information on existing federal property. What ideas do you bave on how to 

improve the data in the Federal Real Property Profile? 

In concert with OMB and the Federal Real Property Council (FRPC), GSA manages the 

Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP). The FRPP is the "single, comprehensive, and 

descriptive database of all real property under the custody and control of all executive 

branch agencies, except when otherwise required for reasons of national security," in 

accordance with Executive Order 13327. 

The diverse nature of agencies' real property portfolios requires that the data collected be 

broad and general in order to be addressable by agencies government-wide. Additionally, 

the data in the FRPP is an annual report, not a living system, so the data is a snapshot 

taken at the end of each fiscal year. This means that the data can be a useful tool for an 

inventory, but, as GAO itself has noted, ''the FRPP was not designed to be an active asset 

management system." 

Since the database's creation, GSA has worked to improve it by enhancing its 

technological capability, clarifYing terminology, and meeting ,,,ith agencies to help them 

better understand the technology and reporting requirements. In line with GAO's 

recommendations, we are working with the FRPC to clarifY the data dictionary with 

additional detail that will help agencies better understand the data fields; tightening 

reporting requirements by removing optional data fields; and revising thc data clements 

so that they can support better annual performance measures. 

We would be happy to work with you, your staff, and the Committee to make the FRPP a 

useful tool for assisting in the management offederal real property. 

6. At the hearing, you mentioned the agency's plan to exchange the current FBI 

building for construction of a new headquarters facility to be constructed 

elsewbere. Does GSA have internal policies and procedures in place or under 

development to ensure that the agency's use of this authority will be transparent, 

will ensure that taxpayers receive fair market value for the current building, and 

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that construction cost overruns for a new facility will not be passed along to 

taxpayers years after the exchange takes place? 

GSA is committed to ensuring that any use of our exchange authority will be transparent, 

will realize the value of any existing inventory contemplated for exchange, and will not 

result in unanticipated costs in future years. 

While exchanges have been infrequent, GSA has used this tool in the past. When 

conducting an exchange, we engage with the community and with Congress to ensure 

there is transparency. We always make sure to conduct an appraisal from a licensed, 

third-party source to ensure we meet proper expectations of value; the arrangement is 

limited to the value of the asset to avoid unanticipated costs. 

Recently, we have utilized Requests for Information to gather data from both the public 

and private sector on several proposed exchanges, including a potential new headquarters 

for the FBI. This approach provides transparency about our intentions and our thoughts. 

We have also made sure to engage with stakeholders in Congress, and are committed to 

continuing to do so as we move forward. 

7. How has I:ongressional diversion offees from the Federal Buildings Fund 

hampered GSA's ability to effediveIy manage its real estate portfolio and the 

aS8ol:iated operating 1:08t8? 

Lack of obligational authority in the Federal Buildings Fund has adversely affected GSA 

operations in key areas. Consecutive years of reduced levels of funding prevent GSA 

from appropriately addressing repair and alteration liabilities. Failure to meet our 

responsibility to properly maintain these assets could lead to major equipment failures 

and the need to conduct emergency repairs and replacements. These types of repairs cost 

substantially more than conducting routine repairs and maintenance. In addition, failure 

to fund the core repair program leaves GSA unable to undertake major life safety and fire 

protection projects, among other critical investments, in federal buildings throughout the 

country. 

Diversion offees has also resulted in lost cost-saving opportunities. GSA's proposed 

capital investments include projects to replace outdated building systems with new, 

highly efficient ones that would reduce operating costs, as well as consolidation projects 

that would backfill agencies out of costly leases into vacant federal space. 

The lack of adequate FBF obligational authority also results in higher construction costs. 

When GSA cannot fund critical and ongoing construction and building modernization 

projects, the extended timeline delays project completion, increases the overall costs, 

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prolongs the inefficiencies of agency operations, and maintains dependence on leased 

space. 

8. Through its pre-award audits of contracts under the Multiple Award Schedules 

program, the GSA Inspector General consistently identifies missed opportunities 

each year because vendors 1) do not provide current, accurate, or complete 

information to support their prices; 2) lack commercial sales on which to base 

pricing; and 3) supply labor that does not meet the qualifications laid out in 

their contracts. As a result of these longstanding issues, GSA fails to achieve the 

best price under contracts in the Schedules program. What steps will you take, 

beyond conducting additional reviews, to change GSA's management of this 

program to achieve the best price possible on all Schedule contracts? What 

incentives could be put into place to ensure better cooperation and collaboration 

between GSA contracting officers and agency contracting officers to drive better 

pricing under Schedules orders? 

GSA is driving significant savings through its schedules by providing partner federal 

agencies with a simple and quick process to acquire goods and services. In many cases, it 

is thirty to fifty percent faster for agencies to use GSA schedules rather than creating their 

own contracts. To underscore these process savings, I have been meeting with agency 

leadership to provide them with the dollars saved in terms of reduced labor hours from 

using GSA schedules versus going open market. 

Additionally, the schedule prices are only a starting point against which agencies should 

negotiate even lower pricing by competing a larger volume. 

GSA has also driven down its pricing through strategic sourcing, which uses the volume 

of the government to buy items that we purchase in common -like office supplies and 

wireless plans. For these solutions, vendors provide us detailed data on pricing and usage 

that allows us to drive even greater savings for agencies. We are ahle to show the 

agencies the savings they are leaving on the table by not using our solution. We are also 

able to use the pricing data to negotiate even greater savings from our vendors. 

Finally, GSA has partnered with OMB to provide agencies with greater visibility into 

prices paid through a portal to provide detailed pricing on several GSA solutions, 

including its strategic sourcing solutions. 

9. At the hearing, you cited the award of a number of new contracts in support of 

GSA's strategic sourcing initiatives. For each of these contracts, has GSA taken 

steps to terminate or discontinue existing contracts within the agency's portfolio 

of government-wide acquisition contracts, or Multiple Award Schedule 

contracts, that provide duplicative goods or services? 

5 
99 

We share your goal to reduce duplication across government, even within GSA solutions. 

We plan to consider this as part of our overall schedules modernization. Part of this will 

require us to look at balancing termination of existing contracts with offering a wide 

array of services, especially from small businesses. We would welcome the opportunity 

to work with the Committee to strike that appropriate balance. 

10. In your questionnaire, you state GSA is "taking an aggressive approach to 

consolidation and shutting down nonessential data centers." The Federal Data 

Centcr Consolidation Initiative startcd in 2010. In April 2013, a year after you 

assumed the Acting Administrator position, GSA had not reported a single data 

center closed or consolidated, and reported no future planned closures or 

consolidations. The following month, GSA reported one data center as closed, 

and that roughly 30 will be closed this fiscal year. Why has GSA not closed morc 

data centers in the 14 months you have lead GSA? As one of the leaders of this 

initiative along with Ol\-ffi, what actions will you take to ensure that GSA leads 

by example in terms of closures and consolidations, but also on the transparency 

of this process, including addressing GAO's recommendation to perform 

effective oversight of agency data center inventories and consolidation plans? 

GSA is committed to leading by example on data center closures and consolidations. We 

have set aggressive goals to close more than 60 percent of our non-essential data eenters 

in the next two years. 

Soon after assuming the Acting Administrator position at GSA, the methodology for 

determining what constituted a data center was changed. This change will mean that 

much of the progress made to reduce the footprint of existing data centers has not been 

captured to date, but that a greater level of efficiency and improvement will be delivered 

over time. We have closed one data center to date in a field office outside of Seattle, 

W A, with plans to close between 29 and 35 additional data centers by the end of the 

current fiscal year. 

Through interactions between OMB and the Data Center Consolidation Task Force we 

have built strong consensus across the agcncics on what data should be collected. We 

have created submission templates and common processes to steer data collection and 

submission to OMB. We havc built a total cost of owncrship tool to create a common 

framework for analyzing and planning data center consolidation across the government. 

However, the departments and agencies themselves are responsible for doing the 

analysis, requisite planning, data submissions, and data quality checks in a timely 

manner. 

6 
100 

11. Will you commit to providing me and members of this Committee monthly 

updates of how your consolidation effort is going? In addition, please provide to 

the Committee a list of GSA data eenters with the target date for 

closure/consolidation; the size of each of these data centers to be 

consolidated/closed; the projected or actual savings associated with each closure 

and/or consolidation; and what the average server utilization rate will be at the 

remaining data centers managed by GSA? 

Weare happy to provide you and members of the Committee with monthly updates of 

how the consolidation effort going. Please sec below a list of GSA data centers with 

targeted closure dates. We are collecting the remaining requested data fields and will 

provide them shortly. 

Data Center: TCO City State 

DataCenter Closing 

Name Target 

Date 

9R-CAS939ZZ Q4/2014 SAN DIEGO CA - California 

SR-OH2247 i Q4f2014 FAIRBORN OH-Ohio 

9R-CAOO91AA Q4/2013 SAN CA - California 

FRANCISCO 

9R~NVOO13ZZ --0412013 - -"--_____ "0" 

LAS VEGAS NV-Neva~ 

9R-CAOI50CC Q4/2013 LOS ANGELES CA - California 

9R-CA0260ZZ Q4/2013 SAN JOSE CA - California 

8R-WYOO30 i Q4/2013 CASPER WY - Wyoming 

8R-WYOO29 Q4/2013 CHEYE}''NE WY - Wyoming . 

SR-MIOl3l Q4/2013 DETROIT MI - Michigan 

5R-IN0133 Q4/2013 INDIANAPOLIS ! IN - Indiana 

3R-WVOO53 Q4!2013 MARTINSBURG i WV-West 

! Virginia 

3R-VA1608 Q4/2013 NORFOLK VA - Virginia 

3R-MD1440 Q4/2013 BALTIMORE MD - Maryland 

J 5 SS-DC0207 Q4/2013 WASHINGTON DC - District of 

! Columbia 

llR-DC1472 Q4/2013 WASHINGTON : DC - District of 

. Columbia 

11 R-DCOOO 1 Q4/2013 WASHINGTON ! DC - District of 

Columbia 

IOR-WAOIOI Q4/2013 SEATTLE i WAI Washington 

IOR-ID002S Q4f2013 BOISE ID - Idaho 

7 
101 

12CC-V A0905 Q4/2013 ARLINGTON VA - Virginia 

9R-CA0273ZZ i g}12014 LONG BEACH CA - California --

9R-CA0305ZZ I Q3/2014 SAN CA - California 

I FRANCISCO 

9R-CA0168 i Q3/2014 LOS ANGELES CA - California 

SR-NDOO46 Q3/2014 : FARGO ND-North 

I Dakota 

c-8R~ND003 7 Q3/2014 BISMARCK ND - North 

• 

Dakota 

SR-COOO55 Q3/2014 . BOULDER CO - Colorado 

7R-TXOS21 Q3/2014 ' FORT WORTH TX - Texas 

SR-Wro044 Q3/2014 MILWAUKEE WI - Wisconsin 

SR-OH020S Q312014 COLUMBUS OH-Ohio 

SR-OH0192 Q312014 CLEVELAKD OH-Ohio 

SR-MN0090 Q3/2014 t BLOOMINGTON MN - Minnesota 

llR-WV0269 Q3/2014 · MARTINSBURG v.'V -West 

Virginia 

9R-CA6547 Q3/2013 SAN DIEGO CA - California 

9R-CA0167ZZ Q3/2013 SAN DIEGO CA - California 

9R-CA0152ZZ Q3/2013 SACRAMENTO CA - California -----_._.-

9R-CA0295ZZ Q3/2013 SANTA ANA CA - California 

9R-AZ0303ZZ Q312013 PHOENIX AZ- Arizona 

9R-CA0915 Q3/2013 MENLO PARK -------:--

CA - California 

9R-AZOO5SZZ Q3/2013 TUCSON AZ- Arizona 

9R-NVOO12ZZ Q312013 RENO NV - Nevada ---

9R-CA0309ZZ Q3/2013 FRESNO CA - California 

9R-AZ0052ZZ Q312013 PHOENIX AZ - Arizona 

9R-CA6424ZZ Q3/20l3 OAKLAND CA - California ---~ ---

SR-OH0033 Q3/2013 CLEVELAND OH-Ohio 

3R-WV0163 Q3/2013 CHARLESTON WV West 

Virginia 

3R-PA0599 Q3/2013 SCRANTON PAPennsylvania 

3R-PA0144 Q3/2013 PHILADELPHIA PAPennsylvania 

3R-PA0143 Q3/2013 PHILADELPHIA PAPennsylvania 

3R-DEOO16 Q3/2013 WILMINGTON DE - Delaware 

lOR-WAOO45 Q3/2013 SPOKANE WAWashington 

9R-CAOO41ZZ Q2/2014 LOS ANGELES CA - California 

8 
102 

8R-SDOO35 Q2!2014 RAPID CITY SD - South 

Dakota 

8R-COOO39 Q2/2014 DE1'-.'VER CO - Colorado 

SR-MBOS8 Q2/2014 DEARBORN MI - Michigan 

SR-M10503 Q2/2014 BATTLE CREEK MI - Michigan 

3R-VA0578 Q2/2014 RICHMOND VA - Virginia 

3R-PAOSlS Q2/2014 PIIILADELPlllA PAPennsylvania 

3R-NJ5003 Q2!2014 CA.\1DEN NJ - New Jersey 

3R-MDOOS5 Q2/2014 BALTIMORE MD - Maryland 

5R-IL2221 Q2/2014 FAIRVIEW 1L - Illinois 

HEIGHTS 

12R-VA0506 Q2/2014 SPRINGFIELD VA - Virginia 

11R-DC999S Q2/2014 WASHINGTON DC - District of 

Columbia -_._-

llR-DC0459 Q2/2014 WASHINGTON DC - District of 

Columbia ~- ---- """----

lOR-WA0953 Q2/2013 SEATTLE WAWashington 

14 WW-VA0808 Q2/2013 FAIRFAX VA - Virginia -.---~-

9R-CA0521SS Ql12014 LAGUNA CA - California 

NIGUEL 

8R-UTOO32 Ql/2014 SALT LAKE UT - Utah 

CITY 

8R-SDOO40 Q1I2014 ABERDEEN SD - South 

Dakota 

8R-MTOO28 Ql12014 BILLINGS MT- Montana 

5R-MI0137 Q1I2014 GRAND RAPIDS MI - Michigan -=--~-

5R-IL2225 Q1I2014 SPR.f.\!GFIELD IL - Illinois 

llR-MD0811 Ql12014 SILVER SPRING MD - Maryland 

11R-DC0700 Q1I2014 WASHINGTON DC - District of 

Columbia 

11R-DCOO33 Q1I2014 WASHINGTON DC - District of 

Columbia 

lOR-OROO23 Ql/2014 PORTLAND OR- Oregon L.... 

9 
103 

From Senator Mary L. Landrieu: 

1. In 2008, GSA began consolidating its portfolio of systems into one integrated 

system called the System for Award Management (SAM). The original 

estimated cost for SAM was approximately $96 million. SAM was supposed to 

integrate nine systems; today the system only has three systems incorporated. 

Cost overruns have increased by $85 million dollars according to the March 

2012 GAO report and were now approximately $181 million. Can you please 

give us a status update on completion and deployment of SAM and an estimate 

oftotal cost incurred to date? 

The System for A ward Management (SAM) and the Integrated Acquisition Environment 

(IAE) are used by nearly 35,000 contracting professionals and over 850,000 entities 

external to the federal government (including grantees, small and large businesses, 

financial institutions, mortgage companies, etc). The SAM initiative is designed to 

transition the multiple, stove-piped IAE applications (from multiple agencies with 

separate contracts) to a single integrated workforce tool set for awards management 

across government. 

To address challenges with the platform, we have transitioned the management of the 

project to the Federal Acquisition Service with support from the GSA CIO in order to 

bring the right resources to the project. As a result of this leadership change, SAM 

performance has improved substantially since its launch in July 2012. However, there is 

still much work to be done. GSA management is cornmitted to ensuring improved overall 

management of IAE/SAM. The objective is to develop a new executable vision of 

IAE/SAM that comprehensively addresses governance, business, technology, program 

and project management, contracting and funding requirements. 

GSA has spent approximately $6.4 million since FY 2010 for SAM design, development, 

testing, and deployment. This includes $1.62 million in FY 2010, $3.93 million in FY 

2011, $791,223 in FY 2012, and $62,377 in FY 2013 (as of April 2013). Additionally, 

GSA has spent approximately $42.52 million since FY 2010 for SAM operations and 

maintenance. This includes $9.17 million in FY 2010, $14.73 million in FY 2011, $13.14 

million in FY 2012, and $5.63 million in FY 2013 (as of April 2013). SAM currently is in 

an Operating & Management (O&M) status and requires approximately $1.2 million per 

month to operate. 

2. You responded to the committee with the following answers in September 

2012:"GSA is actively engaged in restructuring the IBM contract to address 

GAO report findings and recommendations, particularly regarding cost. For 

example, a requirement was modified to allow SAM to operate in a cloud 

environment, which would allow the Government to lower cost by avoiding the 

10 
104 

need to purchase equipment and warranty in the out years. The contract was 

also modified and restructured to require supporting project documentation to 

provide greater accountability." 

a) Can you please elaborate on that contract re-strncturing? 

To clarify, the SAM contract was modified to ensure any non-essential items were 

made optionaL In a separate action, to address Continuity of Operations and Disaster 

Recovery Services, cloud technology was leveraged to help reduce costs. 

b) Can you please elaborate on the progress of modifying SAM to allow it to 

operate in a cloud environment? How long and how much will that take to 

implement? 

GSA is conducting an alternatives analysis on how best to deliver alllntegratcd 

Acquisition Environment services to customers. This analysis and the plan that is 

being developed will explore options such as levcraging cloud technology. GSA is in 

the formative stages of this work and will work to deliver improvements and 

functionality in a modular fashion so as to incrementally improve service delivery. 

GSA will do this while continuing to address current performance issues that 

negatively impact system uscrs. 

c) Regarding transparency, do you know, on average how much time it takes GSA 

to respond to Congress for average contract and other financial data from your 

Agency? If so, in your opinion, is this time reasonable? 

GSA takes seriously its obligation (0 work with Congress and provide appropriate 

information in response to inquiries. The length of time necessary to prcpare a 

response (0 a Congressional inquiry varies with the amount and complexity of 

information involved, but GSA strives to provide appropriate information to Congress 

as expeditiously as possible. 

3. In addition to the current contractors on the SAM project and in light of the 

2012 GAO Report, have you explored working with other potential contractors 

on a "pilot program" or a Public Private collaborations so the GSA would have 

an alternate solution that would cost the taxpayer little or nothing to help solve 

the JAE integration problems rather than focusing all your resources on fixing 

SAM? 

a) If yes, can you share some of these contractors' ideas or public comments with 

this body today? 

Given the challenges that have been encountered with SAM, we are working with 

OMB and our agency stakeholders on a detailed alternatives analysis to determine the 

11 
105 

best technical solution to meet the needs of the Government in delivering IAE 

services. We expect the initial findings of this analysis sometime this summer, which 

will help us set the course for how GSA moves forward providing IAE/SAM services 

to the user cornmunity. We are committed to providing transparency during this 

process and working with Congress on this issue. 

4. I'm a strong supporter of green building but believe that green building policies 

should encourage the use of American made prod nets, should use science in 

determining the most effective materials for green building, and should be 

developed through a rigorous, widely accepted consensus process. As you know 

from previous letters I've sent to GSA, I'm concerned that GSA's current policy, 

which explicitly recognizes the LEED rating system (to the exclusion of other 

qualified grccn building rating systems and codes), does not reflect these criteria 

and as a consequence, hurts US jobs and associated manufacturing activities. 

Can you tell me what GSA is doing to correct this inequitable policy? 

GSA is currently conducting a review of green building certification systems, as required 

in Section 436(h) of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). EISA 

requires GSA to identify and recommend a system or systems to the Secretary of Energy 

every five years. 

GSA has worked to ensure that this is a public and transparent process, with opportunity 

for comment from the public and industry. In 2011, GSA commissioned thc Pacific 

Northwest National Laboratory to conduct a fact finding of green building certification 

systems in the marketplace. We published this report in March 2012, and found that 

none of the green building certification systems met 100% of all federal green building 

requirements. 

We have held multiple public listening sessions and, in February of2013, issued a 

Federal Register notice soliciting public comments on our initial findings. We are 

currently reviewing these comments and anticipate making a recommendation to thc 

Secretary of Energy sometime in the late SUlmner or fall. 

12 
106 

From Senator John McCain: 

On June 17, 2013, I sent a letter to the President regarding reports that top administration 

officials at various goverrunent agencies have created - and used secret e-mail accounts for 

activities relating to goverrunent business. Furthermore, these agencies reportedly failed to 

disclose the contents of those accounts pursuant to Freedom oflnformation Act (FOIA) requests 

and congressional requests for documents, as well as archiving requirements under the Federal 

Records Act. 

Four years ago President Obama pledged to usher in a new era of goverrunent transparency. 

News surfaced recently, that former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson created an alias e-mail 

account under the name "Richard Windsor" to communicate with people in and outside the 

agency, including the private sector. 

Additionally, Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division 

Thomas Perez allegedly used his personal e-mail account almost 1,200 times since 2009 to 

conduct goverrunent business. Last March, these e-mails were subpoenaed by the House 

Committee on Oversight and Goverrunent Reform. However, Mr. Perez has only turned over 34 

of the 1,200 e-mails. 

Congress cannot perform its constitutionally-mandated duty to report to the people what their 

goverrunent is doing while agencies use secret alternate communications networks, which fuels 

public distrust in goverrunent. 

1. Do you have or have you used a non-government or secret e-mail account to 

conduct government business as Acting Administrator of GSA? 

No. 

2. Under wbat circumstances would you approve of the use of such nongovernment/secret e-mail accounts to perform government business? 

I will continue to use my official goverrunent e-mail account to conduct all official 

business. 

3. Does GSA have in place or do you plan to issue guidance to address the use of 

non-government secret email accounts by GSA employees to conduct activities 

relating to official government business? 

The General Services Administration (GSA) takes seriously the matter of compliance 

13 
107 

with the Federal Records Act (FRA) to ensure proper documentation, transparency, and 

accountability vvith regard to Agency records. 

GSA has policies and procedures in place to preserve records containing adequate and 

proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and 

essential transactions of the Agency while furnishing the infonnation necessary to protect 

the legal and financial rights of the Govemment and of persons directly affected by 

GSA's activities. The seminal policy is GSA's records management order, CIO P 

1820.1, that strives to ensure full compliance with the Federal Records Act and other 

relevant regulations and directives. Every staff and service office at GSA has an 

employee responsible for records management compliance, and every year hands-on 

training is provided to all GSA employees and contractors who have a role in managing 

GSA records for their offices, services or regions. Also, basic training on federal records 

is required for all GSA employees via GSA's Online University. 

4. How are citizens able to effectively utilize the FOIA process when government 

officials create and use secret e-mail accounts to conduct activities related to 

government business? 

The integrity of GSA's FOIA process is (;rucial. GSA's records management program is 

evaluated each year by an outside organization to review its practices and to mallc 

recommendations for improvement. These recommendations led to several initiatives 

currently undcrway to strcngthen GSA's usc and effective management of electronic 

records. GSA also works closely with the National Archive and Records Administration 

regarding compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. 

5. Given the administration's apparently widespread use of secret email accounts 

to conduct activities related to official government business, how do you plan to 

make certain that GSA will be able to ensure that (1) a search for all documents 

responsive to a given request by Congress, law enforcement or a FOIA requestor 

has been completed and (2) all responsive documents have in fact been 

produced? 

GSA strives to respond to FOIA requests in a timely and accurate marmer. Through 

education and awareness, the GSA leadership team has ensured program support and 

responsiveness to FOIA requests by employees at allievels and in all organizations. 

14 
108 

From Senator Claire McCaskill: 

1. In your written responses, you stated that GSA is pursuing changes to decrease the 

number of performance award systems and increase transparency. Under the new 

SES bonus system, the Administrator and the employee will work together to 

develop measurable goals that will be used in determining the issuance of 

performance bonuses to SES employees. The Administrator can adjust these goals 

up to 90 days before the end of the review period. How are you going to ensure that 

this new system does not just turn into another SES entitlement program, where 

goals are continuously adjusted downward so that everyone gets a high rating and 

everyone gets a bonus? 

Our reviews of organizational business and performance plans did not reveal aggressive 

goals or the practice of making meaningful distinctions between levels of performance or 

awards. I am committed to changing that. 

Starting last year, we have been working with all SES employees to develop aggressive goals 

that align with the re-invigorated mission statement and objectives of GSA. I have made clear 

that these goals must, to the maximum extent practicable, be quantifiable. I am committed to 

rigorously managing against those goals to drive improved performance across the Agency. 

We will continue to refine how we align executive performance with organizational goals 

including better ways to measure and monitor both organizational and individual performance, 

and I can assure you I am committed to only rewarding performance that goes beyond basic 

levels and demonstrates excellence in achieving Agency goals. 

15 
109 

From Senator Mark L. Pryor: 

1. According to a new report from Navigant Research, the worldwide market for 

green construction materials will grow from $116 billion in 2013 to greater than 

$254 billion in 2020. Because Green Buildings are becoming big business, I 

think the federal government should encourage more choice and greater 

standardization of Green Building standards. 

The GSA Green Building Advisory Committee has recommended that LEED be 

the rating system of choice for all federal government buildings. However, 

different federal agencies have different needs and a one-size-fits-all approach 

may not accommodate many building requirements. For example, the Green 

Globe standard, which is used mainly by the travel and tourism industry, and 

LEED were comparable in performance across existing and new buildings, 

according to the GSA study. Why doesn't GSA take a broader view and 

encourage competition among Green Building standards so that providers can 

bring costs down, spur innovation, and improve product performance? 

a) Should Green Building standards used by the federal government be American 

National Standards Institute certified standards? 

GSA is committed to using voluntary, consensus-based standards as established by the National 

Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTT AA) and articulated by OMB Circular A-119 

(1998). These policies define voluntary consensus standards bodies as "domestic or international 

organizations which plan, develop, establish, or coordinate voluntary consensus standards using 

agreed-upon procedures ... " Voluntary consensus standards are also defined by the attributes of 

openness, balance of interest, due process, an appeals process, and consensus. The NTT AA 

directs federal agencies to use voluntary consensus standards to carry out their missions, and 

allows the use of other technical standards to meet government needs. 

The Green Building Certification System Review completed for GSA in March 2012 concluded 

that the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental 

Design (USGBC LEED) system and Green Building Initiative's (GBI) Green Globes were 

developed as voluntary consensus standards, based on criteria developed to address the attributes 

outlined above. 

2. In 2008, GSA began consolidating its portfolio of systems into one integrated 

system called the System for Award Management (SAM). The original 

estimated cost for SAM was approximately $96 million. SAM was supposed to 

integrate nine systems; today the system only has three systems incorporated. 

Cost overruns have increased by $85 million dollars according to the March 

2012 GAO report and were now approximately $181million. Can you please give 

16 
110 

a status update on completion and deployment of SAM and an estimate of total 

cost incurred to date? 

The System for Award Management (SAM) and the Integrated Acquisition Environment 

(lAE) are used by nearly 35,000 contracting professionals and over 850,000 entities 

external to the federal government (including grantees, small and large businesses, 

finaneial institutions, mortgage companies, etc). The SAM initiative is designed to 

transition the multiple, stove-piped lAB applications (from multiple agencies with 

separate contracts) to a single integrated workforce tool set for awards management 

across government. 

To address challenges with the platform, we have transitioned the management of the 

project to the Federal Acquisition Service with support from the GSA CIO in order to 

bring the right resources to the project. As a result of this leadership change, SAM 

performance has improved substantially since its launch in July 2012. However, there is 

still much work to be done. GSA management is committed to ensuring improved overall 

management of lAE/SAM. The objective is to develop a new executable vision of 

TAE/SAM that comprehensively addresses governance, business, technology, program 

and project management, contracting and funding requirements. 

GSA has spent approximately $6.4 million since FY 2010 for SAM design, development, 

testing, and deployment. This includes $1.62 million in FY 2010, $3.93 million in FY 

2011, $791,223 in FY 2012, and 562,377 in FY 2013 (as of April 2013). Additionally. 

GSA has spent approximately $42.52 million since FY 2010 for SAM operations and 

maintenance. This includes $9.17 million inFY 2010, $14.73 million in FY 2011, $13.14 

million in FY 2012, and $5.63 million in FY 2013 (as of April 2013). SAM currently is in 

an Operating & Management (O&M) status and requires approximately $1.2 million per 

month to operate. 

3. You responded to the Senate Homeland Security Committee with the following 

answers in September 2012: "GSA is actively engaged in restructuring the IBM 

contract to address GAO report (GAO-12-429) findings and recommendations, 

particularly regarding cost. For example, a requirement was modified to allow 

SAM to operate in a cloud environment, which would allow the Government to 

lower cost by avoiding the need to purchase equipment and warranty in the out 

years. The contract was also modified and restructured to require supporting 

project documentation to provide greater accountability." Can you speak to the 

details of what the contract re-structuring entailed? 

a) Can you provide an update on GSA's progress of modifying SAM to allow it to 

operate in a cloud environment? 

17 
111 

To clarifY, the SAM contract was modified to ensure any non-essential items were made 

optional. In a separate action, to address Continuity of Operations and Disaster Recovery 

Services, cloud technology was leveraged to help reduce costs. 

b) How long and how much will that take to implement? 

GSA is conducting an alternatives analysis on how best to deliver all Integrated Acquisition 

Environment services to customers. This analysis and the plan that is being developed will 

explore options such as leveraging cloud technology. GSA is in the formative stages of this 

work and will work to deliver improvements and functionality in a modular fashion so as to 

incrementally improve service delivery. GSA will do this while continuing to address current 

performance issues that negatively impact system users. 

4. With regard to timeliness, what is the average turnaround time for GSA to 

respond to Congressional inquiries on contract and other financial data? 

GSA takes seriously its obligation to work with Congress and provide appropriate information in 

response to inquiries. The length of time necessary to prepare a response to a Congressional 

inquiry varies with the amount and complexity of information involved, but GSA strives to 

provide appropriate information to Congress as expeditiously as possible. 

5. In addition to the current contractors on the SAM project and in light of the 

2012 GAO Report (GAO-12-429), have you explored working with other 

potential contractors on a "pilot program" or a public private collaborations so 

the GSA would have an alternate solution that would cost the taxpayer little or 

nothing to help solve the IAE integration problems rather than focusing all your 

resources on fixing SAM? 

a) If yes, can you share some ofthese contractors' ideas or public comments with 

this body today? 

Given the challenges that have been encountered with SAM, we are working with OMB and our 

agency stakeholders on a detailed alternatives analysis to determine the best technical solution to 

meet the needs of the Government in delivering IAE services. We expect the initial findings of 

this analysis sometime this summer, which will heIp us set the course for how GSA moves 

forward providing lAE/SAM services to the user community. We are committed to providing 

transparency during this process and working with Congress on this issue. 

18 
112 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF PAUL STRAUSS 

U.S. SHADOW SENATOR, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 

ON THE NOMINATION OF DANIEL M. TANGHERLINI 

FOR THE POSITION OF ADMINISTRATOR OF THE 

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 

June 18, 2013 

Chairman Carper and Members of the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Govemmental Affairs, I am Paul Strauss, the United States Senator elected by the voters of the 

District of Columbia. I appreciate the opportunity to provide this statement on behalf of the 

citizens of the District of Columbia. I wish to express my wholehearted support for President 

Obama's nomination of one of my most outstanding constituents, Mr. Daniel M. Tangherlini, 

who appears before you today as the designated nominee for the important position of 

Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA). 

Mr. Tangherlini has a long and well-documented record of accomplishment. He has 

repeatedly proven himself in service to both Federal and District of Columbia executive agencies, 

as well as multi-jurisdictional regional authorities. Mr. Tangherlini worked as a Presidential 

Management Fellow in the Office of Management and Budget, and he served in the United States 

Department of Transportation where he worked for the United States Secretary of Transportation. 

However, I want to call this committee's attention to some of his earlier experience in the District 

of Columbia govermnent, including his service as the Chief Financial Officer for the D.C. 

Metropolitan Police Department, serving as Director of the District of Columbia Department of 

Transportation (DDOT), which is when I had the pleasure of first meeting the nominee. 

Mr. Tangherlini subsequently became interim General Manager of the Washington 

Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, (WMA TA) a position which he held until he accepted the 

position of City Administrator in the Administration of then Mayor, Adrian Fenty. Mr. 

Tangherlini remained a City Administrator until July 24, 2009, when he became an Assistant 

Secretary of the Treasury for Management, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Performance 

Officer at the U.S. Department of Treasury. As the CPO, Mr. Tangherlini had important 

responsibilities, such as the oversight of human capital operations. 

Finally, in 2012, Mr. Tangherlini became the acting Administrator of the General Services 

Administration. As the acting Administrator of the General Services Administration for the past 

year, Mr. Tangherlini has made the General Services Administration more responsible and 

accountable. His straightforward approach has simplified the process of doing business with the 

Federal govermnent. Mr. Tangherlini has done a commendable job leading this agency and has 

fully and easily earned the rank and full title of Administrator. When Mr. Tangherlini first came 

into the office, he immediately initiated the process of cleaning up the agency by taking steps to 

improve internal controls and oversight. He cancelled all future Western Regions Conferences, 

including 35 previously planned conferences, which saved nearly a million dollars in taxpayer 

expenses. In addition, he cancelled most travel through the end of the fiscal year agency-wide, 

and centralized budget authority and procurement oversight for regional offices to make them 

more directly accountable for their expenditures. Mr. Tangherlini enacted these measures so that 
113 

Æ 

the G.S.A. could refocus on its core mission: saving taxpayers' money by efficiently procuring 

supplies, services, and real estate, and effectively disposing of unneeded government property. In 

doing this, Mr. Tangherlini demonstrated his cornmitment to the ethics and integrity that we 

expect from our government. 

When President Obama nominated Mr. Tangherlini for the permanent position as 

Administrator of the General services Administration, he said, "As Acting Administrator, Dan 

helped restore the trust of the American people in the General Services Administration by making 

the agency more efficient, accountable and transparent." The President thanked Mr. Tangherlini 

for his leadership at the agency over the past year and for agreeing to continue serving in the 

Administration. 

If there are any doubts to Mr. Tangherlini's integrity or dedication, consider that when 

Mr. Tangherlini left the Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to work in Mr. Fenty's cabinet, he 

accepted a pay cut in order to make a positive difference in people's lives. Mr. Tangherlini 

continues to have that desire today. He is a member of several cornmunity groups with the aim of 

bettering the community he grew up in. Mr. Tangherlini is an upstanding D.C. citizen who 

deserves the privilege of directing the governmental agency of which he is already acting 

Administrator. To deny the General Service Administration a strong and experienced leader like 

Mr. Tangherlini would lead to incredible damage to the Government of the United States and 

both sides of the political divide. 

As the Senator representing the District of Columbia, I cannot be more proud that one of 

my constituents has been given the opportunity to lead such an important government agency like 

the General Services Administration. I am even prouder that this DC resident has proven himself 

so capable in his interim capacity. Regrettably, as the U.S. Senator representing this nominee's 

home, I cannot cast a vote or even truly advocate for his confirmation by the Senate in the way 

that a "home-state" Senator from one of the other 50 States would be able to do. 

Senator Carper, as you are one of the Senate's leading advocates for Statehood for the 

District of Columbia, you know how frequently I cite the brave sacrifices of our service men and 

women who fight for this nation in the various branches of military service. As an outstanding 

civilian Federal employee, Mr. Tangherlini also represents another example of the service that my 

fellow DC residents provide to our nation. Having known Mr. Tangherlini for over ten years, I 

strongly support his confirmation. This nominee is more than qualified to head the General 

Service Administration, and in fact has already been doing so as acting Administrator. Therefore, 

today I ask that you vote yes for this nomination, not only because it serves our nation's interest, 

but also on behalf of the disenfranchised residents of the District of Columbia, who serve this 

nation, as this nominee does, but do not have a voting member in this body to represent their 

interests.