Bush to nominate Doan for GSA administrator

• By Jason Miller
• Apr 06, 2006

The White House today said President Bush plans to nominate Lurita Alexis Doan as the next administrator of the General Services Administration.

Doan, a former founder and president of New Technology Management Inc. of Reston, Va., would replace Stephen Perry, who left Oct. 31.

Doan will have to be confirmed by the Senate.

For weeks the rumor mill swirled that the administration would break the mold and name the first women to head GSA. She brings a strong IT and business background as well as strong familiarity with federal contracting having. New Technology, a systems integrator, holds contracts with the departments of Army, Air Force, Navy, and the Department of Homeland Security and GSA.

She also is an active member of the Republican party, speaking at the Republican National Convention in New York in 2004.

Doan sold New Technology Management, which holds about $200 million in federal contracts, in July 2005.

She takes over GSA at a critical time for the agency. With declining schedules revenues and diminishing morale, Doan must figure out how re-instill confidence and value into GSA's buying programs. GSA also has had problems with its procurement data that it must fix. Additionally, with Networx and Alliant'two of its largest governmentwide acquisition contracts on the horizon'still up in the air, Doan will have plenty keep an eye on.

Doan received her bachelor's degree from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and her master's degree from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.