Lawmakers question GSA nominee over Sun Microsystems deal
Jim Williams denies charges he was involved in pressuring procurement shop into awarding contract extension.
As expected, lawmakers Friday grilled the nominee for the top job at the General Services Administration over his alleged role in contract negotiations with Sun Microsystems that contributed to the ousting of former administrator Lurita Doan.
Senators asked Jim Williams whether he played any role in controversial negotiations over the renewal of a GSA information technology contract with Sun. Doan had been accused of pushing the agency to renew the contract, against the judgment of career employees concerned that the company had overcharged the government.
"I did not participate in the negotiations at all," Williams told Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., during the hearing.
When he joined GSA in 2006, Williams said, the agency was in the midst of negotiations with Sun. At the time, GSA's inspector general, Brian Miller, was investigating claims that the company had not given the government the appropriate discounts on the contract.
"I absolutely agree with the IG that whatever overcharging went on in the past, they should go after them. That's taxpayer money," Williams said. He added that a Sun executive personally told him that the company did not track discounts and likely would have had to cut GSA a check for the overcharges.
The technology company experienced a change in leadership in August 2006 around the time of the IG investigation. Williams told contracting officials that new leaders wanted to come back to the negotiating table and were willing to make concessions to avoid losing the GSA contract. In response to a question from Lieberman, he acknowledged that he had recommended that GSA resume talks with Sun.
"But I made it very clear that if we could not get a good deal, we would walk away," Williams said. "I would never tell a contracting officer to get a contract no matter what."
GSA eventually signed the contract with Sun over the objections of some contracting officers.
The relationship between Doan and GSA's IG office often was described as dysfunctional. During Friday's hearing, Williams characterized his relationship with Miller and his office as positive. He said that he respected Miller, and that GSA and IG have common goals, "to meet the needs of our customers, do it in a compliant way and get the best deal for the government."