Senate panel set to vote on Williams this week
- By Matthew Weigelt
- Jul 25, 2008
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will consider Jim Williams’ nomination to head the General Services Administration July 30 at a committee markup, the panel’s chairman said.
At Williams’ confirmation hearing July 25, Chairman Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said the next GSA administrator has a lot to do in the five months left in this administration.
Lieberman and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the committee’s ranking member, questioned Williams about his involvement in a dispute with Sun Microsystems over its Multiple Award Schedule contract.
According to a 2004 audit, Sun billed the government millions of dollars more under a contract awarded in 1999 for products and services than it charged its commercial customers — a violation of contract requirements.
Williams said he believed he did nothing wrong in a dispute over the contract. Williams said he removed the contracting officer from the case, after the officer said he no longer wanted to work on it. “Looking back, I would have done things differently,” he said.
About the Author
Matthew Weigelt is a freelance journalist who writes about acquisition and procurement.