The head of the U.S. General Services Administration, Martha Johnson, resigned on April 2 and earlier removed the leader of GSA's Public Buildings Service and another senior official from their jobs, an Obama administration official says. The shakeup was sparked by an inspector general’s report blasting GSA for “excessive and wasteful” spending and failing to follow federal contracting rules on a 2010 conference whose price tag exceeded $822,000.
The Obama administration official said the two GSA executives removed were PBS Commissioner Robert Peck and Stephen Leeds, senior counselor to Johnson. The administration official added that a third, unnamed GSA staffer, the lead organizer of the conference, "was placed on administrative leave several weeks ago, pending further action."