Procurement Professional is the official publication of CIPS Australasia

#86 - Lying for infamy: White House chief buyer jailed

27 Oct 2009

The news that the White House head of procurement policy is set to be banged up for one year is a salutary lesson for us all.

Reported in SM this week by Jake Kanter  http://www.supplymanagement.com/EDIT/BLOG/default.asp  is the story of perhaps the most famous buyer in the world suggests Jake. David Safavian was, since 2004, the administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at the Office of Management and Budget in the White House - he was responsible for setting purchasing policy for the entire US government.

Writes Jake, “But his time at the top was short-lived as his relationship with disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff began to unravel. The golf trip to Scotland he took with Abramoff became indefensible and he was hoisted before a judge in 2006. Over three years and one appeal later, Safavian has been handed what should be his final punishment for lying to the FBI and obstructing justice. Sadly for the profession the case has become somewhat of a media circus and punching his name into Google produces hundreds of news hits:” The AP news report from last week is at ....
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5inlAw-OIuy5YBrLnCl6FAi7ww7ggD9BC90800

But the lesson is this .... he wasn’t done in the end for accept freebies – but for lying about it afterwards.

The Buyer – posted 27 October 2009 

The views of THE BUYER are personal and are not necessarily those of Procurement Professional magazine, BTTB Marketing nor CIPS.