GovExec has a good follow-up to the funny business at GSA. The General Services Administration's buying services and contracts are supposed to work like a self-lubricating machine. In come orders for goods and services from across the government, out go purchasing orders to companies on GSA's schedules. Off to the ordering agencies go products and assistance. Money to make the machine hum comes directly from customers in the form of fees paid to GSA. But lately, GSA more closely resembles a sputtering Rube Goldberg contraption. A Jan. 19 front-page story in The Washington Post detailed an attempt by the agency's chief, Administrator Lurita Doan, to award a no-bid contract to the company of a longtime friend. That has led to questions about her future at the agency.