On May 16, 2002, GSA Administrator Stephen A. Perry named Safavian as Senior Advisor and Acting Deputy Chief of Staff at the GSA. He took the place of Angela Styles, an advisor known for challenging Congressional pressure to award contracts to particular firms. "The most serious challenge to Styles came from Rep. Tom Davis (R.-Va.), the chairman of the House Government Reform Committee." Two months later, Safavian was named Chief of Staff of the GSA to replace Brian Allan Jackson. He was leaving the agency to study for an MBA from the Harvard Business School. On November 4, 2003, President George W. Bush announced Safavian's nomination as Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President. He had the responsibility to set purchasing policy for the entire government. Safavian was indicted October 5, 2005. He was accused of making false statements and obstructing investigations into his dealings with Jack Abramoff while serving as chief of staff for the General Services Administration. His trial started May 25, 2006. He was convicted on four of five felony counts of lying and obstruction on June 20. His attorney appealed the verdicts and all of the convictions were overturned unanimously by Judges Raymond Randolph, Harry Edwards, and Judith Rodgers of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on June 17, 2008. (They had been appointed by presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, respectively.) The three-judge panel of the court of appeals found that the Department of Justice had vastly overreached in charging Safavian. Moreover, the appeals court found that the trial court had committed reversible error by allowing the Justice Department to use the equivalent of expert witness testimony, but not granting Safavian the same latitude. Because Safavian's defense was unfairly limited, the court overturned all four convictions. Double jeopardy was applied to at least one charge and an additional specification. This left only three of the original five charges for which the prosecution could retry Safavian. Safavian was retried and convicted of perjury, or lying. On October 16, 2009 he was sentenced to a year in prison for lying about his association with Jack Abramoff by U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman. Friedman deferred the prison reporting date to allow Safavian to be with his pregnant wife when she delivered their child. On February 18th, 2020 President Trump granted Safavian a Presidential Pardon along with several other convicted criminals.