PROVIDENCE — Governor Carcieri has withdrawn his nomination of Beverly Najarian for reappointment as director of the Department of Administration less than 24 hours before she was supposed to face a Senate committee hearing and confirmation vote.

The governor’s office refused to comment on the significance of the move, which was relayed yesterday afternoon in a brief letter to the Senate. Najarian also declined to explain.

Reached by phone last night, she said she was still officially serving as the $113,631-a-year department head: “Officially I’m still in the position as we speak right now.”

Najarian has been charged with overseeing the state’s work force and purchasing since being tapped by Governor Carcieri to head the Department of Administration in 2004. She became a central figure last year in the Senate Government Oversight Committee’s high-profile investigation of the Carcieri administration’s use of private staffing firms.

The committee released a report Monday slamming the administration’s actions.

“At this time, the committee cannot make a determination as to whether the incompetence was due to ignorance, or arrogant and willful violation of the law,” the report reads. “However, the committee is certain that the public deserves better.”

Revelations in the report would have made for an “unpleasant” confirmation hearing, according to Sen. Charles J. Levesque, D-Portsmouth, a member of the Government Oversight Committee and the Judiciary Committee, which was scheduled to review Najarian’s reappointment this afternoon.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to work together, but I just think that any way you looked at it, there would be questions posed that would cause discomfort and answers probably provided that would cause additional discomfort,” Levesque said. “So I think any way you looked at it, it was not going to be a pleasant experience, and probably not all that conducive for us working together in the future.”

Prior to working in state government, Najarian, 73, spent her career in banking, primarily at Old Stone Bank, where she was once a colleague of the governor’s.

speoples@projo.com