Government agencies and departments are learning to live with travel restrictions and discovering innovative alternatives amid an anti-conference trend brought on by budget restrictions and well-publicized abuses.
But some managers fear the trend will inhibit federal workers’ ability to stay current with new technology field advancements or to consult with experts in the private sector via site visits, professional seminars and annual conferences. Keep reading →
The scrutiny over what federal employees spend to attend work-related conferences has continued to escalate after a recent salvo of letters to the secretaries of the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services and other agencies.
The letters, from Congressman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee he chairs, ask for a detailed accounting of travel spending in connection with 150 conferences. After analyzing “thousands of documents,” the committee concluded that the General Services Administration was hardly alone when, in 2010, it permitted employees to spend an average of $600 per day per employee to attend an over-the-top regional training conference in Las Vegas. Keep reading →
At least 77 General Service Administration employee conferences that totaled more than $6.7 million in costs are under review by the agency’s inspector general, according to published reports.
The news came at a hearing before a House panel on Wednesday. Keep reading →
When the GSA dropped an economic bomb on St. Louis by canceling sponsorship of the GovEnergy Conference, it may have opened the door for other government agencies to cancel major events if the move goes unpenalized, experts said.
New rules governing conferences may in fact give GSA a legal escape clause from the contract. Keep reading →
Most would agree the federal government needs more leaders like Susan Brita. Yet the woman who many might hold up as a hero for blowing the whistle on internal financial abuses within the General Services Administration also serves as a reminder that calling attention to such abuses continues to carry its share of risks.
Clearly, no one wants the kind of spotlight shone on Jeff Neely, the architect behind the pricey GSA conference that led to the recent scandal and to Neely being the latest to lose his job as a result. Keep reading →
In an effort to ensure taxpayers won’t be footing any more big bills for lavish Las Vegas parties, lawmakers have approved the first of what could be several new rules governing events for federal workers.
The House voted Wednesday to approve the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA) to set new standards for federal agencies planning outings. It includes a $500,000 spending cap on conferences held by individual agencies and would require every agency to disclose what they are spending on contracts on a single public website. Keep reading →
The scandal that’s pushed GSA into the ethical spotlight could have been easily avoided if the agency’s officials had followed their own rules and cost-saving measures to plan the event that’s now led to a criminal probe, ruined reputations and lost taxpayer trust.
In fact, according to industry experts, if they had used GSA contracting vehicles, new technology and negotiating power to achieve sharp discounts, the event for 300 attendees at a four-star Las Vegas hotel likely would have cost less than a quarter of the $823,000 GSA spent. Keep reading →
Acting GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini said he’s now considering a “top-to-bottom” restructuring of the agency in an effort to regain accountability and integrity after a rogue band of employees went on the now infamous spending spree on lavish and, in some cases odd, entertainment.
“There has to be more checks and balances,” Tangherlini testified at a hearing on the matter Wednesday. “There’s lots of work we have to do to have visibility. We need to consolidate procurement and oversight as well. We need to have clear accountability. We’re going to look at the entire structure top to bottom. How should it be structured?” Keep reading →
The General Services Administration’s Inspector General testified Tuesday that he has referred allegations of fraud and corruption to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution in the agency’s $823,000 Las Vegas conference scandal. And a clearly outraged subcommittee chairman threatened to disband the GSA altogether.
While declining to elaborate, GSA IG Brian Miller, told a House Transportation subcommittee that he did “send a referral” to the DOJ, which is administrative language for calling on the Justice Department to investigate whether any of the fraud and corruption charges uncovered in his report merit criminal charges. Keep reading →
General Services Administration officials used the pretense of fake awards programs as a way around federal travel expense rules in order to hold dinner events at taxpayers’ expense, according to a report today by Roll Call, citing an interview transcript it had obtained.
The transcript of the interviews, conducted by GSA’s Office of Inspector General, show that the problem of abusive spending practices may run deeper than first reported when GSA’s inspector general released a critical April 2 report that the agency spent almost $823,000 on an October 2010 Las Vegas conference for about 300 people. Keep reading →