Author Archives: GovExec

Energy Department advised to keep a closer eye on contractor travel

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Originally posted by Charles S. Clark on GovExec

The Energy Department should strengthen monitoring of its contractors' foreign travel, which in the past six years has cost more than $300 million for 90,000 trips, according to a recent management alert the department's inspector general issued.

IG Gregory Friedman noted about 85 percent of Energy's travel costs were incurred by contractors on projects such as inspecting nuclear weapons and visiting Japan in the aftermath of the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear power disaster.

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Groups want scientists exempted from strict conference spending rules

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Originally posted by Kedar Pavgi on GovExec

New limits on conference spending are preventing federal scientists and engineers from collaborating and working on technical research, according to several organizations representing the scientific community.

In a letter dated Sept. 10, a group of scientific organizations asked the White House and members of Congress to exempt them from the restrictions on conferences.

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Commerce Department conference costs can be hard to pin down

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Originally posted by Kedar Pavgi on GovExec

More than 60 percent of conference spending that Commerce Department bureaus reported in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 was not based on actual costs incurred, according to a new report from Commerce's inspector general.

In an analysis of the department's spending on 24 conferences, the IG's report found that $772,282 of the total $1.7 million in reported spending was based on estimates. Auditors labeled another $282,637 of the total as unsupported costs.

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Veterans Affairs’ overspending at conferences linked to poor contract execution

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Originally posted by Charles S. Clark on Government Executive

Among the many lapses the Veterans Affairs Department may have committed in planning two lavish training conferences in Orlando, Fla., in 2011 was a failure to adhere to contracting procedures.

The inspector general's report on the $6.1 million pair of employee gatherings, which led to the resignation of the department's Chief Human Capital Officer John Sepulveda, focused mostly on overspending, wrongful acceptance of gifts by employees and unnecessary advance trips to plan the conferences.

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The Top 5 Government Services Companies of 2012

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Originally posted by Mark Micheli on GovExec

The government services industry is the second fastest growing industry in America, according to Inc. Magazine's "Inc. 5000." Every year since 2007, Inc. has released the "Inc. 5000," a list of the fastest growing privately held companies in America. Measuring aggregate growth from 2008 - 2011, the government services industry has grown by 145 percent, second only to growth in private media.

Below is a look at Inc.'s five fastest growing government services companies:

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