Tag Archives: Federal Times

Federal travel tab slashed $1 billion, largely in conference cuts

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Originally posted by TravelMole

Federal government travelers cut their spending by more than a billion dollars so far in 2013, largely by cutting down on conference spending, the Federal Times reported last week.

Travel-related charges to the SmartPay charge card program fell 17%, from $7.3 billion to about $6 billion -- and more than 40% from the $9.6 billion government workers spent on travel in fiscal 2011.

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GSA reforms are improving efficiency, customer service

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Originally posted by Dan Tangherlini on Federal Times

More than 60 years ago, the General Services Administration was founded in the wake of World War II to deliver consistent and responsive services to federal agencies, services which would also ensure value to taxpayers. Today, everyone at GSA continues to take enormous pride in that mission and since April of this year, we have been engaged in an effort to refocus this agency on our core objective of providing effective and efficient service for the entire federal government.

At a time when every agency is coping with shrinking budgets and growing expectations, we know that the services GSA provides have never been more important. For the past five months, GSA has conducted a top-to-bottom review to examine how we operate and what reforms could be implemented to help the entire federal government give the American people the service they deserve.

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Veterans Affairs faces probe of spending on two conferences

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Originally posted by Charles S. Clark on Government Executive

In yet another agency conference controversy, the Veterans Affairs Department is under investigation for allegedly spending $5 million on two human resources training conferences at which employees may have received improper gifts, according to a Federal Times story published Monday night.

Citing unnamed sources in the VA inspector general's office, the report said tens of thousands of dollars may have gone to multiple trips in preparation for two conferences in Orlando, Fla., in July and August 2011. Employees are said to have received thousands of dollars in promotional items as gifts, including alcohol, concert tickets and spa visits, the publication said.

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