WASHINGTON -- With its kitschy crooners, blackjack tables and luxury hotel rooms, Las Vegas is a popular destination for trade shows, tourists and newlyweds.
But no longer, it seems, with bureaucrats.
Federal agencies have all but abandoned Las Vegas and other resort destinations -- including Hawaii and Orlando -- for government meetings and conferences, following a number of high-profile agency travel scandals and budget cutbacks.
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.
Originally posted by TIM LOGAN • tlogan@post-dispatch.com on STLToday
Sometimes, what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas.
That was the case this week, when a scandal-plagued federal agency, still reeling from revelations about a lavish conference in Sin City, pulled the plug on an upcoming gathering here in the Gateway City.
Now 10 downtown hotels are left with a bunch of empty rooms and wondering if they will ever get paid.
The General Services Agency, which manages nuts-and-bolts federal purchasing, told St. Louis convention officials this week that they are canceling a big energy trade show scheduled for America's Center next month. It would have filled nearly 2,500 hotel rooms downtown for four nights, generating an estimated $6 million in hotel and convention spending, plus cab rides, meals and more. Now? Nothing.
