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.
Originally posted by Jolie Lee on Federal News Radio
No more motivational speakers, musicians or promotional swag. The Defense Department is banning entertainment-related expenses at its conferences.
The Pentagon memo on conference oversight also prohibits conference participants from receiving gifts, such as tickets to recreational events outside of the conference. And DoD conference organizers can't use funds to produce videos not related to the conference.
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.
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 Charles S. Clark on GovExec
The test of whether a federal performance bonus is merited is "whether I can explain it at a Senate hearing," acting General Services Administration chief Dan Tangherlini told a Senate panel Wednesday. Bonuses should be given only for "special, exemplary, extremely justifiable acts," he added, and "the quality of our work should not be dependent on a bonus award but on commitment" to mission.
Tangherlini appeared with GSA Inspector General Brian Miller before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to respond to senators' reviews of lengthy committee questionnaires the agency had completed as part of the ongoing fallout from the April 2012 scandal over lavish spending on entertainment at a GSA training conference in Las Vegas.
