Tag Archives: GSA

Ten more cities will get non-standard travel reimbursement rates

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Originally posted by Kedar Pavgi on GovExec

The General Services Administration has decided to designate 10 additional cities as "nonstandard" areas for travel reimbursement rates, according to an announcement posted in the Federal Register on September 5.

The designation means the regions -- frequently traveled by government employees -- will get unique per diem rates rather than being lumped together with the rest of the country. The reimbursement levels will be determined by the average daily industry rate. In August, GSA announced it was freezing fiscal 2013 per diems at fiscal 2012 levels.

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GSA spent $7.7 million on four years of virtual employee travel

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Originally posted by Amanda Palleschi on GovExec

The General Services Administration spent $7.7 million during the past four years to transport its long-distance telecommuters to meetings and conferences, new documents reveal.

Reports first obtained by CNN and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee show that 60 percent of the 379 workers in GSA's virtual employee program traveled to conferences and meetings, mostly on cross-country flights. GSA is reviewing the program after CNN reported in August that an employee who worked for a regional office in Kansas City, Mo., while living in Honolulu, racked up $24,000 in travel expenses on the government's dime. The agency spent millions more on virtual employees during the past three years, CNN said.

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VA held nearly 1,000 conferences during the past two and a half years

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Originally posted by Bob Brewin on NextGov

The Veterans Affairs Department held 948 conferences -- about one per day -- attended by 50 or more employees between January 2009 and June 2012, according to a contract notice posted Friday on the Federal Business Opportunities website seeking outside help analyzing the department's conference planning and spending practices after VA Secretary Eric Shinseki ordered a comprehensive review.

In an Aug. 16 letter to Shinseki, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, pointed out that W. Todd Grams, the department's chief financial officer, disclosed at a Nov. 15, 2011, hearing that VA's conference spending totaled "a little more than $100 million" in fiscal 2011 and $92 million in 2009.

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Survey: Feds can and should continue attending conferences

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Originally posted by Charles S. Clark on Government Executive

As the Obama administration and Congress continue a crackdown on agency spending for travel and conferences, a clear majority of federal employees believe such gatherings are important and that their supervisors remain open to their participation, a new survey shows.

An online poll conducted in mid-August by Government Executive's research division, the Government Business Council, drew from employees at 30 agencies some 350 usable responses addressing the value of attending conferences at a time of embarrassing news stories detailing overspending at off-site events by agencies such as the General Services Administration and the Veterans Affairs Department.

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Congressman pledges to hold hearings on VA conference spending

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Originally posted by Jolie Lee on Federal News Radio

Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.)

Spa treatments, concert tickets, plus helicopter and stretch limo rides -- the initial details in a Veterans Affairs' Office of the Inspector General investigation could overshadow the General Services Administration conference spending scandal.

A House lawmaker said Monday a preliminary investigation by the VA inspector general revealed two VA training conferences last year in Orlando cost the agency $5 million. In comparison, the GSA conference that set off a series of congressional inquiries cost about $820,000.

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