Tag Archives: OMB

OMB: No More Lavish Government Conferences

Posted on by

Originally posted by Elizabeth Flock on U.S. News

New guidelines from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget say it's time to cut back on conference spending in light of the sequester. In a document, the agency said it had "taken aggressive steps to curtail conference spending," such as ensuring conferences that cost more than $100,000 were approved by the head of an agency, hotel costs were within per diem rates, and that a cyber conference was considered before any in-person event was planned.

Continue reading →

Budget cuts push conferences online

Posted on by

Originally posted Nicole Blake Johnson on Federal Times

Decreasing travel budgets are forcing agencies to conduct more meetings and training seminars online.

The Defense Department, for example, doubled the capacity of its Defense Connect Online system -- an internal collaboration tool -- this year to accommodate more simultaneous audio and video Web conferencing across the services. DCO's reach grew to 800,000 registered users in February, which DoD attributes to departmentwide travel and conference spending cuts.

Continue reading →

1,090 New Conferences, Training Events, & Webcasts Posted on GovEvents So Far This Year

Posted on by

Although conference cancellations continue to trickle in, don't get discouraged. For every one cancellation, there are hundreds of new event opportunities that can provide the valuable training and education often garnered at these large conferences.  In fact, as of today (March 14, 2013), 1,090 new conferences, training events, and webcasts have been posted to GovEvents since the start of 2013, and thousands more will be added throughout the year.

A frequent request from our members is an updated list of event cancellations and postponements, so here is the latest list we have.  If you know of any others, please shoot us an email: info@govevents.com

Postponed:

Cancelled:

Cancelled Events Earlier this Year:

Defense Intelligence Worldwide Cancelled: Government Events Down, But Budget Savings Up

Posted on by

Orginally posted by by  on FedConnects

According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) last week, efforts to reduce travel and increase oversight in travel and conference spending have saved the federal government roughly $2 billion from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2012.

Earlier this year, a Market Connections poll showed 38% of government employees plan to attend fewer educational and trade events in FY2013 than last fiscal year.  The majority of poll respondents said budgetary and agency travel restrictions are the cause, and just over one-third of respondents reported that management would not allow them to attend events in 2013.

Continue reading →

Travel restrictions and cuts have saved $2B so far, says OMB

Posted on by

Originally posted by  on Fierce Government

Efforts to reduce travel and increase oversight in travel and conference  spending have saved the federal government roughly $2 billion from fiscal 2010  to fiscal 2012, says Daniel Werfel, controller at the Office of Management and  Budget.

Speaking at a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing  Wednesday, Werfel said agencies expect to save another $1 billion by the end of  fiscal 2013. Efforts to save money include general travel cuts, limits on  conference expenditures, conducting training in-house and increased use of  technology such as webinars and teleconferencing to replace travel.

Continue reading →