Agencies Justify Conference Tabs Above $100,000

Originally posted by Charles S. Clark on Government Executive

 

Agencies have submitted summaries of conference spending in fiscal 2012 to the Office of Management and Budget that include justifications for training events that exceeded $100,000. The reports are required by a May 2012 memo from Acting Budget Director Jeffrey Zients.

Expanding on a 2011 OMB directive and executive order from President Obama promoting efficient spending, the latest Zients memo requires reductions in travel and conferences in the wake of the spring 2012 scandal involving extravagant spending at a General Services Administration training conference. It prohibits conferences costing more than $500,000 and requires agencies to report on events costing more than $100,000. Reports from all agencies were due Jan. 31.

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Federal government offices closed Tuesday

Originally posted by Julia Ziegler and Jolie Lee on Federal News Radio

D.C.-area federal offices are again closed to the public Tuesday after Hurricane Sandy made landfall Monday on the East Coast, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

As with Monday, non-emergency federal employees, including those on pre-approved paid leave, will be granted an excused absence for the number of hours they were scheduled to work unless they are:

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GSA outlines progress cracking down on bonuses, pricey conferences

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.

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