Originally posted by TIM MAK and LEIGH MUNSIL on Politico
This isn't your granddaddy's Army convention.
In the post-GSA-scandal environment in which the very industry of convention organizing is under siege, the annual U.S. Army association's exposition at the Washington Convention Center is aiming to be a "gold standard" for military trade shows -- without the emphasis on gold.
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.
Following a new inspector general's audit of two conferences held in 2011, the Veterans Affairs Department has enacted numerous tactics to check spending, root out misconduct by employees and keep senior officials involved in conference planning.
One key control is a new requirement that a senior executive must approve all proposed conferences or training sessions, the department said in a statement Oct. 1.
The undersecretary, assistant secretary or similarly-ranked VA official has to give approval for a conference proposal with project costs reaching to $100,000. If the expected costs exceed $100,000, the deputy secretary and the chief of staff must approve. Conferences with a bill expected to exceed $500,000 are generally prohibited, unless the VA secretary gives a waiver. As an additional check, officials must do an "After Action Review" following the conference to compare proposed costs to actual costs.
Originally posted by Jack Moore on Federal News Radio
Two Veterans Affairs Department training conferences held last summer in Orlando, Fla., contained as much as $762,000 in wasteful spending and were plagued by poor planning and oversight, according to an inspector general report released Monday.
In the report, the IG said although the conferences were held for legitimate purposes, agency leadership "failed to provide proper oversight in the planning and execution" of the two conferences. Specifically, Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration John Sepulveda "abdicated his responsibilities" by failing to provide guidance to agency senior executives and taking a "hands-off approach."
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.
