Tag Archives: GSA

Veterans Affairs faces probe of spending on two conferences

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Originally posted by Charles S. Clark on Government Executive

In yet another agency conference controversy, the Veterans Affairs Department is under investigation for allegedly spending $5 million on two human resources training conferences at which employees may have received improper gifts, according to a Federal Times story published Monday night.

Citing unnamed sources in the VA inspector general's office, the report said tens of thousands of dollars may have gone to multiple trips in preparation for two conferences in Orlando, Fla., in July and August 2011. Employees are said to have received thousands of dollars in promotional items as gifts, including alcohol, concert tickets and spa visits, the publication said.

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GSA Cutting 8,000 Contracts

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Originally posted on GSA Focus

The GSA announced on June 7, 2012 that they are cutting 8,000 contracts from the GSA Schedule. The GSA is cutting contracts where outdated items are rarely purchased by the federal government (typewriters, photographic equipment, etc).  Keeping these schedules open was costing the GSA $24 million dollars annually as each schedule is reported to have cost $3,000 per year.  This cost is regardless of whether there was any business activity in those schedules, and there was likely not enough activity to justify keeping them open.

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Senator ‘sickened’ by new GSA controversy

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Originally posted by Charles S. Clark on Government Executive
Leaders of the key Senate panel overseeing the General Services Administration responded to news of another conference featuring questionable spending by releasing a redacted version of a letter from the acting GSA chief summarizing progress on his "top-to-bottom" review of the troubled agency's management procedures.

"At a time when Congress must make the toughest budget choices we have ever made, I am sickened to hear more stories about the reckless disregard GSA shows for taxpayer dollars," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, after House Republicans revealed details of a November 2010 Federal Acquisition Service conference held in Arlington, Va.

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GSA blasted for another over-the-top 2010 conference

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Originally posted by Government Executive

The General Services Administration staged a one-day awards conference at two hotels in Arlington, Va., in November 2010 at which some 200 guests were treated to gifts such as time-and-temperature picture frames and drumsticks, according to GSA inspector general figures House Republicans on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released Thursday.  The estimated total cost of the conference was $268,732.

"It's another sad day for taxpayers, another for an out-of-control agency," Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the panel, said at a hastily called press conference to announce a congressional investigation into the matter. "This makes everyone's blood boil among members of Congress and the public."
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Lawmakers upset over new revelations of GSA spending

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Originally posted by Jack Moore on Federal News Radio

Lawmakers on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee are upset over new disclosures about spending at the General Services Administration.

At a press conference Thursday, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the committee chairman, provided details from an ongoing internal GSA investigation that revealed one of the agency's divisions spent more than $268,000 on an awards ceremony held in the Washington, D.C., area in November 2010.

GSA's Federal Acquisition Service spent more than $34,000 to host the one-day event at the Crystal Gateway Marriot in Crystal City, Va, according to a letter from GSA's inspector general Brian Miller.

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