Search Tags:  oversight

Energy Department missing big opportunity to cut travel costs

An inspector general report found that while the Energy Department "moved swiftly" to reduce travel spending by its employees following a White House directive, it omitted a sizable chunk of its workforce from those efforts: contractors. The IG recommended the agency take steps to reduce contractors' foreign travel spending. Because contractors greatly outnumber federal employees at DoE and make up the lion's share of foreign travel, they should be included in cost-reduction efforts, the IG said.

Tags: Energy Department , Gregory Friedman , management , best practices , contractors , travel costs

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New federal oversight of subways, buses replaces state 'patchwork'

The Federal Transit Administration now has the authority to set safety standards under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act or MAP-21.

Tags: Peter Rogoff , FTA , DOT , transit systems , Congress , budget , Metro , MARC , VRE , Federal Drive , Jolie Lee

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Republican lawmakers call for ouster of VA official who approved conferences

Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the ranking member of the Senate committee, called on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to fire his chief of staff, John Gingrich after an inspector general report said he failed to ask the right questions before approving two training conferences. The conferences costs $6.1 million, with as much as $762,000 in questionable spending.

Tags: Congress , House , Senate , John Gingrich , Eric Shinseki , VA , Jeff Miller , Richard Burr , John Sepulveda

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Report: Safety systems for Afghan IEDs inadequate

The watchdog for spending in Afghanistan is warning commanders that a safety system to protect U.S. troops from roadside bombs is incomplete or inadequate.

Tags: SIGAR , John Sopko , IEDs , Afghanistan

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Collins wants to know why VA conference planners received bonuses

In an Oct. 9 letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinskei, Sen. Susan Collins requested the agency disclose whether employees responsible for planning the two conferences held in Orlando, Fla., last summer, also worked on other conferences. In addition, Collins said she wants to know how much conference planners earned in bonuses and other awards for their work.

Tags: Congress , Senate , Susan Collins , VA , Eric Shinseki , conference spending , Jack Moore

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Failed leadership blamed for VA conference spending scandal

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.

Tags: VA , John Sepulveda , IG report , Eric Shinseki ,

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Issa probing conferences that exceeded GSA price tag

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is probing more than 150 conferences hosted by 11 agencies since 2005 where wasteful spending or excessive spending may have have occurred, according to a committee release. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the oversight chairman, said the committee is using the lavish $823,000 regional conference hosted by the General Services Administration in 2010 as a "benchmark" to compare other agencies' conference spending. The committee found the Defense Department has held 64 such conferences.

Tags: Congress , House , Darrell Issa , GSA , Shakeup at GSA , conference spending , DoD , Jack Moore

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VA CHCO resigns one day before IG releases conference spending report

John Sepulveda, the chief human capital officer at the Veterans Affairs Department, resigned Sunday. The agency's inspector general is expected to release a final report today on two human resources conferences last year that cost the department $5 million.

Tags: John Sepulveda , VA , CHCO , people , conference , IG

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Agencies cracking down on troubled vendors

The Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee (ISDC) issued its annual report to Congress showing that the use of suspension and debarment increased substantially in 2011 over 2009 and 2010.

Tags: contracting , OFPP , suspension and debarment , acquisition , Joe Jordan , Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee , David Sims , Duc Nguyen , Jason Miller

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Tangherlini sought details of GSA IG's investigation tactics

The acting administrator of GSA said he met with IG Brian Miller and David Shea after accusations the IG investigator's tactics were overly aggressive in looking into the recent SmartPay Conference. Tangherlini also expects to receive suggestions on how the CIO reorganization would work, and how to go forward with the reduction of FAS fees in the coming weeks.

Tags: management , GSA , Brian Miller , Dan Tangherlini , reorganization , Casey Coleman , Shakeup at GSA , Smart Pay Conference , Jason Miller , exclusive

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