In the wake of the October 2010 GSA
travel scandal, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
released a memorandum (M-12-12)
entitled “Promoting Efficient Spending to Support Agency Operations.” The memo set
a series of policies and practices to reduce costs and improve efficiencies in
such areas as travel, conference expenditures, real estate, and fleet
management.
Since this memo in May 2012, US government policies have unfairly restricted the ability of government engineers and scientists to attend technical conferences. AHS has been active in working with other professional societies to educate the executive and legislative branches of government on the dire impacts of these restrictions.
On September 23, 2015, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) released its long awaited “Updated DoD Conference Guidance.” Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert O. Work began his cover memo:
“DoD participation in conferences and similar events is critical to our ability to share information and break down barriers that block innovation. Given continued constraints on our resources, the Department must remain a responsible steward of the taxpayers' dollars with regard to conference expenditures. In recent years, however, excessive restrictions on conference participation and attendance by DoD personnel have become counterproductive, undermining the professional development for communities such as science and technology, medical, and education personnel, and making it more difficult for them to come together with others to promote the free exchange of ideas that drive creativity and innovation.
For these reasons, the attached DoD Conference Policy updates guidelines for conference approval so as to make conference participation and attendance by DoD employees easier, not harder.”
Three major changes were made from previous guidance:
- Delegations of waiver and approval authority for conferences
- The requirement to track attendance at conference not hosted or sponsored by DoD in advance
- Reporting through the DoD Conference Tool is limited to legally directed requirements for public reporting
Posted Sep 28, 2015