Attendance by Government Employees at Professional and Technical Conferences

After the GSA conference scandal a couple of years ago (remember the guy who organized an $800,000 junket for 300 GSA employees to Las Vegas, then took a selfie of himself sitting in a spa tub overlooking Las Vegas, sipping wine and eating cheese?) many Governmental agencies significantly curtailed their conference spending - so much so that even where there was solid justification for attending professional conferences, no one in the organization was willing to approve (and fund) such attendance out of a fear of a next big scandal. Many view conferences as boondoggles - taking away from time that could be better spent at a desk.

There is a provision in the 2016 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) that attempts to reverse the trend. The NDAA which has now passed the House, includes a provision that will require the Department of Defense to look into its policies and procedures related to professional travel and report back to Congress its findings and recommendations necessary to further enable professional development of its workforce.

The House Armed Services Committee expressed concern that many organizations organizations within the Department of Defense have either eliminated or severely restricted temporary duty travel for professional and technical conferences. While the committee supported efforts to reduce non-essential costs, it believed such conferences provide value by enabling Department of Defense engineers, scientists, and other technical personnel to share research, learn about cutting-edge innovations, and interact with their peers from across the country and the world.

While the committee acknowledged DoD's recent show of support for attendance at conferences when appropriately justified (and when funds were available), it expressed concern that the lengthy and complex approval processes to enable conference attendance by Federal employees is unduly hampering the ability of academic and scientific personnel in the Department of Defense to perform their jobs, may inhibit career progression, and could discourage personnel with highly technical skills and competencies from entering the workforce.

To ensure that the process of approving conference attendance is not unduly bureaucratic, the NDAA contains a provision that requires the DOD to examine its policies and procedures related to professional travel and to brief the House Committee on Armed Services not later than October 1, 2015, on findings and recommendations necessary to further enable professional development of the workforce.