Complete Story
06/29/2017
OMB Reducing Burden on Conference Approval Process
If it occurs, agencies can forego the conference approval process and public reporting requirements completely
Earlier this month, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo to federal agencies proposing to roll back guidance on conference spending and travel that have been in place since 2012.
According to Jennifer Douris, government affairs director at the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), Congress would still have to eliminate the sections within appropriations that codify these memos. This is also being recommended by OMB in its memo and in the president’s budget.
If this happens, it appears based on the language in the memo from OMB Director Mick Mulvaney that agencies can forego the conference approval process and public reporting requirements completely. The M-17-08 memo removed reporting requirements for non-federally sponsored conferences, so this change would be mainly for government sponsored or hosted conferences.
In response, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD 7th District) the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA 17th District), sent a letter urging Mulvaney to keep the reporting requirements in place. The letter can be found here.
A Government Executive piece, titled “OMB Looks to Cut Agencies’ Workloads by Trimming Reporting Burden,” can be found here. Mulvaney is quoted as saying that the conference reporting was inefficient and taking time away from employees who could be conducting more mission-critical work.
“I don’t think anyone sees this as a license to start goofing off again,” Mulvaney said. “And, if they do, they do so at their own peril.”
This article was provided to OSAE by The Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.
