GSA wasted $millions on questionable conferences and bonuses.

[powderman]

Documents show dozens of questionable GSA conferences, millions in bonuses  By Doug McKelway
Published July 31, 2012
FoxNews.com     

•    April 16, 2012: Witnesses prepare to testify on Capitol Hill about GSA spending. The former agency commissioner Jeff Neely is third from the left. (AP)

  Remember Jeff Neely, the government official photographed living it up in a hot tub at a Las Vegas conference?
"He was the tip of the iceberg," says Rep. John Mica, R-Fla.
Mica's committee is now looking into wasteful spending at as many as 77 other General Services Administration (GSA) conferences -- all uncovered in documents obtained by Fox News.
The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, show the extent to which GSA dumped money into questionable conferences, sometimes with little or no record of spending. They also show that while the GSA was hosting lavish affairs, they were also doling out bonuses to their party guest employees.
One of the more troubling conferences was held in 2010 in Crystal City, Va., where GSA employees within the Federal Acquisition Service spent hours drumming in what administrators billed as a "team-building" exercise.
But while lawmakers first uncovered that conference earlier this month, documents obtained exclusively by Fox News show the event was the setting for millions of dollars worth of bonus handouts.
According to the records, more than 3,700 employees received bonuses averaging about $1,000 apiece at the conference. The cost to taxpayers was $3.6 million -- minus the cost of the drumsticks, and the consultant who headed up the exercise.
Practices like this have drawn the ire of government watchdogs.
"The private company that hands out bonuses and rewards far beyond its ability to pay is going to be out of business. In the government, it seems to matter less because so many people seem to qualify," said Tom Schatz, of Citizens Against Government Waste.
Fox News' FOIA request found several GSA conferences have no record of spending -- no receipts and no way to account for the cost associated with travel and conference spending.
"It wouldn't surprise taxpayers to learn that these kinds of omissions occur at every agency. The lack of accountability is so bad that it's impossible to fire anyone," Schatz said. "It takes a hot-tub scandal to get rid of people at these agencies."
Firing more GSA employees may be exactly what Mica, chairman of the House transportation committee, has in mind when he opens a new round of hearings Wednesday on the lavish GSA conferences.
"They tried to do everything they could to cover up the October  2010 Las Vegas fiasco. Now, we're hearing there are dozens more. We're going to drag in all the parties involved and get to the bottom of this scandal," Mica told Fox News.
Questioned about the lack of accountability, a GSA spokesman sent a written response to Fox News which said:
"As of April 2012 all spending for events, including training conferences, leadership events, team building exercises, award ceremonies, were suspended. The 2010 awards ceremony was an annual event and has been in existence going back to 2002. Under the new GSA leadership these events and this type of spending are not tolerated."
But Mica wants to inquire if, indeed, some of the wasteful spending practices have continued even after the departures of some administrators who had a hand in the profligate conference spending. "This is very disappointing. Some replacements may be involved in latest scandals so that complicated our investigation," Mica said.
Still, Mica contends that that GSA's out-of-town conference spending pales in comparison to the taxpayer money wasted on 14,000 vacant or underused properties that GSA oversees. It is part of GSA's job to manage those properties and, when possible, sell them. "The underutilized assets that are sitting idle, wasted and abused cost taxpayers in the billions," Mica said.
To help demonstrate that waste, The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a field hearing  next week  at a vacant federal courthouse in Miami. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/31/documents-show-dozens-questionable-gsa-conferences-millions-in-bonuses/#ixzz22EmE1jCZ

[powderman]

GSA holds conference at luxurious Opryland as House convenes hearing  Published August 01, 2012
FoxNews.com     

•    May 31, 2012: The Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center is shown in Nashville, Tenn. (AP)

  The embattled General Services Administration isn't exactly taking its lumps.
While a House panel convenes a hearing Wednesday morning to hammer the free-spending GSA for its frequent and costly conferences, the GSA will be holding yet another conference -- this one at the sprawling Opryland convention center in Nashville, Tenn.
The 2012 GSA SmartPay Training Conference runs from Tuesday to Thursday this week. It's for banks investing in the agency's so-called SmartPay system, but also invites a range of officials within GSA.
The visuals of the Nashville conference will likely prove irresistible to lawmakers who are expected Wednesday to point to the gathering as a prime example of GSA's over-spending.
Fox News confirmed that House lawmakers are now looking at as many as 77 conferences where wasteful spending might have occurred.
The conference being held this week in Nashville was held in Las Vegas last year, at a cost of nearly $840,000.
This year, there is an event on the docket Wednesday night on the "General Jackson" steamboat, complete with a reception and entertainment.
Documents obtained exclusively by Fox News show dozens of conferences in recent years, as well as millions of dollars worth of bonuses handed out to employees. At one controversial conference held in suburban Washington in 2010, more than 3,700 employees received bonuses averaging about $1,000 apiece at the conference. The cost to taxpayers was $3.6 million.
Fox News' FOIA request found several GSA conferences have no record of spending -- no receipts and no way to account for the cost associated with travel and conference spending.
Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House transportation committee, will probe this spending at his committee's hearing Wednesday.   
"They tried to do everything they could to cover up the October  2010 Las Vegas fiasco. Now, we're hearing there are dozens more. We're going to drag in all the parties involved and get to the bottom of this scandal," Mica told Fox News.
Questioned about the lack of accountability, a GSA spokesman sent a written response to Fox News which said:
"As of April 2012 all spending for events, including training conferences, leadership events, team building exercises, award ceremonies, were suspended. The 2010 awards ceremony was an annual event and has been in existence going back to 2002. Under the new GSA leadership these events and this type of spending are not tolerated."
Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/01/gsa-holds-conference-at-luxurious-opryland-as-house-convenes-hearing/#ixzz22IuQaiJW

[powderman]

Bonus checks for GSA workers total far more than previously reported, lawmaker reveals  Published August 01, 2012
FoxNews.com   

•    

  Employees at the obscure General Services Administration are quietly gobbling up 10 percent of the entire federal government's bonus checks, a top Republican lawmaker revealed Wednesday, with the tab reaching a stunning $44 million last year.
The $44 million amount is far more than was previously reported. As House lawmakers convened a hearing Wednesday digging deep into alleged mismanagement and waste at the embattled agency, Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla, called the latest revelations "absolutely outrageous."
Disclosing the results of what he described as a preliminary investigation, Mica said bonuses totaled $44 million, with many bonuses worth $50,000 apiece and some going to workers now under investigation. One employee, he said, received a $79,000 bonus, adding up to nearly $260,000 in total compensation.
Lawmakers also said overtime payments were over the top. Mica cited on case where a worker with an $84,000 salary received $115,000 in overtime.
"There's something wrong at GSA when you have to pay an employee $115,000 in overtime," he said.
Though agency bonuses were worth 10 percent of all government bonuses, Mica said, GSA staff makes up just 1 percent of the total federal workforce.
The hearing Wednesday served as the latest forum for scandalous details to emerge about the agency that is responsible for managing federal property. That agency has been thrust into the congressional spotlight in the wake of the controversy over a 2010 conference in Las Vegas. It turns out, Mica said, that up to 77 conferences are now under investigation.
The $44 million in bonuses was first reported by WUSA. GSA officials at the hearing Wednesday could not confirm the bonus figures. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton said she found it "difficult to believe."
The GSA, however, wasn't exactly taking its lumps. While Mica's panel held the hearing, the GSA was holding yet another conference -- this one at the sprawling Opryland convention center in Nashville, Tenn.
The 2012 GSA SmartPay Training Conference runs from Tuesday to Thursday this week. It's for banks investing in the agency's so-called SmartPay system, but also invites a range of officials within GSA.
The visuals of the Nashville conference will likely prove irresistible to lawmakers Wednesday who are looking for examples of GSA's over-spending.
The conference being held this week in Nashville was held in Las Vegas last year, at a cost of nearly $840,000. This year, there is an event on the docket Wednesday night on the "General Jackson" steamboat, complete with a reception and entertainment.
Cynthia Metzler, GSA's chief administrative services officer, defended the actions the agency is taking to reform.
She said Wednesday that under new leadership, GSA has canceled 37 previously scheduled conferences and is conducting a "top-to-bottom" review.
She acknowledged that there is a "pattern of mismanagement" spanning multiple administrations, and said "it must stop."
Inspector General Brian Miller, who also testified, said the agency is cooperating with his investigation.
Documents obtained exclusively by Fox News show dozens of conferences in recent years, as well as millions of dollars worth of bonuses handed out to employees. At one controversial conference held in suburban Washington in 2010, more than 3,700 employees received bonuses averaging about $1,000 apiece at the conference. The cost to taxpayers was $3.6 million.
Fox News' FOIA request found several GSA conferences have no record of spending -- no receipts and no way to account for the cost associated with travel and conference spending.
Questioned about the lack of accountability, a GSA spokesman sent a written response to Fox News which said:
"As of April 2012 all spending for events, including training conferences, leadership events, team building exercises, award ceremonies, were suspended. The 2010 awards ceremony was an annual event and has been in existence going back to 2002. Under the new GSA leadership these events and this type of spending are not tolerated."
Fox News' Chad Pergram and Doug McKelway contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/01/bonus-checks-for-gsa-workers-total-far-more-than-previously-reported-lawmaker/#ixzz22IydKYYP

[briarpatch]

I going to ask the same question they ask when confronted. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT.