Cracking Down On Outrageous Government Waste
Mainers have been rightly outraged in recent months as we have learned about luxurious conferences and the silly and wasteful “training” enjoyed by some federal government workers. It is particularly maddening when one learns about federal dollars wasted on Las Vegas junkets when so many Americans continue to struggle pay their bills during this weak economy.
The shenanigans took place at the General Services Administration (GSA). Not many people outside the GSA itself understand what the agency does. Ironically, GSA, which spent more than $800,000 for a Las Vegas conference that included a mind reader and fancy meals, is supposed to save the federal government money. It is the federal government’s leader in procurement and administrative services. It obtains property for the government all over the country and uses the government’s enormous buying power to negotiate the best price for services and supplies.
I came across a Fortune magazine article that said of GSA:
“The new Administrator claims there have been improvements in GSA…. GSA is, nevertheless, the most durable mess in Washington…. The story involves great U.S. corporations and marginal operators… Chicago politicians; Washington influence-peddlers and fixers…, and, above all, timeserving bureaucrats who are neither Republicans nor Democrats, nor yet honest mavericks, but just job holders, glowing with contempt for the U.S. taxpayer. Happily, the cast also includes some honest, capable, GSA employees … harried, half underground, and hoping for better days.”
I, too, am hoping for better days, but my hope is tempered by the fact that these words were written in 1955, but the same problems crop up again.
I recently led a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to investigate these misdeeds and correct them. GSA violated numerous contracting regulations and policies at the Las Vegas conference. The Inspector General investigating the waste said this situation raises “special concern” because GSA – as the federal government’s manager of acquisition policies – should be a “model” in contracting and managing travel and conference planning. He has underscored that “the absence of Agency financial control and top-down accountability allowed the 2010 [Las Vegas conference] expenditures to occur unchecked.”
But that’s not all. Since then, my Committee has uncovered:
· A 2012 leadership conference in Napa Valley, California costing $40,000 before accounting for travel costs;
· $300,000 in relocation compensation for an employee who left the agency after one year; and
· Five- to six-day trips to Hawaii for a one-hour ribbon cutting ceremony.
GSA employees knew this was wrong. One admitted to the Inspector General, “I never tell my friends what I spend…because they’re all out of work…and they would say are you kidding me?” Undoubtedly, that is the reaction of taxpayers footing the bill.
All this tells me that there isn’t just an inexcusable lack of financial controls at GSA. There is also a culture problem.
After the Las Vegas conference scandal broke, some tried to claim that the problem was isolated to one region. But additional facts suggest otherwise. We have discovered that GSA spent $20,000 for cooking classes for employees in Kansas City for teambuilding exercises. GSA also threw a one-day award celebration in November 2010 at a cost of $268,732. At this event, GSA employees received drumsticks so that they could all drum together. The cost of this so-called teambuilding? Almost $30,000.
GSA also has an extremely generous employee award policy that appears to have little correlation with excellent performance by the recipients. For example, we have learned that 50 people involved in planning the Las Vegas conference received awards totaling $35,500. And what was the outstanding performance for which these employees were being rewarded? For most, it was solely their role in planning for that over-the-top conference. An employee who led the Las Vegas conference planning received an award of $16,500 – and this award was given even after GSA leadership was informed of the IG’s initial findings related to the scandal. Other executives involved in the conference received similarly generous awards ranging from $15,800 to a head-shaking total of $54,640. This was not just related to officials who planned the Las Vegas conference. One executive received awards totaling $79,000!
This is outrageous and particularly so in the midst of a bad economy and high unemployment.
The situation must be remedied. And our oversight Committee is insisting on it. There’s a new Acting Administrator of GSA who is doing top-to-bottom review. He has cancelled conferences and cut the budget for financial awards. He is listening to the many GSA employees who are dedicated public servants and are appalled at the extravagant spending.
Not one more dollar at this agency can afford to be wasted. The time for patiently hoping for better days is over. I am encouraged by the Acting Administrator’s actions so far, but aggressive congressional oversight must continue – because, to quote from that 1955 article, GSA seems to be “the most durable mess in Washington.”
