OIG Report on Bungled NASA Conference Spending

Audit of Selected NASA Conferences in Fiscal Years 2011-2012, NASA OIG
“NASA May Have Augmented its Appropriations at the 2011 IT Summit. Donations of goods and services by outside entities can lead to an augmentation of an agency’s appropriations and a violation of the Antideficiency Act unless they are authorized under a gift acceptance statute or other statutory authority. … The 2011 IT Summit steering committee members did not consult with the OGC or OCFO about NIA’s contributions to the Summit and therefore did not follow NASA policy regarding the acceptance of gifts from outside entities. We believe this occurred because the steering committee members viewed the awards luncheon and other meals and receptions NIA paid for as NIA events rather than NASA events and therefore did not interpret NASA policy to require consultation under such circumstances. In January 2013, NASA clarified its policy to make clear that the consultation requirement applies to “complimentary activities” like the NIA-sponsored events.
… Reported Conference Costs Were Underreported. NASA estimated the 2011 IT Summit would cost $1,176,307, and reported actual costs of $1,291,889, a difference of approximately $116,000. We found that NASA did not include in the estimated cost figure $548,209 incurred by contractors who attended the event and billed NASA for their attendance and travel costs or an additional $128,439 in miscellaneous expenses.”

In this video “NASA CIO Linda Cureton’s NASA IT Summit Reception speech is attacked by a flash mob”. Here is Another view. Then there was the Smashcast at 2011 NASA IT Summit. Too bad they could not get the actors who did the Star Trek thing for that IRS conference.
– Earlier NASA CIO and NASA IT postings
NASA Administrator Message: Audit of Selected NASA Conferences in Fiscal Years 2011-2012
“I welcome this review as part of NASA’s culture of continuous improvement and our commitment to transparency and good stewardship of taxpayer money. In fact, as noted in the report, we began taking steps to improve our conference policies and procedures several years ago and have significantly enhanced our conference oversight review processes. It is also important to note that we further strengthened those processes in the two years since the conferences described in the IG’s report.”
Keith’s Note: Truth be known Bolden et al have been very familiar with this ongoing OIG activity and these cost excesses and procedural abuses for years and have been dreading the inevitable release of this report. NASA HQ knew damn well that this CIO event was out of control even as it was being planned and they chose to just look the other way. Earlier NASA efforts with regard to travel and meetings are, of course, mere window dressing under the guise of sequestration issues, and were applied often without much thought given to logic or actually controlling costs. Mr. Bolden is not interested in fixing anything. Rather, he just wants to stay out of the news – and when NASA gets in the news for doing bad things, he wants NASA to exit the news as fast as possible.