The Postal Service’s Inspector General’s office is launching a review of conference spending at the agency.
The office said that conferences can be an effective method of communication or they can be abused. Agencies have made great strides to reduce those costs by promoting teleconferencing and reducing the number of meetings, the office said in an Aug. 21 announcement.
“We are conducting research to determine if the Postal Service properly accounted for and evaluated Postal Service initiatives to reduce meeting and conference costs,” the announcement said.
The inspector general’s office is also asking attendees at recent Postal Service conferences and events to report if they thought costs could have been reduced and if the amenities provided were appropriate.
Scrutiny of conference spending has increased since an April 2012 inspector general report that detailed a 2010 General Services Administration conference that cost $823,000 and forced out the agency’s top leaders. The Veterans Affairs Department and the IRS have also come under fire for excessive conference spending.
