GSA purges calendar of questionable events after report on lavish 2010 conference

Washington – The federal General Services Administration, under fire for a lavish 2010 conference at a resort near Las Vegas, is compiling a list of questionable conferences that may be called off as part of the agency's scrubbing of its calendar.

Among the meetings already canceled was a series of four small-business conferences scheduled over the next year, including a two-day session in September at the M Resort, where the infamous 2010 event was held.

Small-business conferences in Honolulu, Phoenix and Oakland, Calif., also were axed.

And the GSA cancelled a Las Vegas trade show April 25 that was to connect government officials with clean-energy vendors at the Hampton Inn Tropicana.

The GreenUP 2012 Training Conference and Vendor Showcase this month was budgeted by the federal agency at less than $3,000 for roughly 100 people.

The details about the agency’s 2010 Western Regions Conference were made public earlier this month in a report by the agency’s Inspector General that revealed $832,000 was spent in planning and holding the four-day event.

As a result, the GSA Administrator Martha Johnson resigned April 3, and the Republican-controlled House is holding two separate investigations.

Agency spokesman Adam Elkington confirmed the upcoming Las Vegas event was canceled as part of a review ordered by acting Administrator Daniel Tangherlini.