Oct 1, 2012

Two multimillion-dollar conferences for Veterans Affairs Department human resources officials have resulted in the resignation of the agency’s top personnel official, as an internal investigation found excessive spending and evidence that some of those planning the events had improperly accepted gifts from potential vendors.
The report, released Monday by the VA’s Office of Inspector General, found $6.1 million spent on two weeklong conferences at the Orlando Marriott World Center Golf and Spa Resort, held in July and August 2011, with about $762,00 being on “unauthorized,” “unnecessary” or “wasteful” expenses, according to the report.
The report is especially hard on John Sepulveda, the VA assistant secretary for human resources, who “abdicated his responsibilities when he failed to provide proper guidance and oversight to his senior executives,” the report says. Sepulveda has resigned.
Eleven VA employees responsible for conferences, including site selection and other planning, “improperly accepted gifts from contractors seeking to do business or already doing business with VA,” the report says. The names of the employees are omitted from the public report, but VA officials said some could face disciplinary action.
In a reaction to the report, the VA issued a statement promising stronger controls.
“Misuse of taxpayer dollars is completely unacceptable,” the statement says. “The actions cited in the report represent serious lapses in oversight, judgment, and stewardship.”
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, who did not attend the conferences, “has taken immediate action to address the issues outlined in the IG report,” the statement says.
Shinseki will “appoint senior officials to review evidence of wrongdoing and to recommend appropriate administrative action,” the statement says. Two employees have been placed on paid administrative leave pending their review.
The $6.1 million in total expenses and $762,000 of waste may not be a full accounting, the IG report says, noting “many conference costs were not sufficiently documented, which made them difficult to clearly justify, or identify whether they were accurate, appropriate, necessary or even reasonably priced.”
While faulting expenditures and cost controls, the IG report says the two conferences did serve a “valid training need” for VA human resources workforce.
The conferences had gained attention because planners spent $52,000 for an actor who portrayed Gen. George Patton in videos and personal appearances, but the report said the Patton performance was just a small sample of larger excesses.
It found $280,000 in excess costs for food, beverages, catering and miscellaneous expenses; $154,000 in contractor travel where expenses were unsupported by documents; and $97,000 in “unnecessary” promotional items for those attending, including pedometers, exercise bands, USB hubs, notebooks, water bottles and duffel bags.
The VA employee who signed off on the $52,000 Patton parody did not have authority to commit government expenses, a problem investigators said they also found when reviewing other expenses.
Sepulveda resigned Sunday, telling the newspaper Federal Times he was quitting because he “did not want to be a distraction for the administration.” He also had the title of chief human capital officer at VA.
He was not the most senior official to attend the two conferences. Deputy VA Secretary Scott Gould and Steve L. Muro, VA undersecretary for memorial affairs, also attended the events, although both made only brief appearances, according to detailed schedules of events and speakers.
==============================================

VA's Report Summary

Title:
Administrative Investigation of the FY 2011 Human Resources Conferences in Orlando, Florida

Issue Date: 9/30/2012

VA Office: Office of Acquisitions, Logistics, and Construction (OALC)
Office of Human Resources and Administration

Report Type: Administrative Investigation

Summary: VA OIG opened an administrative investigation upon receiving allegations of wasteful expenditures related to HR conferences held in Orlando, FL, in July and August 2011. While VA reported lower estimates of conference costs to Congress, we reconstructed the costs of the two conference events to be approximately $6.1 million, but could not gain reasonable assurance that this figure represents a complete accounting for these conferences. In our opinion, VA held these conferences to fulfill valid training needs. However, VA’s processes and the oversight were too weak, ineffective, and in some instances, nonexistent. Thus, many conference costs were not sufficiently documented, which made them difficult to clearly justify, or identify whether they were accurate, appropriate, necessary, or even reasonably priced. In fact, we questioned about $762,000 as unauthorized, unnecessary, and/or wasteful expenses. Further, we found that eleven VA employees, tasked with conference management responsibilities, improperly accepted gifts from contractors seeking to do business or already doing business with VA. The VA Secretary agreed to take action on our findings and OIG will monitor the Department’s progress on implementing all proposed corrective actions.

http://www.va.gov/oig/publications/r...ry.asp?id=2754