Almost 1,000 conferences held by VA in two and a half years

According to the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics April release there were 317,629 VA paid employees, 152 hospitals, 812 community outreach centers, and 300 veteran centers. There are 3.42 million veterans receiving VA compensation with 338,658 rated 100% disabled as of March 31, 2012.

There are 22,234,000 veterans in this country and according to recent reports less than half of the veterans needing help for PTSD go to the VA for help and then we have the backlog of claims. With these numbers in mind, consider the following and understand what a huge waste of money this was.

VA HELD NEARLY 1,000 CONFERENCES DURING THE PAST TWO AND A HALF YEARS
By Bob Brewin
Nextgov

The Veterans Affairs Department held 948 conferences -- about one per day -- attended by 50 or more employees between January 2009 and June 2012, according to a contract notice posted Friday on the Federal Business Opportunities website seeking outside help analyzing the department’s conference planning and spending practices after VA Secretary Eric Shinseki ordered a comprehensive review.

In an Aug. 16 letter to Shinseki, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, pointed out that W. Todd Grams, the department’s chief financial officer, disclosed at a Nov. 15, 2011, hearing that VA’s conference spending totaled “a little more than $100 million” in fiscal 2011 and $92 million in 2009.

The House Veterans Affairs Committee disclosed Friday that VA spent $5.3 million on two conferences in Orlando, Fla., attended by 1,800 human resources employees in the summer of 2011. This is roughly seven times the $820,000 the General Services Administration spent on a Las Vegas conference for 300 employees in 2010.

Expense breakouts for one of those VA two conferences showed the department spent $296,165 on an audiovisual center for employee use, $184,800 for morning and evening refreshments, $90,747 for coffee break refreshments, and $862 for a karaoke night.
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But it isn't new. In 2009, Obama's first year in office, the spending was done while the government was still working off of President Bush's budget prepared a year before he left office. All of the veterans still taking their own lives and with all these conferences, few answers have been discovered.

I went to a few conferences in Orlando and most of the time we were lucky to get coffee.