Office of Inspector General report on inspection of the Department of Energy`s conference policies and practices

The Department of Energy (DOE) is a recognized world leader in technological breakthroughs brought about by its many research and development programs. To further these technical and scientific achievements, the Department and its contractors conduct numerous conferences, meetings and symposiums every year. This inspection sampled conferencing practices at the Department`s National Laboratories and evaluated the adequacy of Departmental conference policies and procedures. The Department has not developed adequate policies and procedures regarding the conduct of its conference activities and the conference activities of its contractors. Guidance issued by the President, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and by the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) requires that the Department minimize conference costs by establishing or revising existing procedures to ensure such costs are kept to a minimum. However, the inspection found that the Department does not have consistent Department-wide procedures in place to ensure that conference costs are minimized. As a result, weaknesses were found in some conference practices of the Department`s contractors