Revelations of GSA excesses unseemly on so many levels

The overindulgence of the General Services Administration's whoop-de-do in Henderson in 2010 is obvious and offensive. The blatant waste and redundancy was documented by the Office of Inspector General.

The big picture is the drunken-sailor style extravagance demonstrated at this conference for 318 government employees at a cost of a whopping $822,751 at the M Resort.

One example, though GSA policy prohibits using tax dollars for mementos, the giveaways for those who attended ran up to $21,000 for yearbooks, souvenir books, canteens, carabiners, shirts and commemorative coins.

Receiving less publicity were the corrupt agreements made. That calls into question: Why would anyone want to do business with the GSA because backroom deals seem to hurt some vendors trying to compete for contracts and help others?

Where's the level playing field for government contracts when the fix is already in with certain vendors, the budget allowed is revealed and a competitor's bid is disclosed?

This four-day event in October 2010 wasn't just an example of federal employees feeling they are entitled to the best of everything. It offers an example of them screwing some companies hoping to do business with them and giving other favored companies unfair advantages.

Remember, the GSA is the agency that negotiates contracts for things such as buildings, office space, supplies and transportation. It exists to obtain the best price for the best government service. This particular conference was for the GSA's Public Buildings Service covering the West.

Heads have rolled, as they should. Before she resigned as head of GSA, Martha Johnson said GSA event planners and contract employees need training.

Duh.

It takes training to teach a federal employee it's wrong to disclose a competitor's bid to another contractor?

It takes training to teach a government employee it's wrong to promise a hotel if they give the conference the $93-a-night government hotel rate, the conference will spend an additional $41,480 on catering to make up for it?

It takes training to know it's wrong to provide free rooms to a contractor's employees, though the audio-visual contract cost of nearly $62,000 from Royal Productions included the cost of housing the technicians? Isn't that fraud?

It takes training for a GSA program director to know it's wrong to tell a vendor what the budget is for a team-building training day, so that the vendor gets the maximum $75,000 possible?

It takes training to know it's wrong to call a party an awards event because that way the federal government pays for the food?

All this was going on when regular folks across the country were losing their jobs and their homes, indicating some sense of entitlement by GSA managers who not only approved that wretched excess, but rebuffed cost-cutting suggestions by other GSA employees. Obviously, not everyone at the agency is clueless.

The supposed purpose of this conference was to offer training in job skills and allow the "higher-ups" to exchange ideas. Now that's laughable. But not as funny as the website's description that the conference was to "celebrate, share and showcase the diverse professional and personal talents of GSA Associates." That was the justification for the awards party because four awards were given to musical performances.

However, let's not forget the positive aspects.

The inspector general's investigations are ongoing. So the firings, demotions and suspensions might not be over.

The GSA filled 314 of the M Resort's 390 rooms for four nights.

The attendees paid for their own liquor.

The food bills included 22 percent tips, so M Resort workers did get to share some of the largesse, even if they were paying for it as taxpayers.

Unfortunately, none of that counterbalances wasteful spending and bureaucratic stupidity.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call her at (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Morrison