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The General Services Administration published guidance Wednesday clarifying the rules governing how employees are reimbursed for "early bird" conference registration fees, in a push to eliminate a perceived reluctance to take advantage of such offers.

According to the Federal Register notice, many federal employees do not take advantage of early reduced conference registration fees because they believe they cannot obtain reimbursement until the event is over and they file a claim.

The notice stated that agencies may authorize employees to charge "early bird" registration fees to government-sponsored travel cards and claim reimbursement as soon as attendance at the conference is approved.

The amendment to the Federal Travel Regulation, which took effect Wednesday, lets advance payments of discounted conference fees to be treated as an allowable travel advance.

The notice also addressed situations when an employee fails to attend a conference for which he or she already has been reimbursed.

Under the new rule, if an employee fails to attend a pre-paid conference for reasons deemed inexcusable by the agency, and is unable to obtain a refund, the employee must repay the agency for the conference registration fee.

But if the employee was unable to attend the event because of an agency decision or for reasons beyond his or her control, such as a sickness or an emergency, and a refund is not available, the agency must absorb the costs.

In February, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security, criticized spending on agency work-related trips and underwriting events. He called a 70 percent increase in such expenses at 14 agencies from fiscal 2000 to fiscal 2005 "astounding."

A closer examination of the data revealed that agencies providing conference spending totals to Coburn's office spent less in fiscal 2005 than in the previous year, however.

Coburn's office did not respond to a request for comment.

GSA also published a Federal Travel Regulation amendment clarifying existing authority under the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, allowing agencies to reimburse employees with special needs for travel expenses such as the services of an attendant or the renting of a wheelchair while on official trips.

The reimbursement category now qualifies as a "miscellaneous expense item."

COMMENTS

• When Census Bureau employees attend professional association conferences, for example the Joint Statistical Meetings of the American Statistical Association, employees are required to join the association at a rate of $90 (which by law is not reimbursed of course). The Bureau then saves as much as $155 on conference registration per attendee. If the employee chooses not to become a member, the Bureau only reimburses the rate for the member rate--i.e. the employee has to pay the $155 difference. How common is this? Is this legal? Trust me, upwardly mobile employees are expected to do their time at ASA/JSM. GovExec.com reader Posted July 17, 2006 2:29 PM