Penny pinching

As a result of government austerity efforts, federal agencies have saved around $30 million in conference spending in recent years, according to a memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Agencies reduced the cost of sending personnel to conferences by 25 percent in fiscal year 2015 compared to FY-13, the memo states.

Not only that, the government also reduced its spending on federally owned property: "The total FY 2013 to FY 2015 reduction to agencies' 2012 office and warehouse baseline was 24.7 million square feet, with an estimated annual cost avoidance of $300 million from FY 2016 and forward," according to the memo, which adds:

It is imperative that the Federal Government continue to build on these efforts to improve how we conduct business and provide services to the American people while increasing public transparency. At the same time, it is also imperative that our efforts not undercut or prevent agencies from achieving their mission or create new significant cost in an effort to be compliant with review and reporting requirements. 

Consequently, OMB has made small tweaks to its policies for sending personnel to conferences as well as federally owned property to ensure the government extracts the most savings while still allowing its personnel to do their jobs.

Read the full memo here.