As I attend various procurement-related conferences here in Washington, DC, the talk is often about the unease over sequestration and its impacts. As you know, the $85 billion spending reduction is causing major pain this year.

The cutbacks are hitting travel budgets very hard. While contractors and agencies both benefit from interacting with each other, that seems to be more difficult now.

Federal travel budgets have been cut to the bone. At the same time, the federal workers must follow strict ethical rules that limit accepting gifts (including lunches) to nominal amounts.

In one case, a procurement event organizer told me that a federal agency official wished to attend and participate in the event but had zero funding available.

The organizer was asked, would it be all right for this senior-level female executive from the government to sit in the back of the room with no lunch (presumably while everyone else chowed down)?

Another story I heard was about five federal agency officials who usually attend an annual procurement event with industry.

This year, they all said no, citing lack of funding. Accepting bottled water ($4 each) and a few pastries, fruit, coffee and parking at DC-area hotel prices presumably would have brought them over the gift limit.

Send in your stories to alice@setasidealert.com and we’ll take a closer look at these situations and how they affect your ability to interact with federal agencies.