In the latest fallout from the GSA conference scandal, the House and Senate have voted for new restrictions on conference spending by federal agencies.

In separate bills, both houses of Congress limited spending on a single conference to $500,000. GSA spent more than $822,000 on its 2010 Western Regions Conference in Las Vegas.

The House voted to roll back nonmilitary travel expenses to 80% of the 2010 level. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said the changes will save hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

The Senate passed similar restrictions as part of its postal reform bill.

GSA’s inspector general says an event-planning contractor violated ethics laws with his gifts to government employees who were planning the 2010 Las Vegas Conference, the Washington Post reported.

Although GSA had event planners on staff, it hired Location Solvers, a DC company, to help choose hotels for the Western Regions event and other conferences. The IG found that the company’s managing partner, Michael Jahn, gave gifts to several agency employees that exceeded the $20 limit set by law.

Inspector General Brian Miller said he has forwarded his findings to the Justice Department for investigation of possible bribery and kickbacks. Jahn did not reply to the Post’s requests for comment.

The IG found that the Location Solvers contract was awarded without competition. So were a $59,000 contract for audio-visual services and a $75,000 contract for a “team building” event that involved assembling bicycles for charity.

In one instance, a GSA employee who was attending a planning meeting at the M Resort Spa Casino wanted to stay an extra night at his own expense. Jahn emailed a resort official that the government employee “needs a friend of a friend of the owner rate (wink),” according to messages released by congressional investigators.

The Post said GSA employees also received complimentary tickets to a Cher concert, valued at $95 to $250, and a discounted birthday party in Vegas for an employee’s daughter.

The IG found that Location Solvers received a $12,601.50 commission, which the hotel added to GSA’s bill. The report said GSA could have saved that money if it had used its own event planners instead of a contractor.

GSA Administrator Martha Johnson resigned as a result of the IG’s report. Two top agency officials were fired and at least 10 career employees have been placed on administrative leave.