The Defense Department has ordered a freeze on large conferences and conference-related spending, Federal Times reported.

In a memo obtained by the newspaper, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told the military chiefs of staff to review all planned conferences costing more than $100,000 and cancel those that do not “significantly further the Department’s mission.”

The Air Force has already canceled its annual Information Technology Conference, scheduled for Montgomery, AL, in August. According to an announcement on the website, the event was called off for budgetary reasons..

The Obama administration has told agencies to cut spending on conferences and employee travel after revelations of lavish spending on GSA’s 2010 Public Buildings Service Conference in Las Vegas. (SAA, 5/18)

Defense contractor Calnet Inc. of Reston, VA, has agreed to pay $18.1 million to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit. The Justice Department said CalNet submitted inflated bills for translation and linguist services. The company did not admit wrongdoing.

A former Calnet employee, Kimthy Chao, filed a whistleblower lawsuit and will receive more than $2.6 million from the settlement, Justice said.

At GSA, as in Lake Wobegon, (nearly) all the children are above average. GSA gave annual bonuses to 87% of its employees last year, according to an analysis by Federal Times.

The newspaper said GSA was the most generous federal agency in handing out bonuses. The average award was $1,200.

EPA, Energy and Commerce gave bonuses to more than half their employees. The government-wide average was 32%, according to the report.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-MO, said GSA awarded a total of $1 million in bonuses to 84 employees while they were under investigation by the inspector general.

In a statement, McCaskill, chairman of the Senate subcontracting oversight subcommittee, said, “It doesn’t pass the smell test to be awarding huge bonuses in taxpayer dollars to officials who are being investigated or have already been found responsible for fraud and waste of those very taxpayer dollars.”

A GSA spokesman said bonuses are under review along with all other agency policies in the aftermath of the IG’s report on the $822,000 Las Vegas conference.

The Department of Agriculture is proposing 12 new product categories to be designated as biobased products and eligible for procurement preferences.

The categories are:

*agricultural spray adjuvants;
*animal cleaning products;
*deodorants;
*dethatcher products;
*fuel conditioners;
*leather, vinyl, and rubber care products;
*lotions and moisturizers;
*shaving products;
*specialty precision cleaners and solvents;
*sun care products;
*wastewater systems coatings;
*and water clarifying agents.

The proposed rule is RIN 0599-AA15 in the June 5 Federal Register. Comments are due Aug. 6.