Sunday, July 15, 2012

GovEnergy 2012 "Postponed": GSA Pulls the Plug


1st GovEnergy Mascot:
The Endangered Conference

This past Friday the GSA decided to cancel its support to GovEnergy 2012 and the event has been postponed.  I believe that it is postponed the way Newt’s campaign is “suspended”.  


Apparently, GSA has been concerned about event contracting ever since they discovered that not everything that happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.  After much maneuvering to get other agencies to take a bigger role, which appeared successful, GSA kicked the plug out of the wall and went home, with the conference one month away.  In a response to query, DOD indicated that the Department still felt that GovEnergy was the preeminent vehicle to bring government and industry together and promote an atmosphere of trust through openness.  With the DOD goal to acquire 25% of its infrastructure energy from renewable sources by 2025 via third party financing, trust is enormously important. Unquestionably, this unilateral move by GSA will erode that trust. 


I sent a query to the GSA about the decision and received an official response from Betsaida Alcantara:
After a rigorous review of the 2012 GovEnergy conference, GSA has decided to postpone this year’s conference. GSA has found that the conference does not meet the standards that GSA has put in place for conferences and contracts. There were many unanswered questions about how the conference was structured. There was not sufficient time to make the GovEnergy compliant with these new standards for an August 2012 conference. As a result, we felt that it was best to suspend the program until those issues could be addressed."  
The financial implications of this decision are both far reaching and close to home.  For small businesses that specialize in the government energy market, GovEnergy is a make or break conference. It is the one conference that they know every federal player will attend and their scant business development dollars are well spent.   For the hundreds of businesses who sank marketing dollars into printing, booths, chachkies, sponsored events of their own and other trade show staples, that is money down the drain. For the city of St. Louis, it means thousands of empty hotel rooms, deserted restaurants and vacant convention halls. Presumably, the GSA will have to pay some sort of penalty and that is the expenditure of our tax dollars for less than no return. 


The political implications of this decision may be even greater.  On last Thursday, I met with Senator McCaskill (D-Mo.) along with veterans from Operation Free to talk about DOD biofuels R&D efforts.  I didn’t ask her if she was excited about GovEnergy being in St. Louis, but wish I had.  The Senator is in a tough re-election battle and has already been in GSA’s knickers about Vegas and bonuses. This decision impacts her committee position AND her home town.  I have asked her office for a comment along with that of Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) who was to be a keynote speaker at GovEnergy.  Hopefully, someone on the Planning Committee had the foresight to give them a heads up.  As the head of the Senate contracting oversight committee, Senator McCaskill will have a unique opportunity to examine this decision.  Any regressives who wants to attack investment in secure, economic, clean energy will now have much more fodder out of this debacle.

The bottom line is this.  GovEnergy is, and will continue to be, the single best opportunity for the federal government to improve its energy education, provide a forum for an open exchange of ideas with industry, and showcase technologies that have the potential to positively impact the American Economy in this new century. I do not know enough about the decision process to have a firm opinion, but there had better be something more than the GSA looking over its shoulder and getting nervous.  They may have been treed by a Chihuahua, but it is unclear what they have really unleashed .  Dan Nolan

44 comments:

Andy Bochman said...

Now is the summer of our DOD Energy discontent.

Anonymous said...

Dan - here go again. A few screwups in the government mess it up for the hard working ones. I have been involved in and about GovEnergy since 1999 and I can tell you it is an outstanding conference. I have been manning the booth for a major DOD agency off and on for the last 10 years and know how hard I work at this conference. I talk to several thousand people, informing them of my agencies' capabilities. I also remember attending one of the training tracks with one of my agency's ethics lawyers. After the training I ask her what she thought about the conference. She told me she loved it. And this was from an ethics lawyer. You know they don't like anything that is fun.......just kidding.

Again, I just can't believe that this outstanding show/conference is getting screwed because of a few screwups at GSA!!!!!!!!!!!!

bill elliott said...

I can't wait to hear the reaction on Monday. Thanks for keeping us a step ahead.

A Siegel said...

Evidently zero concept about the impact of changing an event so close to its occurrence. People have bought tickets. There are going to be cancellation fees for individuals and organizations.

Sadly, the only "magic" at the conference is helping the US citizens save money as government employees learn -- from each other and industry -- about ways to execute energy and other resource efficiency programs more effectively.

Anonymous said...

Yours is the first official word I have heard from GSA, but they still owe an official email, as well as a profuse and abject apology, to every single registrant of GovEnergy 2012. By now everyone knows the conference is cancelled, but the website is still active as if nothing has happened. I have heard from session organizers and others, but GSA still will not man up and make its own announcement. What a pathetic situation.

Anonymous said...

GSA may have received a black eye for their stupid Vegas conference, but now they're eliminating all conference participation, including those in which Federal and private sector partners have invested a significant amount of money and reputation? Talk about the cure being worse than the disease. Some of these larger energy companies dropped $50,000 on a booth space that they may or may not get back.

This is the most frustrating thing I've had when dealing with government people. They have far better job security than anyone in the private sector, yet they are the most risk-averse people I've ever seen. GSA's cowardice is going to hurt a lot of people. Here it is Monday now, and still no official word from the GSA. Pathetic.

Anonymous said...

The GovEnergy conference has been the key focused energy and sustainability conference since 1998. All of its goals for private sector inclusion, recognition of cities around the country and delivery of benefits to both the government and civilians alike is unsurpassed in any conference I have been involved in. For the GSA to pull the plug just 4 week before the conference is a shameful act that will do nothing to protect the integrity of the institution and will only serve up another black eye to the government and waste hundreds of thousands of private sector dollars. This is a disgrace.

Anonymous said...

I empathize with the businesses that have sunk money into planning for this conference. The economy is bad and businesses really have to make there dollars work for them -- from reading this blog its apparent that this is a huge event for them. Hopefully there is some way they can recoup some of those expenditures.

Anonymous said...

Is the term for people who don't want government wasting tax dollars now regressives?
Is that the term for people who apply business decisions to renewables and energy conservation so that the investments will pay off for the tax payers?
Are the "regressives" aginst the government picking winners in the solar business based on who bundles money best to presidential campaigns? You bet we are.

B. Kent said...

Perhaps DoD should consider the World Energy Engineering Congress (WEEC) instead of GovEnergy.

www.energycongress.com

The 35th WEEC will be Oct 31-Nov 2 in Atlanta. Hear General Colin Power speak, tracks on Energy Policy, Government Energy Management, and much more.

In 2013 and 2014, WEEC will be in DC at the Washington Convention Center.

Energy Industry said...

To the GSA and DoD:

And you wonder why you have a hard time getting the private sector on board with your programs and addressing your needs? It's simple. We know that only YOU could waste our time and money this way. If we did inept, things like this we would be out of business!

Anonymous said...

Well...another fine example of why GSA should be a commercialized or abolished. GSA traditionally (as is the case now) is led by a political appointee with little if any business acumen. Case in point is this irresponsible and pathetic decision. 30 days out??? Sounds like the newly appointed GSA Administrator (Daniel M. Tangherlini) http://www.govexec.com/management/2012/04/meet-new-gsa-administrator/41652/ is less competent then his predecessor and is trying to make a name for himself. I have a few names for him already.
DOE, step up and take charge. This is your conference. Don't let the GSA stain become your legacy as well. Show us that you have the courage to do the right thing for this conference and for our Country's energy security/future by overriding GSA's cowardly decision and host the conference yourself. Dr. Chu, its up to you!!! You have the authority...fix this now before it’s too late.

Anonymous said...

It's a shame that this blog was published before any official announcement was made ... most importantly, because the facts are incorrect. GSA is not the owner of GovEnergy, but rather, one of multiple Federal agencies that is a stakeholder to it. While we won't likely know the full story any time soon, painting GSA as the culprit is wrong and is creating a maelstrom specifically for GSA instead of pointing to a broader issue -- government procurement guidelines for large events.

Anonymous said...

Why are you hating so much on GSA?

GovEnergy 2012 is an intra-agency sponsored event. Have other agencies also decided that they will not attend?

It appears that the GovEnergy 2012 Conference is still on - http://www.govenergy.com/Index.aspx

Anonymous said...

Here is the message I received this morning from GovEnergy.

Dear GovEnergy Attendees,

After a rigorous review of the 2012 GovEnergy conference, GSA has decided to postpone this year's conference. Funds will be reimbursed to registrants and vendors, and GSA will work with other federal agencies involved in this process. If you have questions, please contact the Office of the Chief Adm inistrative Services Officer at 202-357-9697.

TRINA JOHNSON
GovEnergy 2012 EXHIBIT SALES & REGISTRATION MANAGER

Anonymous said...

Curious this happening so close to the elections.

And not for nothing, no energy conference should be held in Las Vegas....where they celebrate wasting energy and water.

Anonymous said...

Ummm...the conference wasn't scheduled for Las Vegas. It was scheduled for St. Louis. How about getting your facts straight before commencing on an anti-government rant.

Woody Pfister said...

GSA needs to be dismantled. It's combination of incompetence and wastefulness is unmatched in federal government.

The Right Rev. of Energy said...

Dan,
Thanks for the comments. I find it completely unbelievable that "GSA has found that the conference does not meet the standards that GSA has put in place for conferences and contracts." To consider the timing that since the VEGAS press, about Feb., they have put a policy in place? That is a complete lie. They couldn't walk across the street with a piece of blank paper in the 6 months since that story broke.
If they had a policy and applied to their own recent Expo in San Antonio, it would have failed under the most liberal definitions. There were over 2000 vendors eagerly awaiting the 4 GSA employees at the conference to come by and let them kiss the ring. GovEnergy was one of the only conferences that actually put buyers and sellers together. Imagine that, a conference that actually creates revenue for the vendors and the local community, and as an outgrowth returns smarter energy managers that can execute rather than discuss policy and procedure. Folks, common sense was left the building!

Anonymous said...

The pathetic irony of it all is that, the regulations put in place by the GSA are to regulate "wasteful" spending. How they view having to pay cancellation fees and damages (money for nothing gained) rather than move forward with the conference as NOT being wasteful, I will never understand!

Anonymous said...

It would be interesting to see if the combined losses of participants and the City of St. Louis would bring a good St Louis attorney into this on their behalf.

Anonymous said...

I am considering going to WEEC in Atlanta, GA instead www.energycongress.com they have Colin Powell speaking and it would be intersting to hear what he has to say on govt / energy security issues. I take a hit on airline change fee but better than nothing.

Anonymous said...

Time to call the Fraud, Waste And Abuse Hotline. Our tax dollars are being wasted on cancellation fees and financial injury claims versus spent on a productive conference.

http://www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm/

Fill out a FraudNet form
E-mail: fraudnet@gao.gov

Call toll-free: 1-800-424-5454 (an automated answering system)

Fax: (202) 512-3086

Write:
GAO FraudNet
441 G Street NW
Mail Stop 4T21
Washington, DC 20548

Energy Industry said...

Oh, I suppose there wasn't enough money in the GSA coffer for GovEnergy. They spent it on this:

Amid an ongoing congressional probe into the General Services Administration, a CNN investigation has uncovered more evidence of wasteful spending at the agency, including cooking classes for employees that cost as much as $3,350 per class.

For years, the GSA paid to send employees to these cooking classes to build team spirit, part of a spending pattern that the agency now says was inappropriate.

Employees based in Kansas City, Missouri, attended classes at The Culinary Center of Kansas City, located in suburban Overland Park, where they cooked meals.

The GSA confirmed that there were nine classes beginning in June 2007, with the last class in June 2011. The total cost to the GSA was $20,701.

"We should be thinking about our federal customers, our taxpayers and our associates," said one employee who attended a cooking class. "And that seems to have been lost in these team-building exercises ... If you don't go, you're ostracized.''

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