Limitations on Conference Attendance

by Federal S&Es

Brendan Godfrey and Sandra Biedron

3 November 2012 NPSS AdCom Meeting

OMB Memo 12-12 (May 2012)

• Applies at level of Departments and Agencies– Reduce annual travel costs by 30% relative to FY2010– Meeting costs exceeding $100k require Dep Secretary approval– Meeting costs exceeding $500k usually not permitted– Meeting costs include travel, per diem, registration, but not salary;

$2K per attendee implies 50 attendees max from a federal dept– Does not apply to contractors and grantees– Mission-essential meetings exempted

• Substantial variation in how organizations implement policy– DoE implementation seems especially draconian– Whether conference grants included varies by department– Ninety day approval process typical– Implementation processes still in flux

Limited Impact Data to Date

• 2012 AAS National Conference cancelled– Attributed to loss of NASA attendees

• 2012 AMS Conference lost 100 of 130 NOAA attendees at last minute– Total attendance dropped 20% (500 to 400)

• 2012 ISS R&D Conference lost many NASA attendees• 2012 Applied Superconductivity Conference

– 134 Government attendees (DOE, NIST, NASA, DOD)– 54 DOE attendees, 23 DOE cancellations

Future Impact Estimates Mixed

• 2012 APS/DPP projecting 250 attendee loss (out of 1700)• 2012 Supercomputing Conference projecting 392 DOE

attendees (down 172 from 2011), no DoE booths• 2012 NSS/MIC projecting 120 fewer US Gov attendees• 2013 NSREC projecting negligible impact• 2013 PAS awaiting DOE approval; projecting 30%

attendance loss• 2013 PPPS organizers expect decreased attendance

– 2011 ICOPS/SOFE would have lost 40 DOE (out of 709)– 2012 Pulsed Power would have lost about 30 (out of 577)– 2012 ICOPS suffered large last minute attendance drop

IEEE-USA, Others Seeking Relief

• IEEE-USA very active– Letters to Congress – http://

www.ieeeusa.org/policy/policy/2012/050912.pdf http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/policy/2012/051812.pdf

– Letter to OSTP - http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/policy/2012/091012.pdf

– In discussions with OMB, Congressional staff– Position Paper approved - http://

www.ieeeusa.org/policy/positions/profconferences1012.pdf – Part of multi-society committee -http://

www.ieeeusa.org/policy/policy/2012/IEEE050712.pdf

• ACM, CRA, SIAM letters to Congress, agencies• ACS, APS public letter of concern -

– http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/248553-federaltravel-restrictions-will-hamper-innovation-stunt-economic-growth

Suggestions for Conference Organizers

• Advice from OMB:– Promote conferences based on technical importance, not

attractive venue, etc.– Organizers consider contacting agencies likely to limit attendance

to particular conferences

• Estimate federal travel restriction impact– Determine attendee numbers by department in recent past years– Unlikely that more than 50 per agency will attend now– Plan accordingly– Share information with IEEE-USA R&D Policy Committee

• Consider sharing views with decision makers– President, Congress, OMB, OSTP