OPM has canceled its annual Benefits Conference and does not plan to hold its annual the Fall Festival of Training, which have been aimed at teaching agency benefits officers and fulfilling a requirement that they get a certain amount of training on the topic annually.
"Based on the current budgetary situation facing Federal agencies, we are cancelling the 2013 Benefits Conference," OPM told agencies. "Our survey of headquarters benefits officers indicated very few benefit officers will be able to attend this year. We also do not plan to have the Fall Festival of Training in November."
OPM said it hopes to hold a benefits training event next spring and that meantime, "We will work to develop alternative training opportunities such as webcasts during the rest of this year. While they will not be a complete, nor in some ways sufficient, substitute for the conference, they will allow us to continue providing training for benefits officers on critical issues.’
OPM’s action follows the cancellation of several GSA-sponsored conferences recently for similar reasons.
