Report: Regardless of trip frequency or reimbursement amounts, the FTC and its travelers should avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest. Image: Jarretera/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffAllowing employees to accept free travel from outside entities to events related to their official duties “presents challenges in terms of compliance, reimbursement, and potential conflicts of interest” at the FTC, the inspector general there has said in a report whose findings also could apply to other agencies that allow the practice.
It said that “non-federal sourced” travel, or NFS, “is valuable for agency staff” for purposes such as attending meetings, conferences and other functions related to their official duties, and is not “monetarily significant,” involving just 21 trips worth $29,000 over five years. However, “Regardless of trip frequency or reimbursement amounts, the FTC and its travelers should avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest.”
That is a risk, it said, because “Employees, facing a complicated process for getting NFS travel authorized and reimbursed, sometimes fail to identify and report NFS travel correctly, leading to compliance issues and unauthorized expenses. Also, collecting reimbursements from NFS entities can prove problematic, due to frequent delays and administrative burdens.”
Further, the agency has not completely tracked such travel nor assured that it has been fully reimbursed for paying the costs up-front, given that some outside entities have “a history of noncompliance,” it said.
The report was a management alert that did not make recommendations, although it noted that several initiatives are under way to better account for such travel and the reimbursements.
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