The Office of Personnel Management is seeking more than 1,900 hotel rooms for a series of ‘action learning’ conferences, and has made several specific demands for the rooms, right down to the thread count in the sheets used on the beds.
“Guest rooms must be a minimum of 400 square feet to include seating area with sofa or chair for lounging as well as a separate workspace including a desk and desk chair data port, electrical outlets, quality linen provided (no less than 250 thread count and in like-new condition), rooms clean and well maintained; all rooms must be of equal quality,” OPM said in a notice alerting service providers.
OPM made several other demands that are standard in many hotels, such as “individual climate control, iron and ironing board, hair dryer in bathroom, as well as 24 hour room service.”
OPM is planning a series of one and two-week conferences on issues like “collaborative leadership” and “executive development,” and has several demands related to the conference space as well. One of those demands is that the space provided must support “action learning.”
“The contractor(s) shall be required to provide OPM with state-of-the-art training/conference space designed for a variety of learning approaches that support knowledge acquisition and action learning,” OPM’s notice said.
“The state-of-the-art training space must include and support overnight lodging accommodations, dedicated training space with easily movable furniture (ergonomic chairs and tables), at least five breakout rooms, and food and beverages services for up to 65 federal/contract personnel for the training courses,” it added.
OPM also wants buffet meals and snacks the entire time, and specified that “all meals will include a vegetarian option.”
OPM is the agency that had to admit last summer that hackers stole personal information on 22.1 million current and former government workers. Perhaps appropriately, the agency is planning on holding six conferences dealing with leadership issues, in or near Charlottesville, Va.
In March, up to 55 people will need rooms for 11 nights to discuss “collaborative leadership.”
In May, another 11 nights of rooms and action learning space will be needed to talk about “executive development, and later that month, a five-night stay will be need to talk about “women’s leadership.”
Three more conferences are planned, including two more two-week affairs, but the topics and dates are still to-be-determined.
In each case, OPM is asking for 32 or 36 rooms, for either five or 11 nights. In total, OPM is seeking 1,924 rooms for the six events.
Some federal agencies, including the IRS and the General Services Administration, have gotten in trouble over the last several years for planning posh conferences.
OPM did not return a request for comment about its planned events this year.
