IMPORTANT NOTICE: NGS Realtime GNSS Symposium Postponement

The National Geodetic Survey's (NGS) Real-time GNSS Symposium scheduled for July 2012 has unfortunately been postponed. NGS hopes to reschedule the program for the near future.

Approximately three weeks ago, in response to Congressional directives, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent out a government-wide memo placing a hold on all government conference procurements. NGS was in the final stage of procuring the conference hotel for the Real-time GNSS Symposium when this occurred. The OMB memo, sent in reaction to the widely publicized GSA conference abuses, promised new guidance for conference procurement and travel. This guidance—likely requiring additional time to implement and delaying the planning effort—has still not arrived. The conference hotel could no longer reserve our rooms and facilities in anticipation of a contract, and we were forced to cancel the symposium scheduled for July 2012.

The symposium drew a high level of interest, and NGS plans to host the event this fall to allow sufficient time for the arrival of new guidance and for us to coordinate a new schedule. We expect to hold the symposium in Memphis as originally planned.

This has been a frustrating and embarrassing situation for NGS, and we deeply regret the inconvenience the postponement has caused. We appreciate your interest and hope you will be able to support this important discussion on many matters of mutual concern when it is rescheduled.

Sincerely,

Gerald L. Mader,
Chief, Geosciences Research Division

William Henning,
Spatial Reference System Division