ALCOAST 410/24 - OCT 2024 FY 2025 STRATEGIC SOURCING AND CONFERENCE SPENDING CEILINGS

R 301522Z OCT 24   MID120001502936U
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC
TO ALCOAST
BT
UNCLAS
ALCOAST 410/24
SSIC 7130
SUBJ: FY 2025 STRATEGIC SOURCING AND CONFERENCE SPENDING CEILINGS
A. Coast Guard Conference Guidance, V2.0 dated 09 JUL 2024
1. To mitigate the Service's top Enterprise Risk Areas, COMDT (CG-8)
will strategically source and reallocate funding to make significant
investments in our Mission Ready Workforce, Mission Ready Assets,
and Shore Infrastructure. One of the sources identified for
reallocation is conference spending.
2. Conference spending across the Coast Guard has increased 57% over
the last two years. This has garnered increased attention from the
Department of Homeland Security and led to a concerted effort to
reduce overall spending in this category across all Components.
3. COMDT (CG-8) will establish ceilings for conference spending per
Resource Advisor (RA) and Resource Management Office (RMO). For RAs
and RMOs to comply with these reductions, the following changes to
the Coast Guard Conference Submission Process are effective
immediately:
    a. All Coast Guard-Attended and Coast Guard-Hosted conference
request packages must have RA/RMO endorsement prior to submission
to the COMDT (CG-815) Conference Team for approval. The endorsement
can be reflected via memo or email; however, it must acknowledge
the cost estimates of the conference.
    b. All conference memos for any Coast Guard-Attended conference
where the total costs are less than $20K are required to be routed
through the submitter's RA/RMO for endorsement prior to being routed
to the COMDT (CG-815) Conference Team.
    c. COMDT (CG-815) will not be tracking individual spending
incurred by each RA/RMO; it is expected that each will implement
their own internal review process to maintain compliance with the
directed conference spending ceiling. COMDT (CG-83) will provide
separate, detailed guidance to RAs and RMOs regarding conference
spending ceiling processes and associated penalties for exceeding
these caps.
4. Conference submission timelines, thresholds, and definitions
outlined in REF (A) remain unchanged.
5. POC: For more information regarding ceiling processes, contact
COMDT (CG-833), HQS-DG-LST-CG-833. For more information regarding
conference approval processes, contact COMDT (CG-815),
HQS-SMB-CG81-ConferenceTeam.
6. Mr. C. A. Bennett, Acting Assistant Commandant for Resources and
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) (CG-8), sends.
7. Internet release is authorized.