The Defense Department has put a spending freeze on civilian employees’ government credit cards, according to two memos issued Tuesday and Wednesday, forcing department civilians to cancel all scheduled non-essential travel and return from any trips in progress “as soon as feasible,” and reducing spending limits on government purchase cards to $1.
The memos follow a Feb. 26 executive order announcing an initiative from the Department of Government Efficiency, a White House advisory board, to rein in government spending.
“Currently, exempted DOD civilian employee travel only includes travel in direct support of military operations or a permanent change of station,” according to the memo from Darin Selnick, the department’s interim personnel boss.
Though the Pentagon didn’t release its official guidance until this week, DOD civilians have been working under the assumption that they weren’t to take any non-essential trips since the executive order came down.
The annual Air and Space Forces Association symposium in Colorado this week saw spare attendance, due to an Air Force-directed moratorium on travel.
“Attendance has been limited to individuals with a direct role in the conference such as speakers, moderators, panel members, award winners and their supervisors, senior leaders with previously scheduled industry engagements, and local participants that attend at no cost,” an Air Force spokesperson said in a statement to Defense One.
A second memo, signed Tuesday by Steven Morani, the interim head of Pentagon acquisition and sustainment, temporarily reduces the spending limit on all government purchase cards to $1.
Those cards are used to streamline the acquisition process for everything from office supplies to non-tactical vehicles.
Any purchasing initiated on or before Feb. 26 “will cease as soon as feasible within the bounds of the law,” according to the memo.
Government purchase cards currently paying existing contracts will stay active until April 9, per the memo. The only exceptions will be to pay for disaster relief operations or for case-by-case “actions determined to be critical to that Component’s mission,” according to the memo.
All DOD organizations have until April 9 to submit a list of civilian and uniformed personnel whose jobs don’t necessitate access to a purchase card, Morani wrote.
Audrey Decker contributed to this report.
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