Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe WASHINGTON, March 26 (UPI) -- The NASA inspector general's office said the U.S. space agency is overspending on snacks for conference attendees. A report submitted this week says the agency spent $62,611 on snacks during a December 2008 conference in Baltimore, amounting to about $66 per day for each of the 317 attendees, Space.com reported Friday. Advertisement The inspector general's report said the conference, one of eight analyzed, was focused on the best uses of the agency's taxpayer funds. The report said NASA spent $58,450 to feed 650 attendees at an Atlanta conference, at which the report's authors calculated only about $26,000 was needed. The inspector general's office recommended NASA adopt guidelines for the costs of food and other services at conferences mirroring the guidelines followed by the U.S. Justice Department. Terry Bowie, deputy chief financial officer for NASA, said the meetings cited in the report took place prior to the implementation of new policies following a 2008 review. "Since then, NASA has improved its conference planning and cost controls along the lines recommended in the report," Bowie said.
