I started my government career ten years ago. There have been quite a few changes in those ten years. Change was happening when I started. At that time, my agency was converting to a new accounting system. There were a lot of growing pains during the conversion. However, I’m sure there is not one person who would want to use that antiquated system now. The accounting system that we converted to at that time was more user-friendly and had better reporting capability.

We are now in the process of converting our customers to an upgraded version of that accounting system! Once again, we are experiencing the growing pains that go along with conversions. However I am sure once we get used to the new version, we will not want to go back. We are learning new things about the accounting system every day. Our customers will benefit from this change too. We have been able to assign certain fields with important data, therefore making the reporting even better than what we were providing.

Not only are we changing accounting systems, but we will soon be converting to a new E-Gov Travel Service (ETS) system. It is hard to believe it has been eight years since we started using one of the mandated systems and that the current contract will be expiring next November. There were quite a few growing pains for our customers when they converted to the ETS system. Some agencies were using an in-house automated system, some were using a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) system, and others were still using paper! Needless to say, the conversions were not easy for us or for the document preparers and travelers.

We provided hands-on training, help desk support, written guidance and many other forms of support to the agencies. I am sure this time will be no different. Who knows what other ways we will come up with in order to get the customers adjusted to the new system. We are always trying to come up with different ways to communicate policies and procedures and to educate our travelers.

The new E-Gov contract will be in effect for 15 years. I am really anxious to see what the new ETS2 provider has to offer. My agency assisted our current ETS provider with many improvements to their system. We participated in user group meetings, questionnaires, and submitted requests for enhancements. I hope that the new system will be as good as what we have now, if not better. Therefore, I have high expectations for the new provider! We need and must stay up-to-date on the latest forms of technology, while providing easy and fast service to the government travelers. Our travelers are working under the motto, “do more with less”. Therefore, the systems that we use must be able to be accessed just about anywhere and must also be easy to use. I vision a system that can be accessed via a traveler’s cell phone from anywhere in the world. Maybe the system can be voice activated. For instance, maybe the new IPhones can be connected with the ETS2 system. It would be a convenient feature if a traveler could speak into their phone and book their reservations.

There are many changes happening in the government travel world. There is no time for boredom! It seems like the minute we get used to something, it is time for change. I am sure the new ETS2 system is not the only thing that will be changing. With the mergers of airlines, there could possibly be a change to the airline City Pair Program (CPP). We have already been notified that there is one change that is happening, which is actually no change! Most of the per diem rates for lodging and meals and incidentals (M&IE) will not be increasing this coming fiscal year. This is a first for many years. This was General Services Administration (GSA) way of cutting travel costs for FY 13.

BY PAM MORTON

“The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.”

By the late 1970s airlines were installing CRS’ in travel agencies throughout North America. For almost two decades, approximately 80 percent of the CRS’ in travel agencies came from two CRS companies—Sabre which was owned an operated by American Airlines, and Apollo by United Airlines. Travel agencies leased the CRS’, including the hardware, from the airline. The system looked much like a personal computer does today, but it was different in an important way. It was a dumb terminal: meaning it could exchange information with the airline’s central computer, but it could not do any processing of its own. Reservations on hundreds of major airlines throughout the world could be made on any of these systems.

The 1990s brought many changes to CRS’, partly because of the spreading use of the personal computers and the Internet. The systems themselves are now usually called global distribution systems (GDS) and most systems are owned and run by companies independent of the airlines. Other changes in GDS’ are more obvious to users. Dumb terminals are a thing of the past; on today’s GDS’, users can run a host of programs to perform tasks such as word processing, accounting, and database management. Both command interfaces and graphical interfaces are available. And GDS’ offer a wealth of information on all travel products, not just air travel.

The companies that run GDS’ are sometimes called hosts or vendors. They obtain revenue from suppliers that pay to have their services included in the system as well as from travel agencies that subscribe to the system.

Many suppliers such as Southwest, Airtran, and Jet Blue have their own computerized reservation systems but still participate in a GDS. They have the choice of various levels of participation, for various costs. For example, an airline might have its schedule displayed on the GDS, but not information about the availability of seats on its flights–this is the least expensive level of participation. More expensive levels of participation may indicate the availability of seats on a particular flight or allow the reservations to be made through the GDS. At the most expensive level of participation, there is a direct link between the supplier’s computer system and the GDS allowing the user to receive up to the minute reservation information.

Airline, hotel, and rental car participation in a GDS paved the way for today’s E Gov Travel Systems. Our E Gov Travel vendor provides a one-stop shop that allows our government travelers to process their travel documents, book their reservations and claim reimbursement once their trip is complete all using the same system. This progressive evolution came from the government and the travel industry working together to forge relationships that modernized government travel.

by Carole Byrd

Disclaimer: The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.  Use of this equipment is consistent with the agency’s policy governing limited personal use.

In Customer Service, we are primarily focused on providing our SSP customers with helpdesk support for the travel system software. This includes walking them through creating authorizations, assisting with basic reservation questions for airfare, hotel, rental car, and rail, and the creation of vouchers and local vouchers. Aside from the helpdesk, there are other functions within Customer Service that are performed by other employees. These include:

• Changes in Routing Lists/Groups
• Invitational Travel
• Exit Clearances
• Agency Travel Software Training in a Classroom Environment
• Registration Access to the Travel System
• New Agency Implementation
• Profile Updates/Changes
• Report Creation
• Post Payment Audits
• Travel System Issues that Require Further Research

These are just a few of the travel functions that our Customer Service group is responsible for but the main point is that it takes many subject matter experts to adequately service travelers. This flows into the other two areas of our Temporary Duty Services Branch, which are Accounting and Charge Card.

Our accounting area, also known as Systems and Accounting Support, is responsible for making sure travelers receive their travel reimbursements in a timely manner. There is an automated process that travel accounting technicians run every morning to process the documents from the travel system into the accounting system. Most documents post to the accounting system without issues but some will require additional assistance. For instance, if a traveler receives an advance in the authorization, it becomes a manual posting to the financial system. The same applies after the trip when the voucher is processed so that the advance can be deducted from the total cost of the trip.

As all document types (authorizations, vouchers, and local vouchers) are interfaced to the accounting system, many ‘checks’ are in place to ensure timely payments. Accounting technicians are proficient in running different reports throughout the interface process so that travel payments are issued to the traveler and charge card vendor to make sure that the payments are accurate. Travelers’ payments are directly deposited into their bank account within three to five business days after the voucher is approved in the travel system.

There are many factors involved to ensure that all runs smoothly from the beginning of the travel process to the end result. It takes all areas of our office to accomplish the following process.

When a new employee is hired by an agency, the first thing they must do in order to travel is to apply for a Government charge card and supply their direct deposit information to our office. Their profile is built in the travel system and the charge card information is added as well as the other pertinent information that leads to a successful payment. After a profile is built and the traveler creates their ID and password for the travel system, they create a travel authorization before traveling so that the funds can be obligated in the financial system.

After their authorization is complete with reservations and the other information such as accounting code, expenses, and proper routing, the document is electronically signed. It then follows the electronic path and is ultimately approved by an approving official. Some agencies route documents to an Examiner before it is approved so that a budget officer can review the accounting information to ensure the funds are available to cover the trip. After the authorization is approved, it is interfaced to the accounting system in our office. When the traveler returns from the trip, he/she creates a voucher.

The voucher is created from the authorization in the travel system. All information that was previously entered in the authorization populates into the voucher. The traveler updates the voucher to reflect the actual expenses incurred on the trip and they attach the required receipts to the voucher by either faxing or scanning. After reviewing the voucher for accuracy, it is routed electronically. It must first be signed by the traveler and then proceeds to route to the approving official. Our office interfaces the document to the accounting system and then the reimbursement will be deposited in the traveler’s bank account.

It takes all areas of Travel to accomplish a successful trip for a traveler. I have covered what it takes from my office’s perspective but other offices are involved as well. We all work as one big team from the traveler, the travel management center, our office, and many others to make the whole experience an enjoyable one.

By: Cindy Moore Pomrenke

The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.

The Joint Federal Travel Regulation (JFTR) requires uniformed service members ordered to a U.S. Installation (as opposed to a geographic location like a town or city) to check for Government quarters availability (e.g. through their Commercial Travel Offices) at the site to which they are temporarily assigned.  The JFTR, par. U1045 applies. Travelers are required to adhere to his directive, but the four military lodging systems are not part of the system service members must use. The four lodging systems that are used by the DOD are:   Air Force Inns at www.dodlodging.net;  the Navy Gateway Inns & Suites at https://www.navy-lodge.com;  Army Lodging at  http://new.armymwr.com/travel/lodging/default.aspx,  and the Marine Corps Temporary Lodging Facilities at http://www.usmc-mccs.org/lodging/index.cfm?sid=rf&smid=1.

The four DOD lodging facilities have been supporting the military community long before programs such as FedRooms, or hotels that offered government rates and for federal travelers.   DOD lodging facilities offer rates that are far below what you will find on any of the other programs, and are a confirmed value for the dollar.  The DOD programs are competitive, and a have a place in the DTS.

By: G. W. McCurtis

In order to accomplish this, we have a Departmental travel contact for the agency’s Bureaus that assits. After that, we verify with Civilian Board of Contract Appeals that adjudicates travel claims. Cases are submitted to a panel of judges for case determination. Ruling can be cited on decided cases as a basis for us or any agency to substiantiate or deny a travel claim.

Another recourse is to contact the General Services Administration directly since they promulgate the FTR.

Our Helpdesk staff are able to answer general travel policy questions from the FTR and/or agency policy. Since we have about 40 customers, this is a real challenge to keep all the separate agency items understandable for our agents. We also maintain a smaller staff to research complex travel policy questions as well as to ensure travel policy is correctly presented in our E-Gov Travel system. This area also creates and updates travel policy information on our customer websites as things change.

By Daniel Carozza

“The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Bureau of the Public Debt, or the U.S. Department of the Treasury.”

Within my office we offer and manage many different credit card programs for the many customers whom we provide travel services for.  Lately we have been heavily involved with preparing for our internal transition to the new contract/vendor.  With current master contracts expiring on November 29, 2008, organizations are never permitted to extend their task orders beyond the current expiration date.  Furthermore, agencies cannot begin processing transactions under the new program until November 30, 2008.

My office services a very diverse customer base, and with that each customer’s needs are very different.  With the award of a new Master Contract, agencies must make a final determination of the task order type that best suits their needs.  Currently there are four types of task orders offered.  There is the ‘Standard’ which contains the same requirements as the Master Contract; the ‘Tailored’ which includes agency specific requirements; the ‘Tag-along’, which “piggybacks” or uses another agency’s task order; or the ‘Pooling’ arrangement where two or more agencies collaborate to develop and issue one task order which will meet the pooled agencies’ needs.

Dedicated staff within our office has been working closely with our customer agencies to ensure and facilitate a smooth transaction to the new SmartPay 2 system.

by Brian Shears

As Director of National Sales for Carlson Hotels Worldwide, my subject matter expertise is hotels.  I feel some of the points made in this document could perhaps be the most valuable contribution I have given to my fellow SGTP affiliates.  As a result, the strategies outlined in this manuscript will be strictly from a hotels sales perspective.

Three highly under-rated values (intangibles) that a supplier/hotelier can offer a federal government buyer that meet important government criteria are diversity, security and corporate responsibility.

DIVERSITY

Today, every government organization has diversity as one of its goals.  If your company can help a potential government buyer reach its diversity goal, your offer becomes a far more valuable asset to that government buyer.  There are several government recognized categories of diversity.  In many cases, the federal government will specifically “set-aside” solicitations for which only the business classifications listed below qualify.  Below is general list of diversity categories.

• Small Business:  Small business size standards are based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).  The guidelines are industry specific based on either dollar volume and/or number of employees.  A small hotel, motel and/or casino hotel is defined as one not exceeding more than $6 million in gross annual receipts or total income. This total income includes all affiliate average over a firm’s latest three fiscal years as reported on the firm’s federal income tax.
• Woman Owned Business:  A business that is owned and controlled (51% or greater) by a woman or a group of women.
• Veteran Owned Business:  A business that is owned (51% or greater) by a veteran or a group of veterans.
• Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business:  A business that is owned by one or more disabled veteran or veterans.
• Small Disadvantaged Business:  A business that is owned (51% or greater) by a person(s) who is/are socially or economically disadvantaged.  These include: African Americans, Asian/Pacific Islander Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans and Subcontinent Asian Americans.
• Hub-Zoned Business:  A business in a distressed area defined as a “Historically Underutilized Business” (HUB) Zone.

SECURITY

Obviously, security at lodging destinations is top concern for government organizations.  Guaranteeing the safety of military personnel and all people is unarguably the most valuable objective for any business.  In recent experiences, I have discovered hotels which offer outstanding security services and solid security protocols/procedures have proven to be viewed as true intangibles by government decision makers.  Below are some examples of worthwhile and advantageous security features.

1. Video surveillance covering all entrances and exits of the hotel.
2. “On property” security that is visible and frequently “walks” the hotel.
3. Signs at all entrances advising those who enter about property security and high-tech video surveillance.
4. Only one accessible entrance for the hotel in the late evening.
5. The monitoring of all buses, vans and other large vehicles parked at the hotel over night.
6. The registration of all vehicles at the front desk.
7. The training of all employees and executive staff to report suspicious activity.
8. The hotel’s participation in monthly meetings with area hotels and law enforcement officials to discuss best practices and all recent illegal activity in the area.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILTY

All businesses both new and existing should serve as models for a healthy workplace with minimal negative environmental impacts.  In order achieve true corporate responsibility, work places need to be environmentally safe, ethically sound, community oriented, and they most also put strong priorities on learning and culture.

Today, most federal government organizations put very high emphasis on the environment.  Collectively these agencies are starting to strictly adhere to EPA standards.  Although specific EPA features and practices can vary from state-to-state, I recommend being proactive and listing all of your environmental initiatives on government solicitations.

Ethics is also clearly a serious initiative, and very strong policies pertain to all government employees.  Businesses that promote scrupulous ethics guidelines usually find themselves in very good graces with government contractors and key constituents.  In short, success is often found by those who promote solid principles and ethics as a matter of course.

Lastly, proper training, learning, professional development and continuing education are huge factors that play into the role of corporate responsibility.  Following these guidelines in chorus with those mentioned above will certainly help any business better solidify a consistent, long-term partnership with the U.S. Government.

Charles H. Green once wrote, “The biggest difference between selling ‘things’ and intangible services is the pivotal role of trust. Trust is even more critical to selling intangible services than it is to selling things.”  In the final analysis, being a leader by proactively understanding what is important and offering those important intangibles to your best customers will speak volumes about your integrity, and thus build trust.  Without a doubt, trust is a very important commodity to the government and will unquestionably prove to be advantageous to your business.

by Chris McLaughlin

However, all corporate preferred travel programs experience some leakage at one point or another.   The loss of transactions through the corporations recommended reservation system or the loss of spend and performance with the contracted suppliers proves difficult for both the buyer and supplier side.   Controlling slippage to achieve contracted terms and policy compliance is fundamental to effective travel management.   The most important key is to communicate to travelers the emphasis on policy and reasons for compliance.

Most travelers do not understand loss of market share or loss of transactions, they care about seeking the better deal and perhaps doing the company a favor.  Travelers are not realizing the company is losing the ability to track spend which weakens future negotiations with vendors, much less the program benefits associated with preferred rates.   A common argument for employees using an alternative website or alternate TMC for booking air is they are perceived to be booking a cheaper airfare or avoiding a transaction fee.  What they may not know when using an alternate website is the pricing does not include taxes and other up- front fees.

Hotels seem to be the largest area of slippage for many companies.  According to recent publications, only fifty percent of hotel bookings are captured through travel management companies.    This is attributed to hotels offering rates through leisure sites and frequent stay membership perks that employees feel they will not receive if booked through their travel management company (TMC).   Employees also think they are getting better deals with car rental companies whose leisure rates may be lower – but they do not include the insurance coverage that should be required for all renting employees.

The answer to the problem is measuring the extent of the leakage and implementing a plan to control it.   The first step is to find out the percentage of leakage through the company’s expense reporting tool.  This will show, through original receipts, how much of the travel was purchased outside of the travel program.  For example, all hotel folios can be matched up with passenger name records (PNR) history, the airline receipts will show the dedicated airline reporting corporation (ARC) information indicating the airline ticket was purchased through the TMC and the rental car will show the designated corporate ID on the receipt.  All these elements will give you an excellent indication of who is following processes and procedures.  Or, if original receipts are not required by the organization, using available data through the TMC, credit card and vendors to find the source of purchase is necessary to track and educate.  This provides the ability to measure travel policy compliance by aggregating and comparing credit card data against your travel data.

Once the offenders are determined, the second step to reduce or control leakage is to develop a well thought-out communication program between upper management and the employees.  By showing upper management the negative impact to the program, you have better buy-in and the support you need.  When word comes from the top, employees will listen.   The employee must understand that they will forfeit his/her right to the following benefits provided through the company’s managed travel program:

• Insurance Coverage - Travel Accident Insurance is typically provided by the TMC in addition to the corporation’s own insurance.
• Profile Information - Specific profile information (i.e. frequent flyer, special requirements, etc.) on file with the TMC will not automatically be available to the travel vendors.
• Reservation Assistance - Flight cancellations, changes and refunds must be processed by the traveling employee through the channels in which they purchased their travel, as the TMC or the travel department are unable to assist travelers with reservations made outside of the managed travel program.
• Receipts - Ticket receipts, itineraries and copies of either, will not be available from the TMC.
• Employee Tracking - Employees will be responsible for advising managers, corporate security and the travel departments of their travel plans to ensure safety and security of the employee.
• Reconciliation Assistance - Due to lack of insight into travelers’ records, reconciliation assistance provided by TMC and/or the travel department is diminished.
• Unused Tickets - Employees will be responsible to ensure unused tickets purchased through alternate websites are used towards future business trips.  Reimbursement of unused tickets can be delayed.

In addition to the communication plan, restrictions can be applied to both on-line bookings and off-line bookings and reinforced when rules are broken.  When employees are educated on the benefits of their company’s managed travel program, they are more likely make better decisions and in turn, improve compliance and cost savings.

by Stefanie Tretola

When we were in the initial pilot format, and the problems became more acute and obvious shortly after we required mandatory use of the system agency-side, we discovered several problems in our internal practices.  Many of our managers, especially those in the program areas, are here only as temporary personnel.  These interim managers do not understand appropriations law, government accounting, and they have no interest in complying with the FAR or the FTR.  Civil service staff often understood the rationale for the regulations and agency processes, but had a difficult time enforcing compliance when their management was telling them to do otherwise. There was a strong underlying culture of “make-it-work” and pro-forma paperwork (in some cases no paperwork until the travel vouchers were presented for payment).

Some of the problems discovered had been suspected for years by accounting personnel who did not have the political influence to correct them within the organization.  These issues included such things as traveling without evidence of advance approval for the travel (no written and approved orders); and violations of the Anti-Deficiency Act (traveling without funds committed and obligated in advance of expenditure by an authorizing official);   A significant amount of the organizational resistance to the implementation of the ETS, in my opinion, came not from just the complexity of the ETS, but also from the enforced standardization and compliance with the letter of the law and internal regulations.

Mandatory use of the ETS has successfully standardized travel practices and forced  cultural change at the agency that can only improve financial integrity and compliance with federal regulations, and the internal policies that require us all to be good custodians of the taxpayers’ money.

by Julie Speers

The basic document types an EGOV travel application can produce include an authorization, a temporary duty voucher, a local voucher, and amendment documents for both authorizations and vouchers.  Other document types can include group authorizations, blank authorizations, constructed vouchers, and interim vouchers.  The authorization documents produced from the EGOV travel application serve to create an obligating document in the financial system.  Amendments to authorizations act as the modifications to the obligating documents in the financial system.  Both the temporary duty voucher and local voucher in an EGOV travel application provide for the creation of invoices in the financial system.  Amendments to vouchers act as supplemental invoices to the original invoices in the financial system.  A group authorization created from an EGOV travel application would also provide for the establishment of obligating documents in the financial system.  In order for group authorizations to be usable for the creation of obligation documents in the financial system, the group authorization must contain details on all travelers included in the group authorization along with any differences, i.e. accounting, expense details, etc.  Blank authorizations from the EGOV travel application would also serve to create obligating documents in the financial system.  The key with blank authorizations would involve the EGOV travel application’s functional ability to create multiple vouchers from a single authorization.  Constructed and interim vouchers created from an EGOV travel application would also serve to create invoices in the financial system.  The primary concern with both constructed and interim voucher types is again the functional ability of the EGOV travel application to correctly and consistently produce the document types without error.

Determining the vendors required for the creation of each obligating and invoice document is crucial to a successful interface.  Vendors required for both the obligating and voucher documents could include the traveler (or employee), credit card vendor for centrally billed obligating items, credit card vendor for items billed to the traveler’s individual government credit card, and a third party vendor for items paid directly to a third party such as the vendor for the EGOV travel application.  Creating obligations and/or invoices in the financial system under the correct vendor for the appropriate dollar amount is reliant on the level of detail the EGOV travel application transmits for each transaction.  The EGOV travel application must be able to supply with each transaction, at a minimum, the expenses broken down by vendor or vendor type and expense category in order to create an obligating document and/or invoice in the financial system.

The accounting requirements of the financial system must be taken into consideration when developing an interface for the EGOV travel application to the accounting system.  The EGOV travel application should be analyzed to determine the availability for accounting flexfields along with the total number of characters the EGOV travel application can transmit for a line of accounting.  To reduce the required number of characters an EGOV travel application is required to transfer, the interface can default values that are the same for all transactions.  Using an alias for some or all of the accounting elements housed in the EGOV travel application is also a method of reducing the number of characters required for the EGOV travel application to transmit to the financial system.  The use of alias account values would, however, require additional coding in order to crosswalk the values along with the additional time and effort needed to maintain the crosswalk going forward.

The travel specific information transferred to the financial system from the EGOV travel application will be dependent primarily on the information available that accompanies each transaction from the EGOV travel application and the fields available in the financial system to house the information.  The basis of what is needed to be housed in the financial system should be driven by expected reporting needs of the agency(s).  Travel specific information that is generally required with some financial reporting include the begin trip date, end trip date, authorization number from the EGOV travel application, and traveler name.  Other travel specific information routinely requested is the trip purpose of the travel and the per diem location(s) for the trip.  The financial system may have limited fields to house the travel specific information needed for reporting purposes.  In the case of limited fields in the financial system, it is possible to use a delimiter such as a pipe, colon, or semi-colon in order to segregate multiple values in one in a single field.

By Grant Brown
“The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.”