When I was in school, I found history boring. Memorizing names and dates of events seemed pointless. This carried into my adult life and I gave history (whether of the U.S., the world or even the Universe) very little mindshare. Recently, however, and possibly due to my “advancing years”, I’ve developed a keen interest in understanding how things have come to be as they are so that I can conjure how I/we can get them to be how I/we want them to be. I find myself drawn to The History Channel on TV and am now listening to the audio book, “John Adams” by David McCoullough, on my way to and from work. I find it highly educational, informative and entertaining and it gives me a much better context in which to view the world as I currently perceive and experience it.
As a result of my newfound interest in history, I found the History section of the CGTP curriculum very interesting. I’ve been working in the federal travel industry since 2002 (first as a supplier, then as a consultant to GSA) but have never really put the pieces together to understand how the pre-2002 evolution of government travel led us to the integrated E-Gov Travel Service (ETS). I lacked insight into how the many industry players (e.g., airlines, hotels, car rental companies, travel agencies, etc.), the commercial technologies (e.g., CRSs, GDSs, yield management systems, the Internet, etc.), federal regulations (applying to the airlines, federal procurement, federal travel entitlements/reimbursements, etc.) and the government’s travel spend (as price/service leverage with suppliers) all converged to bring us to where we are today.
Knowing this history gives me great hope for the future of federal travel. GSA is currently evaluating proposals for ETS2, the requirements for which bring new technical, functional and management capabilities to federal travelers and federal travel managers. Agencies are becoming more interested in, and adept at using, aggregated travel data to better understand their travelers’ behaviors and preferences and to better manage travel spend. Technologies are advancing, placing the ability to manage individual travel in the travelers’ hands (literally, on mobile devices). The “lowest logical airfare” concept and carbon emissions transparency in ETS2 will give federal travelers new and important information when making their travel purchases, allowing them to consider both cost and environmental impact.
I’m very appreciative of where the federal travel industry has been, where it is, and where it is headed and I look forward to contributing to its future. As Tank said in the movie The Matrix, “These are exciting times.”
By John Potocko