The Defense Travel Management Office established in 2006, is a positive example of how government can streamline best practices and procedures into one government entity.
The DTMO serves to establish direction, set policy and centrally manage the defense departments commercial travel programs.
DTMO is responsible for the DTS online booking tool and monitors the usage, cost and customer satisfaction in order to determine the efficiency and effectiveness. Since the implementation of DTS (Defense Travel System) in 2006 the system now operates over 9,500 sites worldwide and has approximately 75,000 users accessing it on a daily basis.
The positive customer service results and the efficiency of the tool have been hard to ignore.
Per the Transportation Reform Act of 1998 the DOD requires that all travelers are reimbursed with in 30days of submission of their travel claim. The average time it takes DTS to reimburse the traveler is 7 days. This has resulted in a cost avoidance of 40% in voucher processing. The 2008 customer service survey revealed 69% of DTS users find the tool easy to use, while maintaining an 85% adoption rate. The combination of both numbers subsequently reduces agency transactions fee costs for the Department of Defense.
The DTS implementation is still not completed. Phase III completion is scheduled for 2010.
The remaining Phase III sites include US Army Special Operations Command, Army Corps of Engineers, Air Force Reserve and Navy afloat sites. DTMO is always searching for ways to improve the site and is open to customer feedback and suggestions in order to maintain a responsive and valuable tool for its users.
By Maruca Malloy