The Federal Travel Regulations are an important part of the work we perform in our office on a daily basis. We provide other agencies with a full service travel help desk in which our personnel is often asked to quote the FTR and clarify any confusion the government traveler may be experiencing while traveling for business purposes. However, in order to answer more complex questions, we have two policy experts within our office who research issues and respond to the traveler in a timely manner.
We also perform post-payment audits of travelers’ vouchers on a monthly basis. We must ensure that travelers are complying with the FTR in areas in which the E Gov travel system isn’t capable of verifying. For instance, the FTR requires that a traveler retain the following receipts when they voucher: Airfare, Rail, Hotel, and any single expense over $75.00. These receipts must be retained for a period of 6 years and 3 months. Our customers attach their receipts electronically to their vouchers in the E Gov travel system simply by faxing or scanning.
There are FTR compliant pre-audits programmed in the E Gov travel system that alert the traveler of any ‘flags’ that need addressed before signing-off on the document. If the traveler used a non-contract carrier for the trip, they must enter a justification for that ‘flag’. In this case, the travel system provides a drop-down list of reasons for selecting a non-contract carrier. The traveler selects the reason(s) and saves the information. However, in most cases, the traveler is required to type a justification for items in which the voucher is ‘flagged’ before electronically signing the document.
The E Gov travel system we use is in compliance with the FTR but our office staff is still required by management to attend training. Since the FTR is subject to change, we attend refresher training to remain current with the updated Federal Travel Regulations.
by Cindy Moore
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.