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.

Book the FedRooms rate using either your E-Gov System, your travel management center (TMC) or online at www.fedrooms.com.  If your agency allows, you may call the hotel directly and request the FedRooms rate.  As of today, there are more than 5,000 hotels covering more than 2,000 cities, which offer the FedRooms rate.  The FedRooms rate may be available to you even if your travel plans are for leisure.  Be sure to select Leisure as the reason when searching for the FedRooms rate.

When you book online using the FedRooms website, you will immediately receive an email confirmation from NoReply@Fedrooms.com.  Therefore, you will want to be sure not to delete the email.

FedRooms distributes a quarterly newsletter.  You may subscribe to this newsletter in order to stay abreast of the latest changes to the FedRooms program.

To learn more about this great program, you can take the free FedRooms 101 training webinar.  If you have any questions about the FedRooms program, a traveler may call them at 1-800-226-1741 or email them at hotels@fedrooms.com.

by Pam Morton

A preferred practice would be to have the lead member of the team take Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR) training at the beginning of the process instead of after the contract is awarded. This training advises employees of the pitfalls and special requirements when participating in the solicitation process. Determining evaluation factors and how to rate the vendors is a tough practice, but usually provides a valuable return on investment. Make sure to call and ask questions of several references. Even after the decision is made and the vendor is selected, the work of monitoring the contract has just begun. A well thought out quality assurance surveillance plan should be established at contract award; so both vendor and the Government know what is expected.

by Jaqueline Lynch

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

One of the goals of the President’s Management Agenda E-Gov Travel Service was to provide a cost savings to the agencies. The agencies can only achieve these cost savings by promoting and encouraging self-service reservations whenever possible. A simple trip from Washington Dulles to Atlanta should not require agent intervention. Yet it does even if booked online, because the City Pair carrier is Air Tran. It is conceded that Air Tran and another similar carrier, Jet Blue offer very low city pair fares, some of the lowest in all the markets. In this day and age of automation and 3GB I-phones, a Government traveler should be able to book any city pair fare online as a self-service transaction.

by Jacqueline Lynch

The GDS houses the necessary information that will allow travel agents to book and sell airline tickets, book hotel rooms, make rental car reservations, and reserve rail reservations and more. The first GDS, Sabre, was created by the airlines in the 1960s.  Sabre has been around a lot longer than its competitors; Amadeus was created in 1987, Worldspan in 1990 and Galileo/Apollo in 1993.

These complex systems have numerous capabilities.  Besides what was previously mentioned, the GDS can even allow a traveler to select a particular seat on an aircraft.  The GDS will also allow a traveler to enter their frequent flyer number, so that the traveler can receive rewards for flying with a particular airline.

Sabre also provides a website that gives the travelers the latest information concerning their reservations.  This site is very helpful to my agency as some of our travelers neglect to electronically attach their invoice/itinerary to his/her voucher.  We can easily go to the Sabre’s Virtually There website, print a copy of the traveler’s invoice, and attach it to their voucher.

Federal Government travelers must use their E-Gov Travel System or book the traditional way by calling their travel management center (TMC).  Even though Federal Government travelers are not allowed to use a commercial used on-line booking engine, Sabre owns Travelocity.com, which is the leading on-line travel website.

No matter which GDS is used in connection with your agency’s E-Gov Travel System, one factor to keep in mind is that not all airlines participate in a GDS.  Currently the following airlines do not participate:

• AFRIC AIR CHARTER
• ALASKA MARINE HIGHWAY
• AIRTRAN AIRWAYS
• AIR NORTH
• BERING AIR INC
• BIG SKY
• CANADIAN NORTH/AIR NORTERRA INC.
• CAPE AIR
• EXPRESS JET
• FRONTIER FLYING SERVICE
• FRONTIER FLYING
• FORTY MILE AIR
• FJORD FLYING SERVICE
• FS AIR SERVICE / TRANS AIR BENIN
• GREAT LAKES
• HAGLAND AIRLINES
• HOMER AIR
• ISLAND AIR
• JET BLUE
• KENMORE AIR HARBOUR INC.
• LAB FLYING SERVICE
• LARRY’S FLYING SERVICE
• OLYMPIC AIRLINES
• PACIFIC COAST AIRLINES
• PAN AM CLIPPER CONNECT/BOSTON MAINE AIRWAYS
• PENAIR/PENISULA AIR
• PROMECH
• SOUTHWEST
• SPERNAK AIR
• SPIRIT AIRLINES
• VIRGIN AMERICA
• WARBELOWS AIR VENTURES
• WINGS OF ALASKA
• WRIGHT AIR SERVICE

by Pam Morton

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

You may be asking what are the benefits of the U.S. Government rental car program?  One of the most notable benefits is that the collision damage waiver (CDW) insurance is included in the negotiated rate. Besides the attractive rates, other benefits include unlimited mileage, adjusted rates according to size of car and much more.

These rental cars can be booked using your E-Gov travel system or using the traditional method by calling your Travel Management Center (TMC).  The rental car reservation is booked and charged to the traveler’s individual Government charge card.   If a traveler does not have a Government charge card, some other sort of an arrangement would need to be made such as a contract agreement directly with the car rental company or by issuing the traveler a cash advance.

One disadvantage of this program is that the rental car cannot be used for leisure travel under the official TDY contract.  If a traveler is combining official with personal travel, the traveler needs a separate contract for the personal portion of their trip.   Some rental car agencies may even request that the traveler return the car and check it out again.

While conducting training on our E-Gov Travel System, we advise our travelers to select any of the rental car companies listed, but the rental car company selected should be comparative with the cheapest rate for the size of car selected.  All of the rental car vendors have met the DTMO qualifications.  If a traveler has any questions concerning any of the vendors, they may call their TMC or the DTMO for further information.

The DTMO offers a website with detailed information concerning the car or truck rental programs.  The website is located athttp://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/index.cfm.

by Pam Morton

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

The GARS fee is an administrative fee which reimburses the rental car company for the following:  administrative costs incurred by rental car businesses which are peculiar to doing business with the Government; application of the agreement terms on a worldwide basis; a guarantee of the rates for at least 60 days; the rental of vehicles to employees under age 25; and the acceptance of properly-licensed Government employees on official business as additional drivers.

When reserving a rental car, please remember to add the $5.00 per day to the daily cost of the rental car.  On your rental car bill, the GARS fee will appear as an itemized daily expense.  Other charges that will be itemized and included are state and local taxes.  Taking these fees into account on your travel authorization will ensure a more accurate estimation of your total rental car cost.

by Brian Shears

Corporate Procurement

The basis of most corporate travel negotiations is a trade-off between incremental market share to the supplier and discounted pricing to the corporation.  When negotiating contracts, corporations must be able to demonstrate their ability to shift market share to a given supplier.

Corporate Program Management

This ability to shift market share depends upon proactive monitoring and management of travel programs.  Key areas that suppliers look to for evidence of effective program management include:

• Supplier management – ensuring suppliers abide by contract requirements and assist the corporation in promoting use of the preferred program.
• Demand management – compelling travelers to use the preferred programs via established tools, policies and processes.
• Consolidated Data – Consolidated company-wide travel data, which includes booked data, credit card data, travel agency data, and supplier data as appropriate.
• Performance Monitoring – Best practice is to establish centralized management of travel programs either by an individual (typically a Corporate Travel Manager) or by a team (Travel Council).  This team communicates the program, trains travelers, and writes policy.  In addition, they determine Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to monitor program usage, establish corrective action plans and drive continuous improvement.
• Policy – The Travel Council sets and enforces travel policy.

I depict high-level corporate travel program components in the following diagram.

Federal Procurement

Now let us review travel in the federal market.  Although the government is not able to provide suppliers with the level of travel data put forth by most corporations, the government is proactive in procuring travel.  The government has preferred programs for all major areas of travel including airfare (CPP), lodging (FedRooms) and car rental (Rental Car Program).  Although rates are not negotiated in the truest sense (an exchange of volume for price discounts), rates are pre-determined and auditable.

Federal Program Management

The government has worked diligently in the recent past to establish and implement comprehensive travel programs.  It is helpful to review government travel with respect to the same categories provided in the corporate market above.  An assessment of the current state of government travel shows:

• Supplier management – GSA conducts audits of the GDS to ensure suppliers are correctly loading negotiated rates.  In addition, GSA staff regularly meet with suppliers to discuss future program enhancements.
• Demand management – Most Federal Agencies have installed and implemented one of three E-Gov Travel Systems.  These systems provide federal agencies the tool and structure needed to guide travelers towards use of preferred travel programs.
• Consolidated Data – Currently the government is unable to consolidate government-wide travel data.  However, GSA has a contract in place to compile data through implementation of the Business Travel Intelligence system, and meaningful results are expected in the near future.
• Performance Monitoring – By current design, there is no centralized body within the Federal government that is responsible for monitoring performance or any overall travel program management.  While GSA serves as a central body for procuring travel, performance to policy and compliance to preferred programs are left to individual federal agencies.  In practice, individual agencies do little to ensure usage of preferred travel programs.  This shortcoming breaks the continuum of procurement and program management.  Because future negotiations are heavily dependent upon historical program usage, this lack of proactive oversight significantly reduces the government’s ability to leverage their travel volume.
• Policy – GSA and DoD establish and set travel policy via the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) and Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) respectively.  In addition Standardized Regulations (DSSR) are issued by the Department of State for foreign travel.

I show the same travel components within the context of government travel in the following diagram.  As shown here, because the government does not proactively monitor program performance, the ability to leverage travel volume in future procurements is limited.

Summary

The federal government has taken great strides in developing a comprehensive travel program.  The government has workable solutions in place for supplier management, demand management, and travel policy.  Although consolidated government-wide travel data is not currently available, GSA does have a contract in place to provide it.  The biggest remaining challenge is centralized management of government-wide travel programs.  While a centralized approach to travel management would require that federal agencies turn over a small amount of control to a central body, the benefits of cost savings and higher traveler satisfaction would far outweigh this perceived loss of control.

Recommendation

I recommend that the federal government establish a government-wide travel program management office within GSA for the specific purpose of managing (monitoring performance, enforcing compliance, revising policy, etc) travel programs across the federal government.  Giving GSA the authority to proactively manage travel on behalf of all federal agencies would mimic corporate best practices in that it would align procurement with program management functions.  Without a centralized body managing government travel, the federal government will never be able to effectively leverage their $15+ Billion in annual travel spend.

by Ted Schuerman

Some Global Distribution Systems do not allow for the booking of tickets for certain airlines – although this is often driven by which airlines choose to participate in which Global Distribution Systems.  In addition, the various online booking engines integrated within the E-Gov Travel systems do interact differently with the various Global Distribution Systems.  My experience is that the numbers of flights that display in one of the E-Gov Travel online booking engines vary depending on the Global Distribution System the online booking engine is accessing.  Are agencies going to evaluate this in determining which Global Distribution Systems should be used by their Travel Management Centers?  The agencies should, but I doubt very many do.

There is also at least one example of one company owning both a Global Distribution System and one of the online booking engines used by an E-Gov Travel system.  As you can imagine, when this company makes enhancements to and fixes errors in its online booking engine, preference is given to their online booking engine’s interaction with their own Global Distribution System.  This is another situation that should be examined by agencies in determining which Global Distribution Systems should be used by their Travel Management Centers.

by Kevin Young

In 2004 the General Services Administration (GSA) partnered with Carlson Wagonlit’s Hotel Solutions Group to redesign the government’s lodging program. The program has undergone several significant changes–one of the most obvious is the transition from the legacy program’s name, Federal Premier Lodging Program (FPLP), to the new program name, FedRooms. Additionally, the number of participating properties in the FedRooms program has increased from just over 600 in 2004 to more than 5,000 hotels in more than 1,600 cities around the world.

FedRooms takes the guesswork out of booking hotels. Travelers and document preparers can be confident that the rooms they are booking through the program are compliant with government policy. FedRooms offers travelers benefits such as:

• Rates are at or below per diem
• Reservations can be cancelled up until 4 p.m. on the day of arrival without a penalty
• No hidden costs or penalties are attached to the rate
• No fees for early checkout
• 66% of the FedRooms properties offer last room availability

Our E Travel System makes it easy to book a FedRooms property by setting the default lodging search tab to display all available FedRooms properties. In addition, all hotel properties are marked with the FedRooms logo on the hotel information page, and the FedRooms rate is highlighted on the search results page.

The implementation of E GOV Travel and GSA’s new lodging program, FedRooms, has greatly improved the process for booking lodging that is incompliance with government per diem rates and travel regulations.

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.