Plotting a New Course

ou've heard about how long it takes to change direction in an aircraft carrier-let's just say it doesn't turn on a dime. When it comes to federal travel policy and procedures, you're talking about a mighty big ship as well. But when it does move, it leaves a huge wake.

In the past year, the U.S.S. Federal Travel made tangible progress: Most of the government's travel regulations were reissued in plain English, the Defense Travel System inaugural contract was awarded, per diems were changed substantially, and the travel card contract went to a new group of vendors.

What's more, fee-based travel contracts and legislative changes appeared on the horizon. And all of these changes occurred at a time when the pace of federal travel continued to increase.

Spending Goes Up

The government spent 8 percent more than planned on travel in fiscal 1997-that's $589 million in unplanned expenditures. Nine of the top 28 traveling agencies exceeded budget. The rest were on, or below, target, but the Defense Department-at $618 million over budget-more than made up for them.

Remember, though, no one can see into the future-not even the Office of Management and Budget. For five of the past six years, it has predicted shrinking travel budgets, and every time it's been proven wrong.

Nevertheless, OMB is forecasting a drop in travel spending for 1999. Virtually all of the projected savings come from DoD, which is putting the new Defense Travel System into operation this fall. When it's fully in place, Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre has declared that he expects the system to save the department $1 million a day.

A Series of Reforms

A host of changes in the way government conducts its travel business moved forward this year, all with the goal of having federal offices operate more like those in the corporate world.

With more detailed survey data than in previous years, GSA made the most dramatic changes in per diem rates since the system was established in 1986. The biggest change was in New York City, where the rate increased by $45 per day to $240. But other locations around the country saw proportional increases, designed to ease some of the difficulties federal travelers face.

Fulfilling a National Partnership for Reinventing Government mandate, most of the federal travel regulations were reissued in plain language this year. The translation was designed to make it easier for federal travelers to understand and follow the rules; some of the rules' contents were also simplified. The rest of the regs are being rewritten and should be released by the end of this year.

The inaugural contract of the Defense Travel System, for Defense Travel Region 6, was awarded to BDM International (a TRW subsidiary) and a group of subcontractors in May. The team will put together a seamless end-to-end paperless travel system, which, its backers say, will be vastly more efficient for both the Pentagon and its travelers.

The award is worth more than $260 million and affects hundreds of thousands of Defense Department workers, but that's not the only reason it's big news. As the biggest traveler by far (DoD accounts for 60 percent of all government travel spending), the Pentagon sets the course all agencies will likely sail sooner or later. So all eyes are on the contract, watching for a glimpse of where civilian agency travel management will be headed in a few years.

Scheduled to be put in place this fall, the contract was on hold earlier this summer as competitor EDS protested the award.

In other contract news, four vendors were chosen earlier this year to provide travel charge cards for agencies in a program that used to be run exclusively by American Express. The vendors promised to tailor their programs and services to meet the needs of the agencies they serve. The five-year contract, with five one-year options, goes into effect in November.

The Travel and Transportation Reform Act, HR 930, got moving again after being stalled in the Senate behind campaign finance reform for more than a year. The bill would require federal workers to use government charge cards for most travel expenses and imposes penalties on agencies that take more than 30 days to reimburse employees. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee approved the measure in June; the House had given it the thumbs up in April 1997.

The Government Waste, Fraud and Error Reduction Act, which would require agencies to encourage use of travel management centers and electronic reservation and payment systems, passed its House subcommittee in June as well.

Last fall, after the major airlines cut the commissions they pay travel agencies to book flights, several big vendors and the Society of Travel Agents in Government (STAG) sought to renegotiate their contracts with the General Services Administration and eventually sued the agency. STAG recently dropped the suit, and the two groups are trying to work out a solution everyone can live with.

Most travel industry experts say fee-based contracts, under which customers pay travel agencies for the services they provide, are inevitable. (They already make up more than two-thirds of travel agency sales in the private sector, according to Business Travel News.) The Transportation Department put such a contract into effect in February. It could be the model for a system all agencies will eventually use.