Senators to take up proposal to nix GSA's eTravel system

Legislation that could stop implementation of the General Services Administration's eTravel Service program moved to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday.

The primary backers of an amendment to the 2006 Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill (H.R. 3058) that bars GSA from spending money on the eTravel program -- a group of four small travel agencies spread among three states -- met with key senators last year. They are hopeful that their efforts to derail eTravel will be successful.

GSA spokeswoman Viki Reath said the agency does not comment on pending legislation, and representatives of the three companies involved in the eTravel program said they are waiting to see what happens with the bill in the Senate and then in conference committee negotiations.

The White House has threatened to veto the appropriations bill over the separate issue of limits it places on President Bush's management agenda. According to the office of Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill will be marked up in subcommittee next Tuesday and the full committee Thursday. A busy Senate calendar that will most likely include at least one Supreme Court nomination, however, could result in the Senate bundling all the appropriations bills into an omnibus spending package.

GSA has been working since the summer of 2002 to implement a governmentwide, end-to-end, electronic travel management system that is projected to save agencies up to 50 percent of their travel management costs over 10 years.

Every civilian agency subject to the Federal Travel Regulation must select a GSA pre-approved eTravel vendor, and all have done so except the Education Department and the Social Security Administration. Those vendors include EDS, Northrop Grumman Corp. and CW Government Travel Inc. Those companies competed for agency business, which totaled about $450 million. Agencies were mandated to move to the new eTravel service by Sept. 30, 2006.

Small travel-agency owners say they support GSA's attempt to save money through new technologies, but that the program is set up so that it eliminates previously available business opportunities for small business.

They voiced support for the small businesses set-asides created in the Pentagon's Defense Travel System and questioned why GSA could not have structured their contracting system in a similar manner.

The stakes in eTravel for small travel agencies are high. Their old government contracts for providing agencies travel services were large parts of their businesses, and some have resorted to laying off staff because of lost business.

Attempts to address these concerns with GSA through the Society of Government Travel Professionals were ended by agency officials, according to the travel agencies.

Chris McMillan, CEO of Bonner Travel Service in Jackson, Miss., said she is surprised by how far the efforts of the coalition of small business travel agencies has gone. Her business did close to $5 million in annual sales, but lost more than $1.5 million in government contracts when GSA launched the eTravel initiative.

"I didn't think it was going to happen because we didn't have a ton of money and no lobbyists," McMillan said. "I've learned that with persistence and continual communication, you can get things done."

McMillan said meetings with Sens. Cochran and Trent Lott, R-Miss., were successful and took place at the same time they were lobbying members of the House Appropriations Committee. Other lawmakers lobbied included Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont.; Conrad Burns, R-Mont.; John Cornyn, R-Texas; and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

The support of Cochran is important for the group along with that of Burns, who serves on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Transportation, Treasury, the Judiciary and House and Urban Development. Cornyn sits on the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and Hutchison is a member of the Appropriations committee.

Scott Guerrero, chief operating officer and executive vice president of CW Government Travel, said the agencies stand to lose cost savings, which agencies estimate between $25 to $100 per trip, if the eTravel program is blocked. The owners say they can often provide cheaper travel arrangements. The government spends about $11.9 billion a year in travel.

"It's a substantial amount of money, and if they don't get that savings they're going to have to make cuts," Guerrero said. "The federal agencies have developed budgets that take those savings into account."

Patricia Stout, owner of the Alamo Travel Group in San Antonio, Texas, said she is hopeful that the Senate will follow the House's lead, but acknowledges that she is concerned.

"We have done our homework," she said, "and now we are ready to see what happens."