Traveling Light

Retired astronaut and former Senator John Glenn, D-Ohio, has done a favor for employees at the federal research center bearing his name, though he may not know it.

As of last spring, workers at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland have a new way to make a little extra money, thanks to a program -- made possible in part by a law Glenn introduced -- that rewards frugal travel habits.

The NASA facility launched the Gainsharing Travel Savings Program to motivate employees traveling on official business to skimp on flights and lodging by letting them keep a cut of the savings.

Glenn Center employees get to keep half of any travel savings below the government contract rate, provided they save at least $50 per trip and reach a cumulative savings of $200 by the end of the fiscal year. Savings can come by staying with friends or family, finding cheaper fares or alternate routes of transportation, sharing hotel rooms or using personal frequent flier miles for official travel.

Glenn officials said they saved $29,000 from the program's May 2005 start through the end of fiscal 2005 on Sept. 30. Over that time, they awarded 44 employees a total of $14,000 -- an average of more than $300 each.

Any take-home money from this program should be credited, at least in part, to the facility's namesake. Glenn introduced the 1994 bill that provided agencies with the flexibility to promote frequent flier programs among federal employees.

Under language in civil service laws authorizing cash awards for employees who personally contribute to government efficiency, agencies have license to create gainsharing travel programs like the one in Ohio.

But employees can only reap the benefits of cheap travel habits if their agency exercises this license by establishing a specific program with gainsharing guidelines. Even Glenn's program is still up in the air, according to Robert Fails, associate director of the center.

"The Gainsharing Travel Savings Program has been well received by Glenn employees, and we expect participation and savings to grow," Fails said. "However, the program is still in its pilot phase, and we will be periodically evaluating the costs and benefits of gainsharing to determine whether the program will continue."

Glenn's program isn't the only one of its kind. Fails said they patterned it after similar ones at the Agriculture, Commerce, Interior and Justice departments.

Utility of these programs was somewhat reduced when the General Services Administration changed its regulations in 2002 to allow federal employees to keep frequent flier miles from official travel.

Employees at the Bonneville Power Administration, a Portland, Ore.-based federal agency that administers power from dams in the region, hardly use their gainsharing travel program. That's because of the new frequent flier rules, according to BPA manager of disbursement operations, Mike Caldwell.

"It's still there on the books," Caldwell said. But "times have changed."

Still, the program allows employees to convert frequent flier miles to cash, something the airlines won't do.