EDS leads the way in eTravel competition

With just three eTravel contracts left to be awarded, EDS appears to have won out over rival vendors in a competition that began more than three years ago when the General Services Administration started soliciting ideas for a governmentwide online travel system.

The eTravel initiative will automate and consolidate agencies' travel systems. The three vendors - EDS, CW Government Travel Inc., and Northrop Grumman Corp. - are expected to provide an online program that simplifies all portions of the travel process, from planning to reimbursement and reconciliation.

Jim Duffey, an EDS vice president, said the company has won 56 percent of the task orders since November, or about 73 percent of the eTravel contracts' cash value.

Overall, CWGT's E2 Solutions won 10 competitions, EDS's FedTraveler.com won nine, and Northrop's GovTrip.com won seven. GSA has set September 2006 as the implementation date for all eTravel programs. Three of CWGT's contracts and two of Northrop's are for agencies within larger departments where the vendors already were awarded contracts.

According to Steve Vetter, EDS outreach and adoption manager for FedTraveler.com, EDS's contracts are worth about $373 million if all options are exercised. The original eTravel contract's estimated worth was $450 million. Vetter said estimates based on numbers provided by GSA's eTravel Program Management Office show that the total value will be closer to $635 million including all the options.

"As the departments and agencies got a much better feel for just how big that number was, that early estimate by [GSA's Program Management Office] of $450 million turned out to be fairly low," Vetter said. "A lot more money is being spent on travel than what was initially thought."

The $373 million estimate-about 60 percent of the total value of the awards given so far-is conservative and based on the agencies' calculations, Vetter said.

"We're obviously excited about working with the agencies and delivering them a world-class travel system," Vetter said. "If you look at the really big agencies that are out there-DHS, Agriculture, Justice-most of the big ones are coming our way."

The value of EDS's contracts, if all options are exercised, are as follows: Homeland Security, $148.6 million; Veterans Affairs, $14.5 million; Agriculture, $109 million; Justice, $74.9 million; Commerce, $16.3 million; Housing and Urban Development, $8.7 million; and the National Science Foundation, Federal Trade Commission and International Trade Commission, which total a combined $2 million.

EDS officials believe the company's success is attributed to FedTraveler.com's simple integration process into existing systems, ease of use and reporting and auditing tools.

EDS was initially excluded from the government's eTravel program when GSA awarded a 10-year, $450 million contract to Northrop Grumman and CWGT. EDS filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office and GSA eventually reopened eTravel to competition. Three months after the initial award, GSA announced that EDS would become a third vendor.

Northrop Grumman's GovTrip already is installed at Transportation and Treasury. Leo Hergenroeder, GovTrip program manager, said Health and Human Services is expected to be implemented in late February or early March. According to Hergenroeder, Northrop has won about a third of the eTravel business and GovTrip has been getting positive feedback.

Scott Guerrero, chief operating officer of CW Government Travel, was out of the country and unavailable to comment. CWGT's E2 Solutions will serve the Labor and State Departments and the Agency for International Development, among others.

Agencies that have not selected eTravel vendors include Education, NASA and the Social Security Administration. Timothy Burke, GSA's eTravel Service program manager, said in December that three agencies would miss the Dec. 31 deadline because of ongoing financial system upgrades.