Governmentwide Travel Management: Views on the Proposed Travel Reform and
Savings Act (Testimony, 07/09/96, GAO/T-AIMD-96-127).

GAO discussed the provisions of the proposed Travel Reform and Savings
Act, focusing on governmentwide travel practices. GAO found that the
proposed legislation would: (1) make federal travel practices more
similar to private- sector practices; (2) result in significant
efficiency gains and cost savings; (3) allow employees to travel without
authorization documents, automate and streamline expense reporting, and
use an integrated travel system; (4) establish travel data standards,
assist federal agencies in their benchmarking efforts, and redesign
temporary duty travel processes; (5) repeal the requirement that
long-distance telephone cards be certified, require the use of a travel
charge card, and reimburse employees for taxes on money received for
travel expenses; (6) set allowances for seeking permanent resident
quarters, temporary quarters subsistence expenses, and resident
transaction expenses; (7) establish authority in paying for property
management, provide employment assistance services to spouses, and
transport privately owned motor vehicles; (8) pay for limited relocation
allowances for employees on extended assignments; and (9) enable federal
agencies to save millions of dollars in government relocation and travel
costs.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-AIMD-96-127
     TITLE:  Governmentwide Travel Management: Views on the Proposed 
             Travel Reform and Savings Act
      DATE:  07/09/96
   SUBJECT:  Travel costs
             Federal employees
             Travel allowances
             Reengineering (management)
             Proposed legislation
             Administrative costs
             Temporary duty expense allowances
             Cost control
             Relocation allowances
IDENTIFIER:  Joint Financial Management Improvement Program
             
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Cover
================================================================ COVER


Before the Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and
Technology
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight
House of Representatives

For Release
on Delivery
Expected at
9:30 a.m.
Tuesday
July 9, 1996

GOVERNMENTWIDE TRAVEL MANAGEMENT -
VIEWS ON THE PROPOSED TRAVEL
REFORM AND SAVINGS ACT

Statement of Jack L.  Brock, Jr.
Director, Information Resources Management/
General Government Issues
Accounting and Information Management Division

GAO/T-AIMD-96-127

GAO/AIMD-96-127T


(510994)


Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV


============================================================ Chapter 0

Mr.  Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the Subcommittee's
hearings on the proposed Travel Reform and Savings Act (H.R.  3637). 
Travel is one of many processes across the government that, through
the adoption of best private sector practices and aggressive
streamlining efforts, can yield substantial savings to taxpayers. 
The proposed Travel Reform and Savings Act takes a major step toward
adopting the best practices of other organizations.  Not only will
this result in improved service to government travelers, but it will
also help reduce travel costs. 

My purpose today is to discuss how our work on governmentwide travel
management supports the Subcommittee's proposed legislation.  I will
first highlight the act's key provisions, then summarize our previous
work and how it relates to the act, and finally provide our views on
the act and our concern with a provision found in the Senate version
of the act (S.1745 amendment 4143). 


   THE TRAVEL REFORM AND SAVINGS
   ACT
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:1

In adopting best private sector travel practices, the act seeks to
reduce administrative burdens and save millions of dollars in
government relocation and travel costs.  Specifically, the act deals
with a number of issues relating to the direct and administrative
costs incurred by government employees on temporary duty travel (TDY)
or relocating.  The act also aims to provide equitable reimbursements
to employees. 

Direct costs include those for transportation, lodging, rental cars,
among others.  Administrative costs cover arranging travel, getting
it approved, and reporting travel expenses, as well as the
organization's cost for processing, auditing, and reimbursing the
travel. 

The relocation issues addressed by the bill include: 

  -- setting allowances for seeking permanent resident quarters,
     temporary quarters subsistence expense, resident transaction
     expenses;

  -- establishing authority to pay for property management services,
     to provide employment assistance services for spouses, and to
     transport privately owned motor vehicles; and

  -- paying for limited relocation allowances to an employee who is
     performing an extended assignment and paying a home marketing
     incentive. 

The bill also addresses temporary duty travel issues, including

  -- repealing the requirement that long-distance telephone calls be
     certified,

  -- requiring the use of the travel charge card, and

  -- reimbursing employees for taxes on money received for travel
     expenses. 


   GAO WORK SUPPORTS THE NEED FOR
   TRAVEL REFORM AND SAVINGS
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:2

Our previous work on governmentwide travel management supports the
overall thrust of the Subcommittee's proposed legislation.  Travel
management is an area with great potential for reengineering and with
good reason.  In fiscal year 1994, the federal government reported
travel obligations covering direct costs for individuals traveling or
relocating of about $7.6 billion.  By adopting the practices of
leading organizations that have streamlined and automated their own
travel processes, the bill can help streamline processes and reduce
paperwork requirements.  In turn, this will save taxpayers millions
of dollars in government travel-related costs. 

Our prior report and testimonies have shown that a number of specific
actions can be taken by federal agencies and the General Services
Administration to improve how temporary duty travel is arranged,
processed, and reimbursed.\1 Because it spends most of the
government's travel dollars, we first assessed how the Department of
Defense manages travel using the best practices of private
organizations as benchmarks.  From there, we set out to discover how
other federal agencies manage travel, what practices and strategies
they followed to get there, and how they compare with leading private
sector organizations.  As part of this effort, we conducted a survey
at 70 executive branch civilian agencies and conducted case studies
at specific locations at three agencies to understand how travel is
arranged and processed.  Our work focused on temporary duty travel
and on administrative costs.  It did not focus on relocation issues
and direct costs. 

In essence, we found that only a handful of federal agencies have
adopted the best practices of the private sector, but if all agencies
did so, hundreds of millions of dollars in travel costs would be
saved. 

Among the actions we have recommended that federal agencies take to
close the gap between them and leading organizations are (1)
assessing agency travel costs and processes and establishing a
baseline of current performance and (2) identifying where operations
can be streamlined and consolidated.  Similarly, for the Department
of Defense, we urged that the Department define milestones and
performance measures to ensure the success of its travel improvement
efforts. 

For federal agencies as well as the Department of Defense the private
sector best practices that could result in substantial efficiency
gains and cost savings include:  allowing employees to travel without
authorization documents; automating and streamlining expense
reporting; using one integrated travel system; consolidating
processing locations; and simplifying travel policies. 

We have also encouraged agencies to study and implement the practices
and approaches identified by the Joint Financial Management
Improvement Program (JFMIP) travel improvement team.  Among other
things, for temporary duty travel the team's recommendations included
requiring the use of government-issued charge cards during travel;
consolidating and automating travel data; and eliminating the
long-distance telephone call certification requirement.  For employee
relocations, the team's recommendations included:  notifying
employees early of transfers; paying limited relocation allowances
for a temporary change of station; and paying pre-determined travel
costs for temporary quarters and househunting trips.  Additionally,
we have recommended that agencies be on the constant lookout for
opportunities to obtain and share information--from both internal and
external pilot projects. 

We further identified a number of actions that the General Services
Administration can take to streamline travel processes throughout
government.  Because of the role GSA plays in overseeing federal
agencies and managing governmentwide travel policy, these actions are
pivotal to improving TDY travel management.  Specifically, we
recommended that GSA (1) establish travel cost data standards for
both direct and administrative costs, (2) form user groups to
facilitate sharing knowledge and information as well as the
development of a cross-service directory and applications directory,
and (3) assess and revise the federal travel regulations (FTR) based
on JFMIP suggestions and lessons learned. 


--------------------
\1 Testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of
Government Management and the District of Columbia, Committee on
Governmental Affairs, Governmentwide Travel Management:  Federal
Agencies Have Opportunities for Streamlining and Improving Their
Travel Practices (GAO/T-AIMD-96-60, March 8, 1996).  Business Process
Reengineering:  DOD Has a Significant Opportunity to Reduce Travel
Costs by Using Industry Practices (GAO/T-AIMD-95- 101, Mar.  28,
1995) and Travel Process Reengineering:  DOD Faces Challenges in
Using Industry Practices to Reduce Costs (GAO/AIMD/NSIAD-95-90, Mar. 
2, 1995). 


   GAO VIEWS ON THE PROPOSED
   TRAVEL REFORM AND SAVINGS ACT
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3

As I stated earlier, the proposed Travel Reform and Savings Act
implements a number of key practices aimed at putting federal
agencies on par with leading private sectors and reducing
administrative requirements associated with the travel process.  This
legislation can help improve service to the travelers and
substantially reduce government travel costs. 

Because our previous work focused on TDY issues, I will comment on
three provisions of the act:  the first is the provision to repeal a
requirement to certify long-distance telephone calls made during
travel and the second is the provision giving agencies the authority
to require the use of the travel charge card.  Both of these measures
were suggested by the JFMIP improvement team.  I will also discuss a
provision from the Senate version of the act (S.1745 amendment 4143),
which requires the GAO to assess the cost savings generated from
implementation of the act. 

First, we agree with the provision that calls for repealing the
requirement to certify long-distance calls made during travel duty. 
Based on a law enacted in 1939, agencies must certify that
long-distance telephone calls made by employees are in the interest
of the government before paying for the call.  All travelers have to
submit telephone call receipts, regardless of the amount.  By
eliminating the certification requirement, the proposed bill will
relieve employees and agencies of this administrative burden and save
money. 

Second, we endorse the provision that gives agencies the authority to
require the use of the travel charge card.  Our prior work on
Department of Defense and governmentwide travel found that mandated
use of a corporate charge card for all transportation and lodging
expenses as well as cash advances was one of the best practices for
leading organizations.  This policy greatly simplified and
streamlined operations in an area that accounts for as much as 80 to
90 percent of all travel spending.  Because this practice is key to
having efficient travel processes, one organization requires an
explanation for any instance in which the corporate charge card is
not used for at least 90 percent of all business travel expenses. 

By mandating charge card usage, agencies can eliminate the processing
time for cash advances and the costs for getting an advance.  No
longer will agencies have to maintain petty cash at cash windows for
temporary duty travel and they will be able to conduct one
reconciliation for all travel expenses. 

Third, I would like to comment on the provision from the Senate
version of the act (S.1745 amendment 4143), requiring GAO to assess
the cost savings to federal travel administration resulting from
statutory and regulatory changes under the act.  Currently, the
agencies do not have enough baseline information to effectively
assess their progress in reducing administrative travel cost.  Our
survey of 70 agencies (which represented 92 percent of total travel
obligations for executive-branch agencies for fiscal year 1994)
showed that many agencies have not determined what their
administrative travel cost and processes are.  Of the 64 agencies
that responded to our survey, 47 had not identified any of their
administrative cost.  Thirteen agencies identified some cost elements
and only 4 agencies identified all cost elements. 

Much of the baseline information needed to assess cost savings should
be gathered as part of the requirements of the Chief Financial
Officers (CFO) Act, which requires that agencies provide complete,
reliable, and timely information regarding the management activities
of the agency.  Such an accurate picture of costs and processes is
essential for deciding where to start improvement efforts and how to
measure progress.  Without it, realizing the savings possible by
rethinking and redesigning travel management will be difficult to
achieve. 

However, to assure the Congress that the necessary specific
information exists to assess savings to the public, we suggest
including a legislative provision that requires agencies themselves
to assess their baseline travel costs and to measure their progress
in reducing costs one year after it takes effect.  Once this is done,
we will be available, as needed, to assist the Congress in evaluating
these assessments. 

As I mentioned earlier, we recently urged GSA to establish travel
data standards and assist in agency benchmarking efforts.  If
successfully implemented, both of these actions should help agencies
assess and redesign their TDY travel processes.  In this regard, we
also believe that GSA should establish travel cost data standards for
both direct and administrative costs.  While it may be difficult to
establish administrative cost standards, given the lack of
administrative cost data currently available, doing so will provide
agencies much more specific and useful guidance.  It will also
facilitate cost comparisons among agencies. 


-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3.1

In conclusion, travel is one of many processes in government which
offer substantial potential savings to the taxpayer through diligent
agency and congressional efforts to adopt best practices.  This
Subcommittee's continued interest, support, and oversight in this
area will facilitate concrete gains in getting better value for the
government's travel dollar.  Mr.  Chairman and Members of the
Subcommittee, this completes my testimony.  I'll be happy to answer
any questions you may have. 

*** End of document. ***