The U.S. General Services Administration this week named the
members of the new Governmentwide Travel Advisory Committee, charged with
reviewing government travel practices and policies, addressing government
travel trends and "assessing how annual adjustments are made to the
Federal Per Diem rate," according to the agency.
GSA last year reportedly considered a new methodology for
developing its annual per diem rate that would have significantly cut lodging
per diems in major cities, but in the end made no major changes. Many
government contractors are required to follow GSA's per diem rates, and some
private companies also base their per diems on the government figures.
First announced in December, the committee's first meeting
is set for July 30. Several corporate travel managers are among the committee's
15 members, including WellPoint manager of strategic sourcing for travel Cindy
Heston, Deloitte Services LP senior manager of travel procurement Brian Nichols
and two Lockheed Martin representatives, corporate travel manager Claudia
Bonetti and global travel and event services manager Mark Stansbury.
The remaining members represent a mix of government
officials, travel suppliers and advocacy groups. They include the U.S. Travel
Association's Nan Marchand Beauvois, the state of Connecticut's Erin Choquette,
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' David Flynn, National
Corporate Housing's Kathy Lane, the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors
Bureau's Patrick Moscaritolo, the U.S. Treasury Department's Emily Morrison,
the Asian American Hotel Owners Association's Fred Schwartz, Enterprise
Holdings' Brian Scott, the Society of Government Travel Professionals' Rick Singer,
Marriott International's Paul Somogyi and the U.S. Department of Defense's Dane
Swenson.
GTAC is part of the GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy.