The General Services
Administration per diem for fiscal year 2017 will increase to $142 from $140
last year.
The new rate will go
into effect on Oct. 1, 2016. It includes $91 for lodging, which accounted for
the $2 year-over-year increase, and $51 for meals and incidental expenses.
The GSA sets per diems
annually for the 48 states and 2,600 counties in the continental United States.
Its lodging rates are based on local costs of midprice hotels and constitute
the maximum allowances that federal employees can be reimbursed for expenses
incurred while on official travel. GSA allows for higher-than-standard per
diems in about 350 markets.
Nonstandard areas
where per diems for lodging will rise in fiscal year 2017 include San
Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and Orlando. The
per diem in Miami, however, will drop an average $8 year over year come Oct. 1.
The GSA also will
form an interagency working group to redraw boundaries to meet federal
agencies' missions for fiscal year 2018, evaluating large metro areas that
encompass multiple counties, as well as areas where the per diem that applies
to a city should not apply to the surrounding counties, according to GSA
administrator Denise Turner Roth. The American Hotel & Lodging Association
commended GSA on the measure.
"Government
travel is incredibly important to the hotel industry, generating thousands of
jobs and billions in travel spending that supports communities around the
country," AH&LA senior vice president of government affairs Vanessa
Sinders said in a statement. "Since the government per-diem rates are
often used as a guide by other organizations in setting their travel standards,
it is imperative that we strive to ensure fair and reasonable rates are
established."
GSA will announce more
details about the working group, including dates for public comment, during the
next few weeks.