GSA Consolidates Travel Office

<H1>GSA Consolidates Travel Office</H1><H3>By Barbara Cook</H3><I>Washington, D.C.</I>- The General Services Administration has folded its travel policy function into a new, unified policy that will eliminate bureaucratic duplication in the agency. The travel consolidation is part of the government's effort to re-create itself as a streamlined and efficient operation.

Marty Wagner, named as GSA associate administrator for the new office of policy, planning and evaluation, recently told members of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Government Management that the new office will provide leadership in the development of "sound management practices," encouraging the efficient use of assets, products and services by the federal government. "Efforts currently are under way to improve the use of business office space, energy, commercially owned aircraft, motor vehicles, the mail system and the economic disposal of assets no longer needed," he said.

Travel policy is an important function of the new GSA office, Wagner said, noting that his staff carries several responsibilities, including the issuance of federal travel regulations, establishing per diem rates and drafting rules on the use of frequent flyer miles earned while on official travel. To reduce the federal government's administrative reengineering goal to manageable proportions, Wagner told the Senate panel that he has established short-, mid- and long-term goals for GSA.

Short-term goals include encouraging the development of new travel delivery systems, Wagner said, as well as electronically publishing important information, such as per diems and news of GSA's efforts, on its Internet homepage. These objectives are expected to be accomplished within the next 100 days, he said.

Medium-range goals will center on the federal travel management function, specifically assisting all government agencies in their reengineering efforts, according to Wagner. Projects will include benchmarking agency travel processes and costs against best practices in the private and public sectors, rewriting the federal travel regulations "with a minimum of legal jargon" and offering assistance to agencies that lack resources to review travel processes and programs on their own. Wagner said his office has targeted Dec. 31 as the date it will complete most of these tasks.

Wagner testified that his long-term goals, which will be implemented in fiscal year 1997, will include an in-depth review of how federal travel dollars are spent and how agencies pay for these services. Assuming that GSA's short- and mid-term goals are met, the reengineering effort should produce many recommendations to change governmentwide travel programs, he told committee members. As a preview of what is coming, he said that competitive pressures probably will require a complete review of the agency's travel charge card, airline contract fares program, commercial travel and travel management and information systems.

"Travel industry changes over the next few years most likely will have the effect of minimizing the use of paper, credit cards, tickets and person-to-person conversations related to acquiring the service and accomplishing the travel and related methods of accomplishing reimbursements," Wagner said. "New policies and programs will need to have been tested and be in place to take advantage of these new services. Smart cards physically combining travel, long-distance telephone and small-purchase credit cards with automated payment and reimbursement systems, automated pre- and post-travel audit systems and data capture already have been suggested for consideration."

In other GSA news, many travel agents that handle federal government accounts are criticizing the agency's recent decision to consolidate its own $11 million travel account on a nationwide basis as of August 1, claiming that the decision only adds economic clout to existing mega-agencies.

SatoTravel, however, applauded the move to fold GSA's contracts into one, noting that consolidation is a common practice among corporate accounts.

According to the Society of Travel Agents in Government (STAG), the consolidation decision will limit competition and goes against the government's public policy commitments to small business.

STAG also criticized other aspects of GSA's proposed contract, saying that the agency is attempting to introduce "an arbitrary micromanaging of the travel management process instead of more properly focusing on client service ratings and other results.